President's Update | September 2021
September 23, 2021
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
Welcome back to fall term. This week the quarter colleges began their fall quarters, meaning that all 116 colleges are back in session. Whether in person, online, or in some combination, welcoming students back to campuses in any format is an exciting event.
The California community colleges have seen many positives this summer and fall. Over the summer, the ASCCC held two events, the Faculty Leadership Institute focused on providing the knowledge, skills, and tools senate leaders need to be effective and inspiring leaders and the Curriculum Institute, themed “Ensuring Learning: Accessibility & Flexibility in Equity-Driven Curriculum.” The Curriculum Institute saw its largest attendance to date, with nearly 850 registered participants at the event attending sessions focused on topics such as guided pathways, alternative approaches to curriculum, and online and distance education, with a consideration for the real cost of education that requires incorporating support for student services. Over the summer, the ASCCC, through our OERI Project, partnered with other organizations across California to present the first CalOER event, specifically focused on open education resources (OER) and OER efforts and impacts in the state. The Executive Committee has been able to meet in a hybrid format for both of its meetings so far in Fall 2021 and was able to welcome liaisons and guests in both an in-person and online format. The October board meeting will be fully online; the November and December meetings will be hybrid. The ASCCC will continue to follow the science in terms of meeting entirely in person; while we have not formally decided to do so, we will likely continue in a hybrid format through spring 2022.
In August, at the first board meeting of the year, the ASCCC Executive Committee adopted its areas of focus for the 2021-22 year. Two of them continue from last year: equity-driven systems and culturally responsive curriculum, student services, and student support. A third area of focus, which has been implied in the ASCCC’s work but not explicitly stated, is transfer, which this year will be an explicit area of focus. The Intersegmental Committee of Academic Senates (ICAS), which represents the leadership of the three public higher education segments’ academic senates, has also adopted transfer as its primary area of focus for this year. We look forward to working on all three of these areas of focus moving forward through the academic year.
Two major events are coming up in fall. The first is the Academic Academy, which will be an entirely virtual event held on October 7-8. The theme of this event is “Enhancing Transfer in the Higher Education System,” and the Academy is being held in partnership with the RP Group. Registration is only $150.00 for the entire two-day event. We hope to see you there.
The other major event this fall is the plenary session. We are excited to announce that this event will be the first ever hybrid plenary, with the in-person portion held at the Long Beach Westin and the online portion held on the Pathable platform. The theme of the event is “Leading Change: Teaching, Learning, and Governance in a Hybrid World,” and the program will feature general and breakout sessions that will be held live and online. In order to allow for social distancing, the in-person element of plenary will be limited to one person per college or district senate. Voting for resolutions on Saturday will be done through the PollEverywhere app, the same app that was used for last year’s plenaries. As this experience is brand new for the ASCCC and attendees, we ask that you grow and learn with us as we continue to refine the way we deliver large professional development events. We expect that this will be a great event, and we are looking forward to seeing everyone, whether virtually or in person.
Another piece of good news is that Governor Newsom signed AB 361 (R. Rivas, 2021), which extends the current suspension of Brown and Bagley-Keane Act provisions until the end of January 2022. This bill impacts local boards, academic senates, curriculum committees, and other public agencies and is welcome news to colleges concerned about returning to campus too quickly. Other legislation is still being considered, and we will update you as we get more information. You can also sign up for the new FACCC Advocates Listserv (FACCCadvocates+subscribe@googlegroups.com) to receive additional information about bills and legislation.
While many great things are happening, colleges are also currently facing numerous challenges and concerns, among which are the following:
1. The ASCCC has heard from many local senate presidents regarding concerns around vaccine and mask mandates throughout the state and the roles of faculty in dealing with them; for example, questions are often raised regarding the responsibility of faculty if a student enters a physical classroom without a mask when a mandate has been imposed by the college or district. We continue to dialogue with other system leaders about what is happening across the system and how faculty are engaging in these conversations at the college and district level.
2. Tied to these mandates is the return to campus. As the Chancellor’s Office has made clear, colleges are not reopening because they never closed; they shifted to the online modality. Colleges and districts around the state are handling the return very differently. The percentage of in-person classes also varies, with some senate presidents reporting 70% or more classes being in-person and others letting us know that the number is closer to 15%. The ASCCC will continue to monitor the various returns to campus and the engagement of local senates in those conversations and will provide updates when possible. As a reminder, while the Chancellor’s Office has offered guidance on both vaccine and mask mandates, those decisions ultimately remain up to local boards of trustees.
3. The ASCCC, the CCCCIO Board, and the Chancellor’s Office recently issued a joint memo regarding the infiltration of the system by bots intent on committing fraud in a variety of ways, including registration, enrollment, and financial aid. Many of these cases were first reported by faculty, and we continue to engage with the Chancellor’s Office, CIOs, and others to prepare faculty for these kinds of episodes. You may find the memo here: https://bit.ly/3lSzJn5
4. Finally, we realize that many colleges and communities have been impacted by the wildfires that continue to cause damage around the state. The Chancellor’s Office and the Academic Senate have reached out to many of the colleges to determine what we can do to help those colleges move forward.
The ASCCC remains committed to collaborating with practitioner and college or district partners and to engaging with all constituents across the state as we continue our work of providing professional development and assistance to colleges in academic and professional matters. We hope to see many of you at our events, whether virtually or in-person, and hope that you feel free to reach out to us at any time at info@asccc.org.
Happy Fall!
Dolores M. Davison
President, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
List of Upcoming Events
October 2021
- October 7-9, 2021
2021 Academic Academy - Virtual Event
November 2021
- November 4-6, 2021
Fall Plenary Session - Westin Long Beach/Hybrid Event
Save the Date!
- December 3-4, 2021
Executive Meeting - The Citizen Hotel Sacramento/Hybrid Event
