WHEREAS the mission of the community college is to serve the community.
WHEREAS access, inclusion, diversity, and equity are the fundamental values underlying that mission, arising from and appealing to our sense of justice and common humanity.
WHEREAS the community college ought to stand as a model of these values, particularly in its policies, procedures, and norms.
WHEREAS the Palomar Faculty Senate has itself recently affirmed these values for students, staff, and faculty. STATUS, PURVIEW & THE SYSTEM
WHEREAS Part-Time faculty are, first and foremost, faculty.
WHEREAS PT faculty make up 76% of faculty, teach the majority of classes at Palomar, and are indispensable to its functioning.
WHEREAS the ASCCC has “multiple resolutions and papers supporting part time faculty and the importance of their voice….”
WHEREAS Resolution 1.02 of the ASCCC this semester was to “Develop a Resource to Communicate and Encourage Part-Time Faculty Leadership”
WHEREAS Part-Time status as a category is defined at the state level in California Education Code.
WHEREAS the history of 1988’s AB 1725 underscores the fact that purview as it relates to PT faculty is an institutional construction, delineating separate roles for unions and senate.
WHEREAS AB 1725’s institutionalization in Title V’s call for a minimum 75:25 ratio of Full-Time to Part- Time faculty load means many current Part-Time faculty would, could, and should, in fact, currently be Full-Time faculty.
WHEREAS issues of Part-Time status are, by definition, systemic. CONDITIONS (INCLUSIVE)
WHEREAS PT faculty are professionals, holding a least a master’s degree, often a terminal degree, and bring a wealth of experience to academic and professional matters.
WHEREAS PT faculty are frequently excluded from department planning, curriculum development, student outreach, and other matters of academic and professional value.
WHEREAS PT conditions are threatened by the end of a 150-year expansion in college enrollments, by the college’s precarious budget situation, and most recently by a global pandemic.
WHEREAS PT compensation is a fraction of FT compensation, effectively poverty-level, inadequate, including in terms of healthcare, with partial coverage offered to only 4% of Palomar PT faculty.
WHEREAS BIPOC are disproportionately represented among PT faculty. PURVIEW & INFLUENCE
WHEREAS in academic and professional matters, the Faculty Senate is the voice of faculty purview.
WHEREAS the Faculty Senate moreover has a larger sphere of influence extending to workplace conditions and beyond.
WHEREAS the Faculty Senate has a voice with other institutional bodies.
WHEREAS the Faculty Senate has the power to work toward dismantling the systemic elements that stand in the way of PT faculty inequity.
WHEREAS the way we frame issues of Part-Time fitness for academic and professional matters directly influences the way the community, the college, the community college system, and the legislature think about workplace conditions including compensation and healthcare.
WHEREAS the lack of condemnation related to inequity may be understood as an endorsement of such inequity.
BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate reaffirms its commitment to modeling its values and serving the full college community. BE IT RESOLVED that, to that end, the Faculty Senate enthusiastically endorses Part-Time faculty access, inclusion, diversity, and, overall, equity.
BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate recognizes that the way we frame issues has power, and consequently it pledges to frame opportunities for PT equity as valuable opportunities for the college and the community as a whole.
BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate recognizes that purview is an institutional construction, systemic and intractable, one which frequently works against the needs of PT faculty, and consequently the Senate recognizes that exercising power within its purview must be complemented by exercising advocacy in its larger sphere of influence.
BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate will actively and affirmatively seek to facilitate PT equity within its purview over academic and professional matters, including…[eg 10+1+1 list]
BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate will also actively and affirmatively advocate for PT equity within its larger sphere of influence, which includes PFF, the administration, the board of governors, the ASCCC, the chancellor’s office, the governor of California and other lawmakers, the media, the community, and with every other individual or body that might be beneficial.
BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate consequently supports a Part-Time Bill of Rights that brings together issues both within and outside the Senate’s direct purview, holistically addressing the needs of PT faculty.
BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate upholds the full value and humanity of its PT colleagues. BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate supports dismantling the two-tier faculty system and its “academic apartheid.”