Less than an hour ago, the IVC community received this email from IVC VPI Craig Justice:
Dear Faculty,
Every year, the administration consults with the Academic Senate about Irvine Valley College’s faculty hiring priority list so that a recommendation can move forward to the Board of Trustees at their October Board Meeting. Always, a longer list is presented to the Board than can be funded, as was the case this year. Nine positions were authorized by the Board for recruitment, and IVC’s President’s Executive Council (PEC) confirmed on December 15th that only six faculty could be funded with certainty due to continuing limitations on revenue arising from the Proposition 30 phase-out and the continuing long-term structural deficit. The remaining three positions would be considered for funding (in priority order) only in the event a recruitment failed or if it was determined that the college had not reached its target for the Faculty Obligation Number (FON) required by the state. Neither of these contingencies has materialized and therefore the recruitments for positions #7-#9 have been stopped.
Typically, job descriptions are written and recruitment committees formed in the fall and HR advertises all the positons [sic] in December. Normally, by mid-February, recruitments would be stopped prior to their closing date and continued over to the following year if funding was not allocated by that time. IVC has followed this practice for many years. This year, the communications studies recruitment was halted on the day it closed and the positions for geography and learning disabilities halted in advance of their closing dates. While the committees have not yet met nor screening commenced, it has become clear that there were expectations, unlike past years, that the recruitments would proceed. Unfortunately, this is not the case for two compelling reasons that have been confirmed since March 1st:
1) Currently, the District is about 20 full-time positions over and above that which is required by the FON. Full-time Equivalent Students (FTES), budget revenues, the Faculty Obligation Number, the size of new planned instructional buildings, among others, are determined in our community college system by WSCH (Weekly Student Contact Hours). WSCH at IVC for resident students did not grow at all this past fall and has declined at Saddleback College. The District’s FON is expected to fall next year as a result of falling WSCH in the District.
2) Neither IVC nor Saddleback College know with any certainty the size of additional obligations that will be drawn from their budgets this year and next as a result of higher “costs of doing business.” Coupled with not knowing with certainty how or at what level the state will fund the colleges for enrollment growth, it would be imprudent (if not irresponsible) to hire more than six full-time faculty this year.
I apologize for any breakdown in communication in this matter because I am sure that had we publicized the process and its steps more completely – say, by stating the funded number of positons [sic] openly as a “planning assumption” for APTC and BDRPC and other strategic planning committees to follow – expectations would have been more in line with the final reality. I pledge to take steps to make communication more clear and effective next year as we manage the many components of the hiring process.
Disappointment aside, we should all celebrate the fact that a total of eight new faculty will be joining IVC in the coming fall – two positions carried over from last year and six funded this year. Thank you for your consideration.
Respectfully,
Craig
Craig Justice, Ph. D.
Vice President for Instruction
Irvine Valley College
5 comments:
Is he the pope, or the vice president?
I would like a vote of no confidence in a college president that pushes a personal agenda with full-time tenure track positions at the heart of it (at another institution, without curriculum, without the support of faculty and staff) at the expense of real needs of already established and successful programs at IVC. It should be both an shame and a scandal but for someone to feel shame they must have a moral code. He apparently does not. This is ridiculous. Saddleback continues to hire - despite their dropping enrollment. We are growing and our hires are pared down EVERY YEAR. Meanwhile THOUSANDS in overtime and stipends are doled out. People are earning TWICE their salaries in overtime and the deans and the VPs are approving it. Sometimes I think of calling up Don Wagner and asking him to investigate.
The DISTRICT is OVER the FON but not the college and certainly not the most impacted areas of IVC and they know this and they do not CARE. While many rake in easily got overtime, others scramble to provide enough classes to meet the needs of the students. Why doesn't someone do a study of FT overtime Davit???? It is unconscionable and unsustainable - especially now that they do not allow MOUs for PT overload. There is NO LEADERSHIP here. Just friends of robots making way to their their buddies. Watch and see.
We have been told for years about Saddleback's declining enrollment and IVC's growth and yet our leaders do not support hiring that will address the gaps in staffing at IVC. Instead, the proliferation of Admin positions (and salaries) continues - along with egregious overtime pay and bonuses. The president is in love with the idea of robots and lasers at another campus instead of the real needs of programs and students at IVC. Indefensible. Saddleback continues to hire big while we are told to celebrate small.
I would support a vote of no confidence for both the president and the VPI.
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