May 24, 2019

From: John Stanskas, President, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
Larry Galizio, President, Community College League of California
Kelly Fowler, President, California Community Colleges Chief Instructional Officers
Kathleen Moberg, President, Chief Student Services Officers Association

Subject: Response to Enquiries About Votes of No Confidence

As the stakeholder associations working to support and advance the missions of all 72 districts and 114 colleges, we have received media and constituent enquiries about the no confidence votes and actions directed to the chancellor’s office. Such enquiries have inspired this brief joint-communication from our associations representing the chief executive officers, chief instructional officers, chief student services officers, and Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges.

Although our respective associations have members with distinct professional roles and responsibilities, governing policies, histories, and organizational structures, our organizations share the following:

• We represent and support a diverse group of academic and educational professionals from districts and colleges as varied as the regions and populations that we serve.
• A primary goal of our work is to advance and support the missions of our districts and colleges, and our ultimate responsibility is support for our students, and the regions, communities, and neighborhoods our districts and colleges serve.
• We serve on Consultation Council in the capacity of institutional representatives.
• We organize the appointment of individuals from our organizations to serve on statewide taskforces, committees, and working groups as mandated in statute or Title 5, or at the request of the chancellor’s office, to ensure those responsible for the local implementation of regulation and policy have an active voice in their creation.

For all of the aforementioned reasons and more, we will continue to fulfill our statewide roles and responsibilities, and focus our attention on representing our colleagues on Consultation Council, serving on taskforces and workgroups, and advocating on behalf of our constituents, communities, and 2.4 million students.

We respect the right and responsibility of our colleagues throughout our confederation of districts to articulate their respective positions, and to engage in the healthy conflict of ideas and views that is so central to the academic enterprise of higher education. Similarly, we respect the right and responsibility of organizations in state-wide positions to engage in and maintain effective participation as delineated in California Education Code and Title 5. We hope that this discourse will result in constructive advancement of our system and its service to the students of California.

Respectfully,

John Stanskas,                 Larry Galizio,             Kelly Fowler,                    Kathleen Moberg,  ASCCC                           CCLC                         CCCCIO                            CSSO