President’s Update | November 2022

Dear Colleagues,

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. This fall term has been busy. Early on, many parts of the state experienced record heat waves, and more recently the midterm elections resulted in more than 25% of the California state legislature consisting of new legislators. Local work has included planning course schedules, managing enrollment, determining appropriate course modalities, and discussing the implications of forthcoming changes such as common course numbering, new general education pathways, and open meeting requirements. All the while, the ASCCC continues to engage in planning and implementation of recently passed legislation and regulation, all part of the Multi-Year Roadmap between the Newsom Administration and the California Community Colleges May 2022, which is closely aligned to the Board of Governors’ Vision for Success.

Below are updates on the ASCCC’s statewide work, which will inform academic senate work done locally. As with all of our communications, we encourage faculty to forward this message to all constituents at their colleges. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us at info@asccc.org. On behalf of the ASCCC Executive Committee, I hope you have a great Thanksgiving break with loved ones.

Respectfully,

Ginni May
President, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges

2022 Fall Plenary Session

The 2022 Fall Plenary Session took place November 3-5, 2022 in Sacramento with in-person attendance of over 150 and online attendance over 100. The ASCCC continues to modify the plenary session programs to provide access while keeping costs down in an effort to meet the professional development needs of faculty in this new normal following the COVID-19 global pandemic. Modifications included an increase in the number of general sessions to nine, all hybrid, with a block of in-person-only breakout sessions each day. Instead of a full printed program, we offered an at-a-glance program with a QR code to access the full program via the internet. Finally, the ASCCC experimented with a new process for resolution submissions.

Fall 2022 Resolutions

Robust debate on resolutions by registered plenary session attendees followed by delegate voting took place on Saturday, November 5, 2022. More than fifty resolutions and amendments were considered resulting in thirty-eight perfected and adopted resolutions, three referred resolutions, and one withdrawn resolution. Academic senate leaders should share the Adopted Resolutions with their campus faculty and other constituency groups.

The proposed CalGETC and General Education

One of the requirements of AB 928 (Berman, 2021) is for the Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates (ICAS) to establish a singular lower division general education pathway that would serve as the only general education pathway to determine eligibility for transfer to the University of California and California State University systems. In addition, this general education pathway can require no more units than the current Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum as of July 2021. ICAS must establish this pathway by May 31, 2023; otherwise the administrations of the three systems of higher education will establish the pathway by December 31, 2023. In May 2022, ICAS disseminated a proposed California General Education Transfer Curriculum (CalGETC) pathway for consideration by the faculty in all three systems: UC, CSU, and CCC. Through resolution F22 15.01, the delegates of the ASCCC voted to endorse the proposed CalGETC and urge that CSU make the Lifelong Learning and Self-development (LLSD) area a graduation requirement—similar to American Institutions—instead of restricting it to an upper division general education requirement. In addition, three other resolutions—F22 7.14, F22 09.02, and F22 15.06—were adopted to support maintaining LLSD opportunities for community college students. ICAS will consider the feedback from the academic senates from all three systems in establishing the final CalGETC pathway.

Since general education for transfer is under consideration, the delegates of the ASCCC voted to work with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office to align the general education pathways of the associate degree and the California community college baccalaureate degree with the proposed CalGETC pathway through resolutions F22 7.01 and F22 7.02.

Equal Employment Opportunity

A webinar titled Representation Matters: How Racial Equity in Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention of Black Faculty, Staff and Administrators Advances Equitable Outcomes in Student Achievement, facilitated by the Chancellor’s Office with sponsorship from the ASCCC among other organizations, took place on November 18, 2022. The purpose of the event was to elevate the experiences of Black faculty, staff, and administrators. This event spotlighted equity champions and the tools, resources, and guidance available that support faculty, staff, and administrators’ ability to lead change in equity-focused hiring and retention practices while also supporting the cultivation of anti-racist teaching and learning environments. The webinar also included information on the Equal Employment Opportunity Handbook that was recently revised and stressed the urgency needed to move in to ensure hiring practices for African Americans are in line with the historic resources and advocacy.

Additional Equal Employment Opportunity events will be provided throughout the academic year. Faculty leaders are encouraged to attend along with their colleagues to explore and embrace practices that improve faculty hiring processes that are more inclusive of diverse candidates.

Chancellor Search

The search for the next Chancellor of the California community college system is underway. The application deadline is December 8, 2022. Currently, final interviews with the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges are scheduled to take place January 26-27, 2023 in closed session. More information can be found on the Chancellor Search webpage.

Student Success Learning Tours

The Chancellor’s Office has organized a series of learning tours at various California community colleges to learn from students, faculty, staff, administrators, and trustees about their colleges with a focus on deeply understanding and elevating promising persistence and success strategies. The first tours took place November 8-9, 2022 at Santa Ana College, Santiago Canyon College, and Allan Hancock College. Those participating on the tour included members of the Board of Governors and leadership from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, and the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. Participants were excited to learn how these colleges are centering their work on the students and especially to hear from students about their success. The next tours will take place in spring 2023.

Strategic Planning

The ASCCC’s five-year strategic plan, which was adopted by the ASCCC delegates at the 2018 Spring Plenary Session through Resolution S18 01.01, is set to expire in spring 2023. The ASCCC has engaged a consulting firm, Githens & Associates to facilitate the planning and formation of the new strategic plan to be presented to local senates in spring 2023 and considered for adoption during the 2023 Spring Plenary Session.

As part of the process in wrapping up the current strategic plan, the ASCCC held a breakout session at the 2022 Fall Plenary Session. Attendees were presented with a comprehensive document showing the progress toward completion of the strategic plan and tying in the many facets of ASCCC progress through resolutions, committee work, and the objectives and goals making up the strategic plan. The document provides detailed information on how each goal is being or has been addressed. This document will be finalized and published during the spring of 2023. As part of the process, the ASCCC will gather ideas for the new strategic plan through various venues such as webinars and local visits. 

In response to Goal 2 in the current strategic plan, the ASCCC has made significant efforts and progress to increase the diversity of faculty representation on ASCCC standing committees, the Executive Committee, and other system consultative bodies to better reflect the diversity of California and ensure that broad faculty voices and viewpoints are represented. Those interested may view the report on the ASCCC website.

Statewide Work

A number of statewide task forces and committees are underway this academic year to implement recent legislative requirements. These bodies consist of multiple stakeholders with facilitation by consulting firms:

Facilitated by SOVA:

• The AB 928 Intersegmental Implementation Committee was established through legislative action in AB 928 (Berman, 2021). This committee is to be chaired by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office for the first two years, and then the chair position will transition to leadership at the California State University or the University of California.
• The AB 1111: Common Course Numbering Task Force was established through trailer bill language to implement AB 1111 (Berman, 2021). The task force is managed by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and co-chaired by representatives from the ASCCC and the California Community Colleges Chief Instructional Officers Board. More information can be found on the AB 1111: Common Course Numbering Project webpage.

Facilitated by Jobs for the Future (JFF):

• The Burden-Free Instructional Materials Task Force is tasked to inform recommendations that will advance the Vision for Success to address burdens and friction points related to textbook costs, open educational resources and access to required course materials, and affordability of instructional materials. The task force is managed by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and co-chaired by representatives from the ASCCC and the Chief Student Service Officers Association.

Facilitated by RTI International: 

• The Modern Policing Degree Task Force is a response to AB 89 (Jones-Sawyer, 2022), which  raises the age limit to be a peace officer in California from 18 to 21, requires that new officers have a bachelor's degree, and is a response to heightened interest in decreasing officer use of force.The task force is managed by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, co-chaired by representatives from the ASCCC and the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, and includes members from various system constituencies and external groups. 

AB 1705

AB 1705 (Irwin, 2022) was signed by the governor of California on September 30, 2022. Much of the legislation was modeled on the California Code of Regulations Title 5 that provided the minimum requirements for compliance with AB 705 (Irwin, 2017). However, AB 1705 has also come with additional requirements beyond those in AB 705. Over the next several months, the ASCCC will be working statewide to help inform guidance on AB 1705 implementation. In the meantime, colleges and especially faculty working with research colleagues should continue to collect and analyze comprehensive data, both quantitative and qualitative, in order to identify promising practices where students are successful and areas where improvements are still needed to meet the individual needs of the diverse student population in the California Community Colleges. 

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