Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) Report
By Dan Crump (American River College), CCL Liaison to the ASCCC
Last week (April 15-17), the ASCCC concluded its Spring Fall Plenary Session---once again in a virtual environment. The theme of the Session was “Working Collectively: Transforming and Decolonizing Institutions” and the first two days of the Session consisted of breakouts on a variety of topics of interest to faculty, focusing on equity, anti-racism and inclusion. I want to include part of the message that ASCCC President Dolores Davison sent to attendees: "Along with all of the excitement that surrounds plenary, we also have reasons to be contemplative. This plenary is our second to be held entirely online, a situation in no way mitigated by the months of practice we have all had with Zoom, although one made slightly more optimistic by the roll out of vaccines. The country has also seen a surge in violence—against Asian-Americans, specifically Asian-American women, but also against people of color, women, and transgendered people—and the feelings of hopelessness, despair, and sorrow can be overwhelming. While the theme for this plenary, 'Working Collectively: Transforming and Decolonizing Institutions,' was chosen in February, it seems particularly prescient given the current situations the country and our institutions are facing.”
On the last day of Session, delegates voted on resolutions that will shape the positions and actions of the ASCCC. The full text of the resolutions is on the ASCCC website. Of special interest for library and learning assistance/tutoring faculty was a resolution from Fall 2020 (Resolution 8.01---"Counseling Faculty and the 50% Law”) that was “referred” to the Executive Committee to review and bring to the Spring 2021 Session. The resolution was referred because even though the goal of the resolution to “explore means to include counselor salaries and benefits as instructional expenses under California Education Code §84362, also known as the 50% Law…” is laudable, it left librarians, tutor and learning assistance faculty out of the “right” side of the 50% Law and it is somewhat contrary to previous recommendations. The referral message also directed the ASCCC “to review for inclusion of all non-instructional faculty and to return to the body by Spring 2021.” And that did happen with the adoption of two resolutions at the Spring Plenary Session--- Resolution 6.01 “Revisiting the 50% Law and the Faculty Obligation Number” and Resolution 8.01 “Counseling Faculty, Student Success, and Transfer.” The text of both of these resolutions (which were unanimously approved and adopted) are in the resolutions link listed above.
The elections for many of the positions on the ASCCC Executive Committee (all the officers and half of the area representatives) are being conducted this week. I will inform you of the results in a message on the CCL listserv.
I have the honor and privilege of being the CCL Liaison to the ASCCC and therefore attend their meetings to present the library faculty perspective. I can attest that they are a hard-working and fantastic group of faculty leaders. The ASCCC is very supportive of the role that librarians perform in the instructional processes at all of our colleges (see the 2019 ASCCC paper “The Role of Library Faculty in the California Community College”)
and I also wish to acknowledge the strong and continued support of the ASCCC for the Library Services Platform (LSP). They have been great in every step of the way!