Academic Senate and Equity

Academic Senate and Equity

Our Responsibility and Our Work

Academic Senate and 10+11. Curriculum including establishing prerequisites and placing courses within disciplines2. Degree and certificate requirements3. Grading policies4. Educational program development5. Standards or policies regarding student preparation and success6. District and college governance structures, as related to faculty roles7. Faculty roles and involvement in accreditation processes, including self-study and annual

reports8. Policies for faculty professional development activities9. Processes for program review

10. Processes for institutional planning and budget development 11. Other academic and professional matters as are mutually agreed upon between the governing

board and the academic senate.

CCCO’s Call to Action and AS⇢ Campus-wide Dialog

○ The Academic Senate is the space for campus-wide faculty dialog about issues concerning faculty.

⇢ Campus Climate & Curriculum

○ Fire and police curriculum○ “...[E]valuate all courses for diverse representation and diversity of representation and culturally-relevant

content.”○ “This work must be led in partnership with campus CEO’s/Presidents, college faculty, chief

instructional officers, chief student service officers, the ASCCC, the Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC) and campus student leaders.”

⇢ Review Equity Plans

○ “This work must be led system wide in partnership with district trustees, CEO’s/Presidents and all campus leaders at all levels.

ASCCC Call to Action/Letter from President Stanskas⇢ Make a tentative agenda now that includes a discussion of anti-racism/no-hate

education. Remember, you do not have to have an answer to start a conversation.

⇢ Prioritize culturally responsive curricular redesign with your curriculum committee.

⇢ Prioritize the evaluation of hiring and evaluation processes.

⇢ Evaluate your academic senate and find the voices among your faculty missing in governance. Find ways to empower those voices.

AS and Hiring Policies⇢ Hiring policies, while enshrined briefly in the Master Agreement, are not a

COSTA agreement. According to 7.1, “The hiring of faculty will follow the Joint Agreement on Hiring Policy between the College of the Sequoias Faculty Senate, Management and Board of Trustees.”

⇢ Hiring policies are “established and implemented in accordance with board policies and procedures regarding the Academic Senate’s role in local decision-making” (BP 7120)

⇢ Hiring policies “represents the joint agreement reached between the College of the Sequoias Community College District and the College of the Sequoias Academic Senate on faculty hiring procedures” (Joint Agreement)

Hiring and Interview Procedure Drafts - @ Fall ‘21 Plenary

Equity Discussions Abound at AS Fall ‘21 Plenary⇢ Ethnic Studies⇢ OER⇢ Governance in a Hybrid world⇢ Equity and Competency-Based Ed.⇢ Transfer (esp. re: AB 928 [Berman 2021]), 2 sessions⇢ Hot Topics for Part-time Faculty⇢ Equity and CORs⇢ Equity-Driven Leadership⇢ Partnering w/ Union re: DEI Expectations⇢ What Does It Mean to Be an Anti-Racist Institution

Example of ASCCC Resources

COS AS Resolution on Anti-Racism and Actionable Steps⇢ Our Academic Senate adopted a resolution in September 2020 to pursue

actionable steps to address the Calls to Action presented to us by our statewide governing bodies.

⇢ Specifically, we resolved to “host honest conversations, call out structural barriers, present solutions and continually measure our progress to hold ourselves accountable for making progress.”

Thoughts for Future Action⇢ Intentionality

○ We must be intentional in our work. We should adopt explicit commitment and norms to review our work toward antiracism and equity.

○ Equitable and antiracist outcomes did not occur simply by course of regular action. They took intentional work.

⇢ Collaborative, Complementary, and Recursive Work○ Accept this work as the purview of all faculty, committees, task forces, and organizations.○ Work is not duplicative. It is necessary to engage in this work across campus, not in one

committee or by a few faculty members.

⇢ Engage in Learning○ Engage in professional learning to better understand why this work is necessary and how each of

us can play a role.○ Start with the ASCCC Summer 2020 Rostrum to hear the voices of faculty across the state.

Chancellor’s Office 1102 Q Street, Sacramento, CA 95811 | 916.445.8752 | www.cccco.edu

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

June 5, 2020

Dear California Community College Family,

With the goal of improving outcomes for all of our students, over the past three years we have been committed to implementing the Vision for Success reforms with equity at the core of our work. Over the past three months, this system has mobilized to help 2.1 million students in the middle of a global pandemic. With equity at the forefront of decision-making, our faculty, staff, student leaders, administrators and trustees have responded with resources such as, Wi-Fi, laptops, hot meals, emergency loans and online education for our students. Most recently, our system and our students are hurting and they are outraged because of the systemic racial injustices that still exist in our country. In this moment, we need to use our positions of privilege, influence and power to make a difference.

More than 69 percent of our students identify with one or more ethnic groups—this means that we serve the most diverse student populations in all of higher education. On Wednesday, the Chancellor’s Office hosted a “Call to Action” webinar. Chancellor Oakley and system leaders called for our system to actively strategize and take action against structural racism. We cannot say that we are equity champions and be afraid to have open dialogue about structural racism. In this webinar, Chancellor Oakley called for action across six key areas that will require their own work plan and all of you to help us implement and hold us accountable. Specifically, the “Call to Action” asks for our system to mobilize around:

1. A System wide review of law enforcement officers and first responder trainingand curriculum. Our system trains the majority of law enforcement officers,firefighters and EMTs in California. We have an opportunity to transform ourcommunities by leading the nation in training our law enforcement officers and firstresponder workforce in unconscious/implicit bias, de-escalation training withcultural sensitivity, and community-oriented/de-militarized approaches. This workmust be led system wide in partnership with the Academic Senate for CaliforniaCommunity Colleges (ASCCC), faculty at our colleges, Career Technical Education

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

Deans, workforce education practitioners, local communities and key stakeholders such as the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST).

2. Campus leaders must host open dialogue and address campus climate. The murder of George Floyd, ongoing violence projected in the news, increased unemployment, poverty and inequality impact every single community. Now more than ever, our students, faculty, staff and administrators need to feel a sense of agency and must have open and honest conversations about how we come together as an educational community to keep building inclusive and safe learning environments. Our campuses already use surveys, focus groups and town halls to address campus climate, but building community virtually requires new strategies and tools. This work must be led by our campus CEO’s/Presidents in partnership with district trustees, campus police, chief student service officers, campus student leaders and their community.

3. Campuses must audit classroom climate and create an action plan to create inclusive classrooms and anti-racism curriculum. As campus leaders look at overall campus climate, it is equally critical that faculty leaders engage in a comprehensive review of all courses and programs, including non-credit, adult education, and workforce training programs. Campuses need to discuss how they give and receive feedback and strive to embrace the process of feedback as a productive learning tool rather than a tool wielded to impose judgment and power. Faculty and administrative leaders must work together to develop action plans that provide proactive support for faculty and staff in evaluating their classroom and learning cultures, curriculum, lesson plans and syllabi, and course evaluation protocols. Campuses also need to look comprehensively at inclusive curriculum that goes beyond a single course, such as ethnic studies, and evaluate all courses for diversity of representation and culturally-relevant content. District leaders should engage with local faculty labor leaders to review the tenure review process to ensure that the process promotes and supports cultural competency. Additionally, districts should be intentional about engaging the experiences, perspectives and voices of non-tenured and adjunct faculty in the equity work of the campus. This work must be led in partnership with campus CEO’s/Presidents, college faculty, chief

Chancellor’s Office 1102 Q Street, Sacramento, CA 95811 | 916.445.8752 | www.cccco.edu

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

instructional officers, chief student service officers, the ASCCC, the Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC) and campus student leaders.

4. District Boards review and update your Equity plans with urgency. It is time for colleges to take out their Equity Plans and look at them with fresh eyes and answer the question of whether it is designed for compliance or for outcomes. College leaders, both administrative and academic, must have candid conversations about the limitations and barriers to pushing their equity plans and agenda further, and where there are opportunities and support to accelerate the work. Colleges will need to pull together a cross-campus team, including research, human resources, technology, faculty, support services, classified staff and others to focus on naming the barriers, identifying solutions, and then rallying the full campus to engage in meeting the needs. Equity plans must take into consideration the non-credit and adult education students, who consist of close to a million students in our system, and make up some of the most vulnerable and socially disadvantaged groups. We have all seen campuses do what was previously considered impossible as they responded to COVID-19; it is time to channel that same can-do attitude and community resolve towards addressing equity and structural racism. This work must be led system wide in partnership with district trustees, CEO’s/Presidents and all campus leaders at all levels.

5. Shorten the time frame for the full implementation of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Integration Plan. In 2018, the Board of Governors of California’s Community Colleges (Board) mandated that our system create a plan to address diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in our workforce and learning environments. This work culminated in a unanimous vote September 2019 where the Board adopted a new system wide statement for DEI that impacts the mission of our system, the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) reports submitted by our districts and funding allocations for EEO funds. In addition to a new statement, the Board approved the DEI Integration Plan with a call to fully implement 68 recommendations over the next five years. Our system cannot afford to wait 5 years. The Chancellor calls for the Chancellor’s Office DEI Implementation Workgroup, the statewide representatives in the Consultation Council and campus leaders to

Chancellor’s Office 1102 Q Street, Sacramento, CA 95811 | 916.445.8752 | www.cccco.edu

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

mobilize to implement all tier 1 recommendations in the next 6 to 12 months and to act with urgency to implement tier 2 recommendations.

6. Join and engage in the Vision Resource Center “Community Colleges for Change.” As an educational community, we all need to continue to invest time to learn. The Chancellor’s Office has created a virtual community in the Vision Resource Center where content, dialogue and modules will be uploaded. Visit visionresourcecenter.cccco.edu. After logging in, under the “Connect” menu, visit “All Communities” and look for “Community Colleges for Change”. Select the community and then click “Join Community” to access the content. This site is open to our entire system.

This call to action does not end here. Our work has just begun. Similar to the Guided Pathways work you have been engaged in, it will take all of us to host honest conversations, call out structural barriers, present solutions and continually measure our progress to hold ourselves accountable for making progress. We invite you to continue to learn with us. Several of you have already emailed us to get access to the webinar recording and resources mentioned by several of the “Call to Action” webinar speakers. Below is a list of those materials.

• June 3, 2020 “Call to Action” Webinar recording: https://cccconfer.zoom.us/rec/share/ovNrIr_iyGVJbdLAykXQdaUgOq7seaa8gy Mc-6VeyBz9P_Ku-NHJIQb3iV8uZ3Xt?startTime=1591200002000

• Diversity Equity and Inclusion Legislative Report and Integration Plan: https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/Reports/CCCCO_DEI_Report.pdf?la=en&hash=69E11E4DAB1DEBA318 1E053BEE89E7BC3A709BEE

• Webinar series by A2MEND. Join this Saturday June 6th at 11 a.m. https://twitter.com/A2MEND2006/status/1268630853002747904

• Panelist recommended articles and books: o The Racist Roots of American Policing: From Slave Patrols to Traffic

Stops o MappingPoliceViolence.org o “When Police Brutality Has You Questioning Humanity and Social

Media is Enough”

Chancellor’s Office 1102 Q Street, Sacramento, CA 95811 | 916.445.8752 | www.cccco.edu

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

o How to Raise a Black Son in Americao Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coateso 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justiceo The Conversation We Must Have with Our White Childreno White Fragility: Why it’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

by Robin J. DiAngelo

On behalf of our 2.1 million students and the 131 employees in the Chancellor’s Office, we thank you for joining us to learn, listen and act. Together we are a stronger, more courageous, and creative community.

In solidarity,

Eloy Ortiz Oakley, Chancellor

Marty Alvarado, Executive Vice Chancellor of Educational Services and Support

Paul Feist, Vice Chancellor of Communications and Marketing

Barney Gomez, Vice Chancellor of Digital Innovation and Infrastructure

Dr. John Hetts, Visiting Executive of Research and Data

Marc LeForestier, General Counsel

Dr. Daisy Gonzales, Deputy Chancellor

Dr. Aisha Lowe, Vice Chancellor of Educational Services and Support

Kelley Maddox, Vice Chancellor of Internal Operations

Lizette Navarette, Vice Chancellor of College Finance and Facilities Planning

David O’Brien, Vice Chancellor of Governmental Relations

Sheneui Weber, Vice Chancellor of Workforce and Economic Development

Chancellor’s Office 1102 Q Street, Sacramento, CA 95811 | 916.445.8752 | www.cccco.edu

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Special Message from the President

Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Nina Pop, D'AndreCampbell, Tony McDade, Regis Korchini-Paquet,Ahmaud Arbery, Jordan Baker, Victor White III,Keith Lamont Scott, Dontre Hamilton…

I send you this message with a heavy heart. I spent thisweekend once again talking about systemic racism andoppression with my children as they try to make sense ofthe news and the harsh realities of our country. Westarted with the immediate facts: who was George Floydand what happened, that no one deserves to be choked todeath in police custody. We talked about police officers –that most are probably good people. We talked aboutstereotypes and assumptions our society embeds in everymessage we consume since birth, such as that Black menare dangerous and not to be trusted, and that we have torecognize and acknowledge our assumptions andstereotypes if we are to address them. When my son, asixteen year-old LatinX young man, said, “That’s why youdon’t like me wearing big sweatshirts with the hood upwhen we go out in public,” it broke my heart. And I toldhim yes, that is why, and although it should not matterwhat you wear or look like, in this America it does. Toquote a wise woman in my life who counsels me aboutraising children of color, “We want our babies to live.” Wehave to acknowledge that they will deal with systemicracism and oppression. When a group of white men canprotest in Sacramento with guns at the capitol but blackpro football players lose their jobs for taking a knee insupport of the Black Lives Matter movement, we can seethe reality of the racism and oppression in our system.

…Michael Brown, Larry Jackson Jr., JonathanFerrell, Sean Reed, Steven Demarco Taylor,Ariane McCree, Terrance Franklin, Miles Hall,William Green, Alton Sterling, Eric Garner,Philando Castile, Sandra Bland…

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Everyone on this ongoing list of names was someone’sbaby who did not live through an encounter with thepolice. They are our neighbors, our brothers, our children,and our students. According to PBS News Hour, thelifetime risk of Black boys and men being killed by thepolice is 96 deaths per 100,000, compared to 39 deathsper 100,000 for white boys and men.

…Trayvon Martin, Samuel David Mallard, TamirRice, Botham Shem Jean, E.J. Branford, AntwonRose, Stephon Clark, Natosha “Tony” McDade,Freddie Gray, Brendon Glenn, John CrawfordIII…

The ASCCC Inclusivity Statement speaks to ourcommitment. We adopted this statement in Fall 2019 byacclamation. We said, in part, [E]mbracing diversitymeans that we must intentionally practice acceptanceand respect towards one another and understand thatdiscrimination and prejudices create and sustainprivileges for some while creating and sustainingdisadvantages for others. In order to embrace diversity,we also acknowledge that institutional discriminationand implicit bias exist and that our goal is to eradicatethose elements from our system. Our commitment todiversity requires that we strive to eliminate thosebarriers to equity and that we act deliberately to create asafe and inclusive environment where individual andgroup differences are valued and leveraged for ourgrowth and understanding as an educationalcommunity. The time has come to act on thiscommitment.

…Yassin Mohamed, Wendell Allen, Finan H.Berhe, Darius Tarver, Kwame “KK” Jones, De’vonBailey, Christopher Witfield, Anthony Hill,Micheal Brown, Ezell Ford, Dante Parker…

Also in Fall 2019, the ASCCC passed a resolution thatstates that we Support Infusing Anti-Racism/No-HateEducation in Community Colleges, that

[T]o eliminate institutional discrimination, the AcademicSenate for California Community Colleges strives to dothe following:

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1. To integrate an accurate portrayal of the roles andcontributions of all groups throughout history acrosscurricula, particularly groups that have beenunderrepresented historically,

2. To identify how bias, stereotyping, anddiscrimination have limited the roles andcontributions of individuals and groups and howthese limitations have challenged and continue tochallenge our society,

3. To encourage all members of the educationalcommunity to examine assumptions and prejudices,including but not limited to racism, sexism, andhomophobia, that might limit the opportunities andgrowth of students and employees,

4. To offer positive and diverse role models in oursociety, including the recruitment, hiring, andpromotion of diverse employees in communitycolleges,

5. To coordinate with organizations and concernedagencies that promote the contributions, heritage,culture, history, and health and care needs of diversepopulation groups, and

6. To promote a safe and inclusive environment for all;and

Whereas, Racism and racial discrimination threatenhuman development because of the obstacles that theypose to the fulfillment to basic human rights to survival,security, development, and social participation, becauseracism has been shown to have negative cognitive,behavioral, affective, and relational effects on both childand adult victims nationally and globally, historicallyand contemporarily, and because racism, racialdiscrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerancehave been shown to be attitudes and behaviors that arelearned;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for CaliforniaCommunity Colleges denounce racism for its negativepsychological, social, educational, and economic effectson human development throughout the lifespan;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for CaliforniaCommunity Colleges, to eliminate institutionaldiscrimination, take steps to not only strive for a greaterknowledge about and the celebration of diversity but also

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to support deeper training that reveals the inherentracism embedded in societal institutions in the UnitedStates, including the educational system, and asksindividuals to examine their personal role in the supportof racist structures and the commitment to work todismantle structural racism; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for CaliforniaCommunity Colleges infuse Anti- Racism/No HateEducation in all its activities and professionaldevelopment opportunities to the degree that doing so isfeasible.

This resolution offers the advice and judgment of thefaculty of the California community colleges. Now is thetime to put these words into practice.

…Eric Logan, Kendrec McDade, JamarionRobinson, Gregory Hill Jr., JaQuavion Slaton,Ryan Twyman, Brandon Webber, Kajieme Powell,Laquan McDonald, Mario Woods, JimmyAtchison…

I realize that asking academic senate presidents who maybe facilitating their first meeting in August to act on theseprinciples is difficult and requires a vulnerability that maybe uncomfortable. The following are some ideas for whatyou can do with an agenda that is two or three monthsaway. Publishing a tentative agenda and asking foradditional items in advance is permissible and can ensurethe voices raised across our country now are meaningful.

1. Make a tentative agenda now that includes adiscussion of anti-racism/no-hate education. Remember, you do not have to have an answer to starta conversation.

2. Prioritize culturally responsive curricular redesignwith your curriculum committee.

3. Acknowledge, without assigning blame, that thestructure of the college houses the biases andprejudices of its founding time. Those biases haveprivileged some and disadvantaged others,particularly African-American and LatinXcommunities.

4. Prioritize the evaluation of hiring and evaluationprocesses.

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Academic Senate for California Community Colleges

One Capitol Mall, Suite 230

Sacramento, CA  95814

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5. Request services from the ASCCC about any of thesetopics here.

6. Evaluate your academic senate and find the voicesamong your faculty missing in governance. Find waysto empower those voices.

7. Work with your administration and students to findconstructive ways students can express themselvesabout these deaths and the structural and historicalbiases that exist.

…Willie McCoy, D’ettrick Griffin, JemelRoberson, DeAndre Ballard, Botham Shem Jean,Robert Lawrence White, Akai Gurley, RumainBrisbon, Charly Keunang, Anthony LamarSmith…

Our country is protesting systemic oppression and racismthat is most horrifically exemplified in this endless list ofdead African-Americans. Find ways to lift these voicesand carry them into the next term. Use this effort as theimpetus to address and educate ourselves and ourstudents and change the parts of our systems we have thepower to change. This is a call to action.

In solidarity,

John Stanskas

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Resolution on Anti-Racism and Actionable Steps

September 9, 2020

Whereas the ASCCC acknowledged in their fall 2019 resolution “Support Infusing Anti-

Racism/No Hate Education in Community Colleges” that “[r]acism and racial discrimination

threaten human development because of the obstacles that they pose to the fulfillment to basic

human rights…”

Whereas on June 5, 2020 Chancellor Oakley and system leaders have “called for our system to

actively strategize and take action against structural racism.”

Whereas systemic and institutional racism are insidious cultural and historical aspects of our

regions and institutions1—including our local educational institutions2.

Whereas former ASCCC President Stanskas has put out a Call to Action in his Special Message,

asking Academic Senates “to act on [the] commitment” of the ASCCC Inclusivity statement of

fall 2019 which says, “In order to embrace diversity, we also acknowledge that institutional

discrimination and implicit bias exist and that the goal is to eradicate those elements from our

system.”

Resolved, COS Academic Senate denounces racism and commits to taking actionable steps

against structural racism, to engage in the work called for by Chancellor Oakley to “host honest

conversations, call out structural barriers, present solutions and continually measure our progress

to hold ourselves accountable for making progress.”

Resolved, COS Academic Senate echoes the ASCCC’s support of “deeper training” for all

administration, faculty, and staff “that reveals the inherent racism embedded in societal

institutions…and asks individuals to examine their personal role in the support of racist

structures and the commitment to work to dismantle structural racism.”

Resolved, COS Academic Senate tasks each of its committees to adopt at least one initiative that

addresses anti-racism or social justice pertinent to each committee’s purview.

1 Bringhurst, Newell G. “The Ku Klux Klan in a Central California Community: Tulare County During the 1920s and 1930s.” Southern California Quarterly, vol. 84, no. 4, Winter 2000, pp. 365-396. JSTOR, doi: 10.2307/41172036; Wade, James, and Calley Cederlof. “The Ku Klux Klan and Visalia: A Legacy of Racism That Hasn't Died.” Visalia Times Delta, 26 Jun. 2020, https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/ story/news/2019/02/21/kkk-visalia-history-racism-harrassment-schools/2818829002/. 2 Cederlof, Calley. “Racism Is the 'Normal' on Visalia Campuses, Students Tell ACLU.” Visalia Times Delta, 14 Dec. 2018, https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/2018/12/14/ racism-normal-visalia-campuses-students-tell-aclu/2306105002/.