Whereas, Education Code §87360 Hiring Criteria, Subdivision (a), states that applicants for faculty and administrator positions must demonstrate, as a criterion for hiring beyond the state minimum qualifications, “a sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, and ethnic backgrounds of community college students”, that is included in all job announcements and assessed during the applicant screening process, per the requirements of Title 5. §§53022 and 53024; yet current faculty screening and selection practices at most colleges may place a disproportionate emphasis on discipline-specific hiring criteria, such as the ability to teach and provide services to students, at the expense of assessing job applicants and candidates on their abilities to “demonstrate a sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, and ethnic backgrounds of community college students”;
Whereas, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges delegates passed Resolution 12.01 [1] (Fall 2015), which acknowledged that hiring faculty who have a sensitivity and understanding of diverse students positively impacts student success, consistent with research included in the Chancellor’s Office Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force Literature Review on Faculty, Staff, and Student Diversity [2] (2019) and Report [3] (2020);
Whereas, Strategies in the Recommendations from the Vision for Success Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force [4] call for implementation of innovative hiring and outreach practices focused on diversity, revised procedures that address diversity, equity, and inclusion to reduce bias in the hiring process, and inclusion of cross functional staff in hiring and screening committees; and
Whereas, at its August 12-14, 2021 meeting [5], the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges took action to support the Association of Chief Human Resource Officers (ACHRO) Screening and Selection Recommendations (July 23, 2021 version) for innovative hiring practices focused on diversity, developed in collaboration with associations represented on the Vision for Success Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Workgroup, including trustees, chief executive officers (CEOs), chief instructional officers (CIOs), chief student services officers (CSSOs), chief business officers (CBOs), and the Academic Senate;
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges endorse the ACHRO draft Screening and Selection Process Recommendations [6]; and
Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges commit to continued partnership with ACHRO and other associations for the implementation of the actions included in the Screening and Selection Recommendations and the DEI Implementation Workgroup recommendations and development of professional development resources to support local senate implementation efforts.
MSC
1. https://asccc.org/resolutions/hiring-culturally-aware-faculty
2. https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/Files/Communications/vision-for-success/2-literature-review-on-faculty-staff-and-student-diversity.pdf?la=en&hash=73767B97C2DE63FCE1518BB4B39B6278C5500ACF
3. https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/Files/Communications/vision-for-success/cccco-dei-report.pdf?la=en&hash=FAB1854B05779EA47FBA10D1E5DED7A290D5C9E1
4. https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/Files/Communications/vision-for-success/4-recommendations-from-the-dei-task-force.pdf?la=en&hash=941ED4B5EF26A289A1A16FD468F10D7565FD0D4B
5. https://asccc.org/sites/default/files/Agendas/Download%20Agenda.pdf
6. http://achroeeo.com/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/