The FA and Guild are co-sponsoring a professional development workshop on October 13 called RISE to the Occasion. The workshop will focus on the college’s plans to improve proactive student advisement. Join us by registering here for RISE to the Occasion.

Did you read the one about automatically enrolling ninth graders in college classes?

The new California Community Colleges system Chancellor Sonya Christian sees it as urgently necessary, as she is an advocate of significantly expanding dual enrollment.

Dr. Christian also indicated to The Los Angeles Times last month that she strongly encourages the micromester model for courses. This is not a bad thing, of course, but consider the rhetoric:

When you’re talking about adult learners who are in our system, they’re working, they’ve got children, they’ve got complexities in their life. Our traditional courses have been semester-length, and the semester could be 15 weeks, 16 weeks. Say hypothetically, there is a working mother who can focus on one class in five weeks — get that knocked out, focus on another class and another class. And so in that semester, that adult learner could get a full load of 12 college credits. How can we change the incentives and the policies so that colleges would do that?

“Get that knocked out.”

Well, that stopped me short. A dozen years ago, I had been interviewed on an NPR affiliate—in California, no less—to give the union perspective on some distance ed issues. One point I have always made is that “faster, better, cheaper” may work in fast food, but it is not an effective mantra in higher education. Every time I’m advising a student and they say, “I’ll take that class this semester so I can get it out of the way,” I pause and make a point about how get it out of the way maybe isn’t the healthiest perspective for enrolling in a college course. Maybe there is something to be learned, valued, even enjoyed in every college course rather than viewing it as some obstacle to be overcome.

I know this is a common perception for incoming college students, but the chancellor of the largest community college system in the nation? This concerns me due to the old expression, “As goes California, so goes the nation.”

	New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) reporter Kara Smith gave the FA some positive press this month for our ongoing collaboration with college administration to help make our work more just, equitable, diverse and inclusive, or "JEDI."

Professional development collaborations

Having been involved in unionism for the past 25 years, naturally it comes as no surprise that administrative motivations for pursuing certain programs or activities differ from faculty motivations. But that is why the best work happens when everyone gets in a room and discusses the whys, whens and hows.

It’s good to have administrative perspectives and it’s good to have faculty perspectives.

This kind of collaboration happened in the spring when the FA and administration worked together to create our March 10 Building a Community of Care event.

And again on April 19 when we collaborated to host our joint professional development workshop on distance education.

And again over the summer during our third year of the JEDI Institute. This program has been making inroads into helping SCCC employees reconsider the work they do, in classrooms, offices, libraries, labs, etc., and find ways large or small to make the college more welcoming and equitable for our students. The work of our JEDI Institute continues to receive applause not only from within the college—President Bonahue is a significant supporter of our work—but also externally as well. New York State United Teachers reporter Kara Smith gave the FA some positive coverage this month in her statewide press release regarding the JEDI Institute, and our JEDI Institute board members will be presenting at the SUNY DEISJ Conference in Albany in November.

Rising

This fall we are hosting another event, this time focused on student advisement, which we are calling RISE to the Occasion. The FA and Guild worked together to develop a core program, and we have invited key administrators to offer some presentations.

Scheduled for October 13 in the Montauk Point Room (in the Babylon Student Center at the Ammerman Campus), the event will take place from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm. Light breakfast, coffee and lunch will be provided. Click here for our RISE to the Occasion flyer so you can register by using the direct URL or by scanning the QR code.

At the workshop, participants will be engaged in topics including

• Techniques to help students who are perceived to have a lack of self-regulation in terms of their academic planning
• Ways to increase student enrollment, success, retention and graduation rates
• Administrative plans regarding our roles in how we carry out proactive student advisement using Banner 9
• Data-driven best practices that have worked at other community colleges.

We know there is an awful lot changing at the college and in higher ed across the nation, especially since the pandemic. We know that change tends to make people uncomfortable. But as I noted to NYSUT reporter Kara Smith, our students are changing, our college is changing, technology is changing and our lives are changing—so it is imperative that we change and adapt as well.

Make your voice heard

The only way to move forward is to have faculty voices in the process. It’s through the balance of administrative and faculty voices that we best ensure our students are well served amidst all this change.

For the record, despite my snarky title here, I do not think dual enrollment courses are necessarily terrible. Some might be, but so are some high school classes and so are some college classes. Also, I understand that dual enrollment can bring financial concerns as well as opportunities, and I understand that there are considerable equity and access issues that dual enrollment courses can address. This is why I am glad the FA pushed for administration to follow the contract regarding mentoring of Beacon teachers this year. We absolutely need FA voices in this process.

Join us at RISE to the Occasion. Join one of our FA committees and activities. Make your voice heard so that whatever crops up next has faculty voices central to the conversation.