The Academic Senate met on March 18, 2021. Here are highlights from the meeting; please see the Minutes/Agendas page for further detail.
The Academic Senate engaged in a brief discussion in response to the rising incidence of Anti-Asian violence and the horrific murder of 8 people, 6 of them Asian women, in Georgia this week. The Academic Senate condemns this violence and stands in solidarity with Asian students, colleagues and community members. We repel all acts of white supremacy and we urge all faculty to speak up and disrupt acts of violence, aggression, and hate. Suggestions to support our community included:
- Hosting open dialogue in classrooms that establishes no tolerance for hate, not hiding behind hate speech as “free speech”
- Centering discussion on how Anti-Asian hate events impact students and our campus community, and address omissions of Asians as a group for consideration in curricular programming and professional learning
- Being proactive in rooting out structural causes and not merely reactive to symptoms or discrete events
- Prioritizing the creation of guidance that helps faculty learn how to lead conversations on equity that include an understanding of whiteness and white supremacy
- Myth-busting of the “model minority” and eliminating stigma around mental health
The senate also had several presentations.
Faculty Gateway portal: Richard Rojo and Chris Smith of District ITS shared the new Faculty Gateway portal at https://faculty.smccd.edu/. They welcome feedback on the site.
Elections: The senate voted to pilot a new process of elections this year aimed at greater inclusivity and broader participation; this required a suspension of the bylaws governing elections.
New Professional Learning Structure Proposal: Drs. Porter and Rowden-Quince shared their process of proposing a new structure for Professional Learning. The next steps will be to share it with the relevant deans governing funding of Professional Learning; then it will head to the Participatory Governance Task Force. Once the PGTF has given its feedback, the proposal will come back to senate before going to the College Governance Council.
CTE News: CTE Liaison Cassidy Ryan shared that ASCCC is looking for moderators in CTE discipline-specific gatherings to be held May 14, 2021, from 12-1pm. Faculty interested in being moderators can reach out to Cassidy before April 1st. The areas (specific to Skyline) include MBA, retail, hospitality, tourism, environmental technology, ICT and digital media, Global trade, Life sciences/biotech, and ECE/EDU.
Curriculum: Curriculum Chair Jessica Hurless shared that the Curriculum Committee voted to approve the following measures in anticipation of alignment with CSU’s Ethnic Studies requirement:
- Aligning Skyline College’s Associate Degree’s general education with CSU’s general education by adding Area F: Ethnic Studies (thus, changing the local Associate Degree’s general education total from 19 units to 22 units).
- Removing Skyline College’s Ethnic and Cultural Diversity graduation requirement.
- Removing the Skyline College 5A/5B Ethnic and Cultural Diversity designation from the courses currently listed with it in the 2020-2021 Catalog.
Nominations for Meyer Award for Excellence in Teaching: Call will go out next Tuesday. This year, it is open to the class of faculty starting in 2016 until now.
Elections: Faculty are encouraged to consider running for a Skyline College Academic Senate officer position. Past local senate officers and committee chairs are encouraged to run for the District Academic Senate President-Elect position.
Article by Leigh Anne Shaw
