Faculty Participation in the Creation of Course Enrollment Maximums for Community College Departments and Courses

Spring
2022
Resolution Number
17.03
 
Assigned to
Educational Policies Committee
President
Category
Local Senates
Status
Assigned

Whereas, Previous Academic Senate for California Community Colleges presentations have recognized that course enrollment maximums are maximum student enrollment limits specified for each course, and course enrollment maximum determinations have sometimes been made inconsistently on the basis of classroom size and other arbitrary factors;

Whereas, Even though California community colleges are functioning under a new funding formula that also binds student attainment to funding, most colleges still rely too heavily on an enrollment strategy that chases full-time equivalent students by foregrounding perceived notions of efficiency and productivity;

Whereas, Pedagogical practices that foreground inclusion, diversity, equity, antiracism, and accessibility (IDEAA) thrive in an environment that humanizes the student/teacher relationship and allows the space for the building of trust, community, and unity, conditions that require both time and space to achieve and are antithetical to the “full classrooms” strategy of enrollment; and

Whereas, Faculty members who practice IDEAA pedagogies work hard to cultivate relationships of trust and learning with their students and community and should be able to have a hand in deciding what constitutes a full class for the sake of true learning and educational connection;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges encourage local academic senates to engage in collaboration with their bargaining agents to determine appropriate course enrollment maximums in consideration of pedagogical, health, and safety factors, including but not limited to the methods of instruction, course modality, objectives and outcomes of the course, and the assessment methods as established on the course outline of record and in alignment with inclusion, diversity, equity, anti-racism, and accessibility values; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges update the 2012 paper [1] Setting Course Enrollment Maximums: Process, Roles, and Principles with guidelines to assist faculty in the determination of course enrollment maximums based on promising practices and culturally responsive pedagogy, teaching, and learning that are framed by IDEAA principles, academic freedom, and the exigencies occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and bring the revised paper for approval at the Fall 2023 Plenary Session.

MSC


1. Setting Course Enrollment Maximums: Process, Roles, and Principles: https://www.asccc.org/sites/default/files/ClassCapsS12_0.pdf