Establish ASCCC Rising Scholars Faculty Advisory Committee

Whereas, At this time, California community colleges serve over 15,000 incarcerated students at 35 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) site locations, in addition to numerous unique county regions, and expect that number to reach over 20,000 students and 1,000 FTE within 3 years;

Whereas, CDCR, county justice centers, and California community colleges are bound by complicated constraints, including laws, contractual agreements, policies, and funding formulas, and policies, procedures, and processes that meet the needs of incarcerated students, faculty, and collegiate support staff serving the incarcerated students and support the needs of the corrections staff under the memorandum of understanding between the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) and CDCR need to be established to preserve the best interest of both systems while meeting the goals of educating incarcerated students; and

Whereas, All parties, including but not limited to the CCCCO, local colleges, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC), the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, and the CDCR, must work together to ensure that those working within the colleges and those working within the various facilities, representing the various government (federal, state, and local) agencies and unions, are appropriately relied upon to address incarcerated student needs, curricular and support services, curriculum and program development, transitional (incarcerated to paroled or released) support services, and community college to state university transfer needs, but current faculty representation in academic and professional matters is minimal at best as the ASCCC only has two representative seats on the Chancellor’s Office Rising Scholars Advisory Committee, and there is no current mechanism for ASCCC to collaborate with, regularly solicit input from, or prepare and provide professional learning for faculty teaching in incarcerated environments;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges establish a Rising Scholars Faculty Advisory Committee to include faculty teaching in incarcerated education and at least one formerly incarcerated student;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges charge the Rising Scholars Faculty Advisory Committee with developing and sustaining a regional professional learning network in the area of prison education utilizing local senate structures, dedicated to the ASCCC’s 10+1 academic and professional matters purview per Title 5 §53200, with furthering the advancement of local programs and local professional learning in the areas of equity, pedagogy, and community building among prison education practitioners, and with advancing the faculty voice in spaces where incarcerated education is discussed and policies or agreements are made, including with the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, the CCCCO’s Rising Scholars Advisory Committee, and the CDCR, so that faculty primacy in academic and professional matters is honored and the education provided to incarcerated students by California community colleges is a model for educating incarcerated students;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges expect the ASCCC Rising Scholars Faculty Advisory Committee to disseminate policies, procedures, and memorandums of understanding produced by the ASCCC, the Rising Scholars Network, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to their local networks of faculty teaching in incarcerated environments and share faculty-related concerns, problems, and barriers experienced at the local level to the ASCCC Rising Scholars Faculty Advisory Committee for communication with the Rising Scholars Network, the CCCCO, and the CDCR; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges requests of the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) that the ASCCC and the ASCCC Rising Scholars Faculty Advisory Committee be consulted for Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) concerning prison education, particularly the ASCCC’s 10+1 academic and professional matters purview per Title 5 §53200 between the CDCR and the CCCCO and, for local MOUs between the CDCR and local colleges, with local academic senates.

ACCLAMATION