First, the Senate would like to acknowledge the visit by Chancellor Maldonado, Vice Chancellor Beatty, and Vice Chancellor Brewer. When the Administration and the faculty get together, everyone wins. Our door tends to open most of the time –and for the record, we managed to get all our business done by a respectable hour that Friday, even after everything was said and done.
Second, the Senate is pleased to be at the forefront of the Administration’s examination of the rigor issue. The Senate’s Survey on Academic Rigor has been well-received, and the subsection on academic honesty issues is being used as the basis of discussion in a new task force focusing on integrity, whose recommendations we hope to pass along soon.
Third, the Senate has voted to modify the use of Bedichek-Orman funds to allow adjunct faculty to spend them in professional development endeavors beyond travel. We are still quite appreciative that this Board supported (and still supports) the Administration’s commitment to funding professional development for full-time faculty, not just travel but other activities as well. The Senate feels that, given the original spirit of the Bedichek-Orman bequest, our adjunct faculty should also be able to develop themselves to the benefit of the College, and most especially for the benefit of our students.
And at the end of the day, that’s whom we serve. Everything we do, we should do with an eye towards our students. Well-developed faculty are better teachers for our students. Rigor in the college yields long-term positive results in the community for our students. Faculty evaluations (another area the Senate is working on) should be oriented with an eye towards how we can best serve our students.
We’re going to have our differences. But at the end of the day, the Senate hopes that everyone –and we do mean everyone– will keep their eyes on the prize: our students.