Orientation for New Senators September 2003

University Governance

University Governance: Shared Responsibility

University Governance: Joint Decision-making

University Governance: Collegiality

colleague, noun 1. One who is associated with another (or others) in office, or special employment; strictly, said of those who stand in the same relationship... to the office which they jointly discharge. Oxford English Dictionary

collegial adjective 1.power-sharing: with power shared equally between colleagues —col·le·gi·al·i·ty noun Encarta® World English Dictionary

Origins of Academic Governance c. 975: Al-Azhar University, Cairo c. 1076: University of Bologna c. 1117: Oxford University 1170: University of Paris (a “guild of teachers” led by a dean) : Cambridge University 1385: University of Heidelberg (first German university) 1636: Harvard University (first American university)

Origins of Academic Governance in the United States 1889: first academic senate in the U.S. established at Cornell 1915: American Association of University Professors organized to define and protect academic freedom 1940: Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure (AAUP and AAC) 1966: Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities (AAUP, ACE, AGB)

Origins of Academic Governance in the CSU 1862: First State Normal School, in San Francisco (later moved to San Jose) 1921: Normal schools became state colleges, run by state Dept. of Education late 1950s: faculty councils created at most state colleges : California State Colleges system created under its own Board of Trustees 1963: Academic Senates organized for the CSC system and on most campuses

“The people of the State of California have established a system of higher education under the Constitution of the State of California with the intention of providing an academic community with full freedom of inquiry and insulation from political influence in the administration thereof. In so doing, the people have caused to be created the regents to govern the University of California, a board of directors to govern Hastings College of the Law, an affiliate of the University of California, and a board of trustees to govern the California State University.” Section 3560 (c), California Government Code (passed in 1978)

“The Legislature recognizes that joint decision-making and consultation between administration and faculty or academic employees is the long-accepted manner of governing institutions of higher learning and is essential to the performance of the educational mission of such institutions and declares that it is the purpose of this act to both preserve and encourage that process....

“Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to restrict, limit, or prohibit the full exercise of the functions of the faculty in any shared governance mechanisms or practices, including the Academic Senate of the University of California and the divisions thereof, the Academic Senates of the California State University, and other faculty councils, with respect to policies on academic and professional matters affecting the California State University, the University of California, or Hastings College of the Law.” Section 3561 (c), California Government Code (1978)

From the Constitution of the CSU Academic Senate: “ The faculty of the California State University adopts this constitution in order to exercise its rights and fulfill its responsibilities in the shared governance of the University. As the official voice of the faculty in matters of systemwide concern, the Academic Senate of the California State University provides the means for the faculty to participate in the collegial form of governance which is based on historic academic traditions as recognized by California law.”

The Constitution of the Senate (continued): “ It shall be the purpose of the Academic Senate of The California State University to promote academic excellence in The California State University; to serve as the official voice of the faculties of The California State University in matters of systemwide concern; to be the formal policy-recommending body on systemwide academic, professional and academic personnel matters;

to ensure the joint responsibility of the Academic Senate and the Trustees in criteria and standards to be used for the appointment, promotion, evaluation, and tenure of academic employees; to be the primary consultative body on the academic implications of systemwide fiscal decisions; and to assume such other authority and other responsibilities and to perform such functions as may be delegated to it by the Chancellor or the Trustees of The California State University.”

Collegiality in The California State University System “Collegiality consists of a shared decision- making process and a set of attitudes which cause individuals to regard the members of the various constituencies of the university as responsible for the success of the academic enterprise.” Adopted by the Academic Senate CSU, March 1985.

“Collegial governance assigns primary responsibility to the faculty for the educational functions of the institution in accordance with basic policy as determined by the Board of Trustees. This includes admission and degree requirements, the curriculum and methods of teaching, academic and professional standards, and the conduct of creative and scholarly activities.” Statement on collegiality (response to the Senate’s statement) adopted by the Board of Trustees of the California State University, September 1985.

Collegiality: The Curriculum

“The faculty have a professional responsibility to define and offer a curriculum of the highest academic quality.... The faculty, therefore, have primary responsibility for making curricular recommendations to the president. Normally, the president will accept the advice and recommendations of the faculty on curriculum matters. Faculty appropriately have this responsibility because they possess the expertise to judge best whether courses, majors, and programs adhere to scholarly standards.” Collegiality in the California State University System Academic Senate CSU (1985)

Academic Policies

Collegiality: Academic Policies “Because the university’s curriculum is of central concern to the faculty and because faculty have the primary responsibility in curricular decisions, it follows that faculty should have the major voice in academic policy decisions which closely affect the curriculum, access to the curriculum, or the quality of the curriculum.” Collegiality in the California State University System Academic Senate CSU (1985)

Collegiality: Academic Policies Examples of academic policies in which the faculty should have the major voice: Criteria, standards, and procedures for adoption, deletion, or modification of degree major programs, minor programs, formal concentrations within programs, credential programs, and certificate programs; Grading practices and standards; Criteria, standards, and procedures for earning credit or satisfying requirements outside the classroom, including competency examinations for English composition and in U.S. history and government, credit by examination, and credit for experiential learning;

Examples of academic policies in which the faculty should have the major voice (continued): Both short-run and long-range planning, including definition or modification of the campus mission statement, determination of the general scope and relative size or priority of campus programs, modifications of the campus academic master plan, annual campus allocation of faculty positions to schools or other units, and annual campus budget allocations; Criteria, standards, and procedures for evaluating programs, the quality of instruction, faculty currency, and all other evaluations of the quality of the curriculum or of instruction; Campus policies which govern resources which support or supplement the curriculum, especially the library and research facilities; Campus policies which govern auxiliary institutions which support or supplement the curriculum, especially the campus foundation and the campus bookstore;

Examples of academic policies in which the faculty should have the major voice (concluded): Student affairs policies, especially those governing financial aid, advisement, learning services, Equal Opportunity Programs, and related services which determine the extent to which students can avail themselves of the curriculum; Campus and system policies governing withdrawal, probation, reinstatement, and disqualification which affect access to the curriculum and which can affect program quality; Co-curricular activities, especially those which increase the likelihood that students will benefit fully from the curriculum or those which distract students from the curriculum, including intercollegiate athletic programs, and the relationship of those programs to the academic program and mission of the campus; and The academic calendar, including the first and last days of instruction and the scheduling of final examinations. Collegiality in the California State University System, Academic Senate CSU (1985)

Collegiality: Faculty Affairs It would never work, Marvin. You speak English lit, and I speak sociology.

Collegiality: Faculty Affairs “ Policies and procedures used in building, main- taining, and renewing the university faculty are vital determinants of the quality of the education the university provides to its students and to society. The professional competencies that are central to curricular and academic policy decisions should be comparably decisive and significant in the genesis and implementation of faculty personnel policies, procedures, and criteria.” Collegiality in the California State University System Academic Senate CSU (1985)

Collegiality: HRTP Policies “Criteria and standards to be used for the appointment, promotion, evaluation, and tenure of academic employees... shall be the joint responsibility of the academic senate and the trustees.” Section 3562 (r) (1) (D) California Government Code (1978)

Governance in the CSU

“ As the official voice of the faculty in matters of systemwide concern, the Academic Senate of the California State University provides the means for the faculty to participate in the collegial form of governance which is based on historic academic traditions as recognized by California law.” the Constitution of the Academic Senate CSU

Governance in the CSU: The Academic Senate 59 members elected by and from the voting members of the faculty on each campus; elected senators serve three-year terms 2-3 appointed or ex officio members: –the Chancellor or representative as an ex-officio non-voting member –one emerita/emeritus selected by the CSU Emeritus and Retired Faculty Association –the immediate past chair of the Academic Senate if not an elected member

The Academic Senate Senate Committees: Executive Committee Academic Affairs Committee Faculty Affairs Committee Fiscal and Governmental Affairs Committee Teacher Education and K-12 Relations Committee

Systemwide Committees (partial list) Academic Council on International Programs Academic Technology Advisory Committee Admission Advisory Council Advisory Committee on the Institute for Teaching and Learning Advisory Committee on Programs and Services for Students with Disabilities Commission on the Extended University English Placement Test Development Committee Entry Level Mathematics (ELM) Development Committee General Education Advisory Committee

How Proposals Move Through the Academic Senate

Does it work?

I think you should be more explicit here in step two.

“a university is a community of scholars who, out of mutual respect for the expertise and contributions of their colleagues, agree that shared decision-making in areas of recognized primary responsibility constitutes the means whereby a university best preserves its academic integrity and most effectively attains its educational mission.” Collegiality in the California State University System Academic Senate CSU, 1985

For more information: Collegiality in the California State University System and other documents of the Academic Senate CSU are online at

Welcome to the Academic Senate CSU!