RESOLVED: That the ASCSUDH urges the Provost and the Deans of the various colleges to cease from any reorganization of academic programs into administrative departments until the ASCSUDH can ascertain the need for guidelines and/or policy governing the organization and reorganization of academic programs (see definitions below); and be it
RESOLVED: That the ASCSUDH urges the Provost and the Deans of the various colleges to ensure all faculty have equitable procedures and processes that serve all disciplines within existing and new departments.
RESOLVED: That the ASCSUDH hold a townhall meeting to gather and share information about the general impact of administrative organization on faculty, staff, and students prior to the creation of policy said guidelines and/or policy.
RATIONALE: The organization of academic units into “departments” has been delegated to the various college deans and has been considered largely, if not merely, an administrative matter. However, the impact of administrative organization includes, but is not limited to, the following: the allocation of resources, both in terms of operating expenses and faculty hiring lines; the enfranchisement of faculty in terms of Academic Senate representation; and the appraisal of program health in terms of FTES, FTEF and other metrics. Additionally, departments engage in important tasks such as curriculum and program review, the creation of RTP standards, and the evaluation of tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty. In short, the organization of academic units into departments potentially impacts both faculty and students.
Definitions
- A program is a designated and related cluster of credit bearing courses that constitute a coherent body of study within a discipline or a set of related disciplines. (AAUP, Recommended Institutional Regulations 4C2, 2011)
- A department is an administrative unit which may house one or more programs. While departments are often organized around academic programs and RTP units, the purpose of the department is administrative: department members share resources (administrative support, office space, and funding, for example) and are led by a common department chair whom they jointly elect.
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