The Cal State Long Beach Academic Senate held a lengthy amendment marathon over policy guidelines related to the selection and appointment of high level academic administrators on Thursday.
For the second week in a row, senators made up of CSULB faculty went through policies related to committees that select deans, associate deans, vice presidents, provosts and other administrators at CSULB. The senators scrutinized the policy line-by-line, a process which took up the bulk of the meeting’s two-hour duration.
“The idea is that for these high level positions, we want full representation from the university,” Norbert Schurer, chair of AS, said. “For instance – students. There are students on almost all of these committees and we want students on them. We have to be sure that if a student changes campuses or can’t [attend] for some reason, that the position is filled. Same thing for staff members.”
Of particular policy concern to the Senate was the issue of interim appointees. Schurer explained that interim administration appointees are selected by the office of the CSULB president and can remain “interim” appointees for extended periods of time – up to three years or more.
“[Interim appointees] sort of circumvent the shared governance process,” Schurer said. “We’re trying to make sure that this stays at a minimum and that we move to a process where all of the school’s constituencies are included as quickly as possible.”
A primary source of debate for the Academic Senate on this issue was to limit the amount of time an administrator could be considered to be “interim.” It was resolved by the senate to limit an interim position to a year’s duration, but a final vote is to be held at the next joint session.
According to Schurer, the policy hearings on administrative selection committees was the culmination of a process that has taken an entire year.
The long process started with a review by the Faculty Policies and Procedures Committee, and was under review from many representatives from all governance groups on campus. Such scrutiny tends to assure policy acceptance, according to Schurer.
“This is one of the really important policies,” Schurer said. “Almost always [CSULB President Jane Close Conoley] signs off on what the Academic Senate says. By the time it gets through here, pretty much everybody agrees on things, and that’s why the president almost never says no.”
Earlier in the meeting, presentations were given by standing committees on the creation of several new minor options to be added at CSULB.
The first was the second and final reading for a minor in Cybersecurity. The reading received no objections on the Senate floor, moving the proposal to the desk of president Conoley for final approval.
In addition to the minor in Cybersecurity, a Master of Science degree in finance and a minor in art history went through their first readings on the Academic Senate floor.
“It’s the first minor we’ve ever attempted to offer through the school of art,” said Karen Kleinfelder, the art department faculty member who read the proposal. “Before the term ‘global studies’ had ever been coined at this university, art history was always a program dedicated to understanding cultural diversity. Students taking these courses will be guaranteed to be broadened in terms of global understanding – something very needed these days. More than ever.”
Neither proposal for these new degrees met with objection and will appear at next week’s meeting for final approval before moving to Conoley’s desk to be signed. All three proposed degrees are scheduled for the upcoming fall semester according to their written proposals.
“If they have to create a bunch of new classes, it might take a little bit longer [to offer the new degrees],” Schurer said.
The next Academic Senate meeting is scheduled for March 16. After final voting on the administrative committee rules, the next major policy up for review revolves around class scheduling and could result in more classes occurring on Fridays.
* Valerie Osier contributed to this article.