Statewide Academic Senate Report



Statewide Academic Senate Report

to the

CSUN Faculty Senate

May 18, 2006

The May 4-5, 2006 Plenary of the Academic Senate CSU was an unusually busy session. It was announced that the Amendment to the ASCSU Constitution which will reduce the size of the membership of the Academic Senate, was approved by vote of the faculty throughout the system. Meeting with the Senate, providing reports and time for interaction were Chancellor Reed, Trustee Herbert Carter, Executive Vice Chancellor Gary Reichard, Faculty Trustee Craig Smith, and CSSA Liaison Hironao Okahana (CSULB). The Senate set the calendar of meetings for 06-07 and elected the officers and Executive Committee for the 2006-07 academic year. Marshelle Thobaben (Humboldt) was re-elected Chair.

A number of important items came forward from committees that required immediate discussion/action and in most cases the development and passage of resolutions.

Full text of all resolutions passed at this meeting is available on the ASCSU Website referenced below. The following are the major resolutions approved by the Academic Senate CSU during the May Plenary:

1. Providing Lecturers with Timely Academic Support recognizes the necessity to provide all lecturers as well as other faculty with the necessary resources to ensure students are provided a high quality education. Among the resources noted: suitable office and office furniture, access to an appropriate computer and printer, internet access, access to campus e-mail and electronic library resources, a telephone, a campus mail box, access to rooms/buildings, staff support, necessary technical training and support. It is further resolved that lecturers be provided, whenever possible, timely notice of course teaching assignments allowing sufficient time for time to design the course, review/select appropriate course materials and prepare course syllabi for the first day of class.

2. Concern about Faculty Salary Inversion and Compression strongly urges the Chancellor’s Office and the CFA to address problems of salary inversion and compression.

3. Availability of Paper Copy of CSU Catalog supports a resolution coming forward from the California Intersegmental Articulation Council (CIAC) and the California Community Colleges Transfer Center Directors Association (CCC-TCDA) regarding the continued need for paper copies of the catalog as more campuses have reduced the availability of paper copies in lieu of on-line versions.

4. Support for Subject Matter-Teacher Education Faculty Collaboration affirms support for a strong collaborative process between CSU faculty members with subject matter expertise and faculty with teacher preparation expertise during the development and implementation of high quality teacher preparation programs. This resolution further commends campuses that have established incentives and rewards within their retention, tenure and promotion policies for such faculty collaborative efforts and urges campuses that do not have such policies to address this deficiency.

5. Opposition to AB 2168 “A Single, Common General Education Curriculum…” Assembly Member Carol Liu. This legislation in its current form requires that the CSU, UC and the CCC “to jointly develop, maintain, and disseminate a single common core curriculum in general education courses for the purpose of transfer on or before June 1, 2008.” In this resolution the ASCSU clearly states opposition to such intrusion by the legislature into curriculum matters. Analysis and status of this bill may be found at:

6. Title 5 Language to Accommodate the Independent Doctorate of Education within the CSU. This resolution endorses and recommends Title 5 language for submission to the CSU Board of Trustees. This language establishes policy to govern the curriculum of the Ed.D. Among the items addressed: Admissions requirements; advising/mentoring; integration of field work; the percent of primarily doctoral level coursework required; the minimum requirements for completion of the degree including number of units, residence requirements, GPA, dissertation and time for completion.

7. Affirming Core Principles and Key Characteristics of Policy for Independent Ed.D Programs in the CSU System affirmed a series of principles for planning and offering the Ed.D. including identifying a role for faculty review at the statewide level.

8. Faculty Role in Mitigating the Costs of Textbooks urges faculty, when appropriate, feasible and pedagogically sound, to select course materials that minimize costs to students. Faculty are also urged to select textbooks in a timely manner in order to allow students who wish to sell their copies to obtain the highest possible price as well as make the used texts available for other students. Additional suggestions are cited in the full text of this resolution.

9. CSU Budget Priorities for the Academic Year 2007-08 identifies the Academic Senate’s including the funding of enrollment at true cost of delivery; raising faculty salaries to comparable market levels; reducing the SFR to pre-1990 levels and implementation of ACR 73 (agreement to increase the hiring of tenure-track faculty).

10. Support for AB 2581 (Protecting Student Freedom of Expression). This legislation would protect freedom of speech in student publications.

11. Support for AB 2813 (Student Financial Aid). This legislation would extend financial aid to students in the 24-27 year-old age group.

12. Modification of Approval Process for Lower Division Transfer Pattern (LDTP) Descriptors modifies the process for approval when academic departments fail to respond in a reasonable period of time.

Additional Items of Special Interest:

• LDTP. The project continues to move forward but it is unlikely that any of the original timelines for implementation will be met. Delayed or even lack of response from local campus departments in turning in local agreements and votes on descriptors is a major factor for our system failure to meet prescribed deadlines. Approval of course descriptors requires 75% approval. Thus tardy response from just a few departments delays the entire project. The resolution passed during this plenary simplifies the requirement for 75% approval by eliminating from the count departments who fail to respond within five weeks. The senate also established a telephone network of senators to encourage colleagues to submit votes.

The major task for the summer will be the recruitment and appointment of coordinators and course review teams to review courses submitted by Community Colleges to match the descriptors. I welcome receiving recommendations from CSUN faculty who wish to be considered or who have nominees for these positions.

• Remediation. An issue of pressing interest as the Trustees’ deadline (2007) for reducing remediation to 10% among incoming freshmen is approaching. The official goal will be pushed back one year but it is unlikely that the 10% goal will be reached in the near future. It is important to note that the Chancellor, the Executive Vice Chancellor and various Trustees have indicated that they do not expect the CSU to stop or significantly curtail remedial coursework for at least the next few years.

• Distance Education (On-line) was a theme of the Executive Vice Chancellor’s presentation to the Senate. There will be increasing encouragement to campuses and departments to develop courses using this medium.

• Military Outreach. As 30,000 Californians leave the military each year with generous education benefits, the Chancellor is pressing to increase the number of veterans who take advantage of the opportunities in the CSU.

Senators are referred to the Academic Senate Website (calstate.edu/acadsen) for full text of resolutions, reports and background information for these and a number of additional items discussed during the May or any other Plenary of the ASCSU.

Submitted by Barbara Swerkes

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