May

In Sept 2005 I wrote a Rostrum article called How Much Do You Know About Your Academic Senate? (available at asccc.org) which recommended that senate leaders take the time to educate others about the senate's roles-something we learn quite well at Faculty Leadership Institute each June! A companion to the article was a PowerPoint presentation, based on the one presented at Leadership Institutes, that explains the authority and responsibilities of faculty as laid out in Education Code and Title 5 (the 10+1).

After a long first day at Spring Plenary of basically nothing but Title 5 (T5) discussions, Friday's breakouts were, for me, a change of pace. Instead of the complexities of dealing with T5 (we are now on the most intimate of terms), I got to change gears and focus on things which were far simpler (ha!).

"Money, money, money makes the world go around, world go around!" But first we need a plan! The System Office and the Department of Education are working together to develop a fiveyear plan for Career and Technical Education (CTE) for the State of California. In January they began the inclusive process with a series of three two-day meetings. There are 45 participants from a wide variety of groups of representatives who are critical to the functioning of the CTE system including industry, high school faculty, and Economic and Workforce Development Program representatives, to name a few.

By the time this article reaches the press the furor over the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, AKA Nancy Shulock's The Rules of the Game¹ will have died down some. However, the need to address some of the problems within our system will remain-and should be addressed with an approach that respects the role community colleges are supposed to play as they maintain their commitment to access.

Resolution F06 9.03 called on the Academic Senate to conduct a survey of the certificate and degree programs in California community colleges to determine which information competency requirements have been implemented by which colleges. Serendipitously, Shawna Hellenius, an instructional librarian at Cosumnes River College conducted such a survey in Fall 2005 for a sabbatical project. She kindly shares a summary of her sabbatical report in this article.

"The time comes in the life of any nation when there remain only two choices-submit or fight"

Nelson Mandela

At Spring Session we examined the delicate balance between cooperating with colleagues who hold a different opinion of issues, versus confronting them. You heard the suggestion that automatic, public confrontation, while perhaps immediately satisfying, is not always an effective long-term strategy. And you've seen the results of recent attempts by the Academic Senate to better cooperate with groups such as statewide administrative organizations, the System Office and the Board of Governors.

It is still a busy time in Sacramento. by the time this article gets to you, we will be involved with many legislative and governmental issues. The Governor's May Revise of the state budget has been released and there will be hearings and discussions (and yes, deals) in regards to it. Legislation has finished being proposed for this session, but it is now time for us to interact with legislators and their staff about these bills and their effects on our constituencies. And we have primary and general elections coming up.

Americans have forgotten what it takes to remain free. Instead, every ideology, every group is determined to use government to advance its agenda. As the government's power grows, the people are eclipsed. -Paul Craig Roberts

To my thinking, we americans have often taken our liberties for granted, even to the point of lethargy, until we awaken to find that they are under attack. Then, once roused, the old revolutionary zeal, reinvigorated and suddenly alert, launches us upon our midnight rides to sound the alarm.

The breakout session at the 2006 Spring Plenary Session "Shouldn't Prerequisites be an Academic and Professional Matter" reviewed the findings of a recent Academic Senate Curriculum Committee survey that sought to gather information on the status of prerequisites in the community colleges. The discussion explored the role faculty should be playing in the prerequisite process. During the breakout we heard many of the 50 attendees confirm that numerous concerns other than academics seem to influence or drive the placement of prerequisites on courses.