This week, we had Lesley Williams (TERB Coordinator extraordinaire) discuss a few matters with the Senate. TERB is needing to come up with evaluation forms for our Articulation Officer, who is a faculty member housed in counseling but with no student contact time. In addition, she explained her plans on how to evaluate DRC counselors who are specialists in learning disability assessment.
The problem of electronic enforcement of prerequisites was also discussed. At the moment, only a few classes have the option to have prerequisites enforced at time of enrollment in PeopleSoft. In most courses, transcript checking and enforcement is left up to instructors, and it is believed that many do not do so (possibly simply because they are not aware that the prerequisites are not enforced at enrollment). This is out of legal compliance; if prerequisites have been established, enforcement is mandatory, and a pattern of nonenforcement can trigger course articulation reevaluation by UCs and CSUs (among other problems).
Apparently, enabling this automatic checking may be as simple as clicking a checkbox in PeopleSoft’s configuration. There have been requests to enable this function, but the administration has been reluctant to do so. The Senate expressed its support for immediately enforcing prerequisites for all classes.
New legislation (AB 1690) will cause significant changes in how part-time faculty are hired. The legislation mandates that seniority (both in terms of number of semesters and number of classes taught) must be considered in offering classes to part-time faculty, and that classes must be offered so as to total 60-67% of a full time load to each faculty member. While this has the desirable effect of helping part-time faculty minimize the number of institutions they must work at to make a livable income, and making it possible for adjunct faculty to apply for health benefits, it will also make it very hard for departments to encourage the development of new part-time faculty (since classes will be rapidly taken up by more senior instructors).
Since evaluations can also be considered in deciding who should be offered classes, it was emphasized that the part-time evaluation process will probably need to be somewhat stricter.
Finally, we will be having a follow-up visit from ACCJC on Monday, October 24. A newsletter explaining the visit, what to expect, and how faculty can help will be coming out soon. The visit should be strongly focused on how Palomar has responded to the two recommendations provided–to improve tutoring for distance ed courses and student services at Camp Pendleton, and to improve participation in shared governance.
Let me know if you would like anything brought to the Senate!
-Richard Albistegui-DuBois
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