Query (re accreditation)

.....As you know, each of our colleges has established a "focus group" (task force? committee? coffee klatch?) to tackle accreditation. .....I know that IVC's group had its second meeting this morning. Don't know about Saddleback College's group. .....Does anyone know how things are going on these committees? Any progress? Inquiring minds wanna know. .....Faculty who serve on IVC's committee have offered brief reports (of the first meeting) at a recent senate meeting. (These meetings are open to the public.) According to those folks, the right note of openness and frankness was struck right from the start. They praised the effort and the participants. .....On the other hand, it was reported that trustee Wagner discouraged the notion that "personnel changes" might occur to deal with our accreditation difficulties (fear, despair, hostility, etc.). .....The group considered models of "collegial consultation" that are used at such colleges as Chabot and College of the Canyons. .....Evidently, our district operates sans model. P.S.: .....Someone commented, writing that "Inquiring minds should contact their shared gov representatives on the committee." The writer in effect cautioned us to be "careful." .....Excellent advice. If information won't be brought to us, then we need to seek out the information ourselves. Luckily, we have knowledgeable people to contact. (Note that the Accred focus groups have lots of representation, including classified.) .....We at Dissent always try to be careful, which isn't always easy. We make mistakes, but we always try to acknowledge them asap. .....IT SEEMS TO ME THAT, in general, as far as district administration is concerned, the college and district communities should be left in the dark, even about events and processes of crucial importance to the colleges' futures, such as our accreditation project (or the development of ATEP, or the sudden removal of the students' flags in the Student Services Bldg. as a response to de facto threats of protests). Given these near "blackout" conditions, Dissent, which is after all a kind of newsletter, cannot simply remain mute about known factoids, especially when they are provided at venues that are open to the public. .....I should add that our Academic Senate leadership has consistently informed senators of events and processes, to the degree possible or permitted. Clearly, our senate values openness and "transparency." Senate leaders deserve praise. ..... And openness seems to characterize their dealings with college administration as well. That's great. .....Again, the information void to which I am referring largely concerns district—and to some extent, college—leadership. When decisions are made, we should be informed. When important processes are under way, we should be kept apprised of progress. .....I should mention that a meeting for the purpose of informing the IVC community of the Accred focus group's progress is scheduled for a week and a half from now. ..... But, by then, the process will be over a month old. Shouldn't we be apprised about so important a matter sooner and more regularly? .....And what on earth is happening with ATEP? And will we make it over the 50% line (for instructional expenditures) given the current "pause" in new faculty hiring? .....And what's with this exodus of college presidents, provosts, and Vice Chancellors? .....Inquiring minds wanna know! —CW, 4/19

Grossmont's work-to-contract action

.....Yesterday, after the senate meeting at Irvine Valley College, I overheard a reference to a “work-to-contract” (WTC) action at Grossmont College. That's in El Cajon (San Diego area).
.....Naturally, I was interested, for, here in the SOCCCD, the faculty union has called for a “work-to-contract” action, which entails faculty refraining from the large amount of extra-contractual work that is traditional for college faculty, but which is so often underappreciated or even unrecognized by college boards.
.....So, this morning, I did some Googling. I came up with this article from the March 29 issue of the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Dispute over pay roils two campuses

.....Labor unrest has escalated at Grossmont and Cuyamaca community colleges, where faculty members are protesting stalled salary negotiations by refusing to volunteer for activities at their campuses.
.....Since the United Faculty union called for the job action March 4, faculty members have stopped advising student clubs and serving on committees, including those dealing with accreditation. Some events have been postponed as a result, including Women's History Month presentations, which had been scheduled to begin Monday at Grossmont College.
.....“We hate to do anything like that,” United Faculty President Zoe Close said. “(But) it's a tool that is available to us to make a statement.”
.....The district's 1,300 full-and part-time faculty members haven't received a raise in two years, Close said.
.....The district filed an unfair-labor-practice complaint against United Faculty with the state March 14, claiming the job action is illegal and not in good faith because the two sides are trying to work out an agreement through the state's labor process.
.....“They're hurting their institutions and students by jeopardizing their accreditation,” said Omero Suarez, chancellor of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District.
.....The labor dispute is heating up at a time when the district is dealing with other crucial issues.
.....The district is getting an unexpected, midyear budget cut of $1.3 million, part of an $84.4 million statewide loss for colleges because of a drop in property-tax revenue. Also, Suarez announced he will retire next summer with one year left on his contract, and the governing board wants to start looking for a new chancellor soon.
.....The district also is locked in a different contract dispute with administrators who formed a union two years ago. The 64-member Administrators Association consists of vice presidents, deans and supervisors, but the pay dispute concerns only supervisors.
.....“We wish we could wrap this up and move on to other issues,” said Jim Fenningham, president of the Administrators Association and a dean at Grossmont College. The association's members aren't participating in the faculty's work-to-the-contract job action, he said.
.....This isn't the first time faculty members have dropped out of their committees and advisory posts. In 2005, faculty members also refused to volunteer for assignments to protest a labor impasse. The issue was settled four months later.
.....The district and faculty union reached another stalemate last year while negotiating a salary agreement for 2006-07 and had been meeting with a state-appointed mediator.
.....On Feb. 29, the mediator declared that the two sides couldn't come to an agreement. They're now in the fact-finding phase of the state's labor dispute process.
.....In fact-finding, a three-member panel, including a state-appointed arbitrator, investigates each side's proposals and makes a nonbinding recommendation. The district can reject the panel's recommendation and impose its last offer. If the union doesn't agree with the district's offer, it can call for a strike.
.....The fact-finding process could take up to eight weeks to complete, said Roger Smith, spokesman for the state's Public Employment Relations Board. The administrators association is also in the fact-finding stage.
.....Close declined to discuss the faculty union's salary demands until the fact-finding process is completed. The district posted the last salary proposals on its Web site.
.....The United Faculty union is seeking a 5 percent salary increase for the district's 400 full-time faculty members and a 6 percent bump for 900 part-time faculty members for 2006-07. It's seeking a 3.5 percent increase for full-timers and a 4 percent increase for part-timers for 2007-08.
.....The district is proposing an increase of 4 percent for full-timers and 5.5 percent for part-timers for 2006-07, and 3 percent for full-timers and 3.5 percent for part-timers for 2007-08.

As the above article indicates, Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Chancellor Omero Suarez plans to step down before his contract expires. According to another recent Union-Tribune article (Chancellor stepping down),

.....…[I]n 2006, [Suarez’s] reputation suffered when he admitted deleting the buyout clause in his contract without board approval. Suarez was not disciplined but his relationship with board members has not been the same since, board president Bill Garrett said.
…..
.....Suarez had a well-documented falling out with faculty leaders at Grossmont College in recent years. He said they were unhappy that their campus did not get more construction dollars and took their frustrations out on him.
.....In 2005, Suarez was the target of a no-confidence vote by the Grossmont College Academic Senate over funding and other issues. The senate questioned the data that was used to allocate funding for the two campuses….

Dissent has noticed Suarez before. See What's with these community college trustees?.

ALSO:

• I came across a seemingly helpful bulletin (See) put out by the Santa Monica College Faculty Association in 2006. It attempts to explain work-to-contract. It mentions Foothill DeAnza's then-recent and successful WTC.

• For an example of a recent (year-old) ACCJC (Accreditation) report that takes note of the effects of a work-to-contract action see Hartnell College Evaluation Report.

• Check out the Mission College Academic Senate website. Under "documents," read in particular the senate's "behavioral objectives." Ours is not the only faculty treated and thought of badly by trustees.