Academic Council

Summary of Work; 2002-2003

The Academic Council is an administrative arm of the Assembly of the Academic Senate and acts in lieu of the Assembly on non-legislative matters. Members of Council include the Chair of the Assembly, Vice Chair, Chairs of the Divisions, and Chairs of the following University Standing Committees-Academic Personnel, Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools, Educational Policy, Faculty Welfare, Graduate Affairs, Planning and Budget, and Research.  The Academic Council advises the President on behalf of the Assembly and has the continuing responsibility via its committee structure to investigate and report to the Assembly on matters of Universitywide concern.  Represented on Academic Council in 2002-2003 from UCD were Divisional Chair (Madewell); CAP Chair (Michelle Yeh), and Robert Flocchini attended some Council meetings representing the University of California, Merced. 

The Academic Council meets each month, usually at the University of California Berkeley campus because of convenience for travel, but occasionally at other campuses.  Each year, Council considers initiatives, proposals, reports, variances and APM changes reflecting a broad range of topics and programs.  Gayle Binion, the outgoing Chair of the 2002-2003 Assembly and Academic Council has prepared an annual report summarizing work of the council.  Some of these reports have already been published in The Senate Source, and many of the deliberations of Council can be viewed on the Senate's website at: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/reports/.  A brief overview of Chair Binion's report is presented here. 

Academic Council considered over 50 separate topics this past year including, among others:

• Retirement benefits for health sciences faculty
• Phased retirement
• Undergraduate admissions;
• Tobacco funding
• Sensitive but unclassified technical information
• Copyright
• Senate structure and resources
• Subject A
• Postdoctoral scholars
• Sabbatical leave
• Family medical leave
• The first Five-Year Review of the Agriculture Experiment Station
• Equivalent status for Cooperative Extension Specialists

Chair Binion identified three items as most noteworthy from 2002-2003 Academic Council, namely, Classification by Race, Ethnicity, Color and National Origin (CRECNO); APM 015 - Faculty-Student Relations Policy; and APM 010 - University Statement on Academic Freedom. I refer you to the following web sites to access those reports. 

CRECNO (Classification by Race, Ethnicity, Color and National Origin):

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/reports/crecnoresp.pdf

Academic Council made a formal statement to President Atkinson on the Racial Privacy Initiative (CRECNO); a copy of Professor Binion's letter to the President can be viewed at the web site listed.  As you know, CRECNO, or Proposition 54, is on the October 7 statewide ballot.  Additional information can be found at  http://www.racialprivacy.org (supporting CRECNO) and  http://www.informedcalifornia.org (opposing CRECNO).

Faculty-Student Relations Policy:

http://www.ucop.edu/acadadv/acadpers/apm/apm-015.pdf

An amendment to APM 015 -Policy on Faculty-Student Relationships was endorsed by the Assembly at its May meeting, and was subsequently approved by The Regents of the University of California in July.  It was issued by President Atkinson shortly thereafter as university policy. I encourage faculty to read and understand these additions to the Code of Conduct concerning faculty-student sexual liaisons.   

University Statement on Academic Freedom: http://www.Universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/assembly/jul2003/jul2003ii.pdf

The Assembly endorsed the revision to (APM) 010-Academic Freedom at a special meeting of the Assembly in July.  It is anticipated that President Atkinson will take some action on the proposed revision to APM 010 before his retirement. 

Academic Council also has the prerogative to empanel a task force or special committee of Council to address questions that require intensive work and that do not fall entirely within the jurisdiction of one senate committee.  Five such groups were empanelled this past year, focusing on:

• Course descriptions: The work of the task force can be found at: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/reports/englishr1a.pdf. This task force was charged with the review of how (non-standard) courses, such as "umbrella," or "single-offer," or "varying subject" are reviewed for content; and to review the current norms for faculty with respect to how they describe their courses.
• Graduate/Professional Admissions: This task force was convened in response to a concurrent resolution of the State Legislature, to review graduate and professional school admissions guidelines and principles. A draft report has been prepared; the work of this task force will carry forward into 2003-2004. 
• Honors/AP:  A task force was empanelled by the Academic Council to formulate a recommendation on the appropriate role of Honors/AP/IB and community college courses in the admissions process, and in the case of AP and IB courses, the credit given by the campuses. It is anticipated that this task force will continue work in 2003-2004. 
• Professorial Steps:  In response to concerns about the rationale behind the step system at the Professor level, Academic Council created a task force to determine whether a step with uniquely high standards should be maintained, and if so, whether step VI is the right point in a professional career to place a review of that nature.  This committee will continue work in 2003-2004.
• Academic Council's Special Committee on the National Laboratories:  Because of recent events concerning the National Laboratories, Academic Council appointed a Special Committee to facilitate active Senate discussions involving the future of the labs.  The current focus is the issues surrounding the relationship between UC and the laboratories. 

Other Academic Council Activities, 2002-2003: 

The Academic Senate closed its administrative offices at the University of California, Irvine, in 1999 and moved to a single location at the Office of the President in Oakland. The Senate reorganization is now complete and the redesigned web site is: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/welcome.html. The newsletter is now online-The Senate Source.  

Academic Senate Systemwide Bylaws were revised, and the Assembly approved those revisions at the May, 2003 meeting.  The bylaws concerning Assembly operations will become effective September 1, 2003 and those governing standing committees will go into effect in September 2004. 

Council Chair Binion, in cooperation with Provost Jud King, convened a joint retreat (first-ever) with the executive vice chancellors from each campus.  The goal of the retreat was to foster better communication on matters of interest between the campus executive vice-chancellors and the systemwide Academic Senate.  There were three topical discussions: the proposal from the University Committee on Faculty Welfare on Phased Employment/Phased Retirement; Faculty-Student Relations (APM 015); and Shared Governance: Models of Effective Academic Senate/Administration interaction. 

At the end of the academic year, there was considerable discussion about the relationships between the Academic Senate and the Regents of the University of California.  At present, the Senate Chair and Vice Chair serve as advisory members on Regent committees.  Despite progress made in facilitating relationships with the Regents, there is still concern that Senate leadership is not fully incorporated into the consultation process between meetings. There will be continued discussion by Council this forthcoming year about whether the Chair (and Vice Chair) might better serve the interests of the Senate as voting members of the Board of Regents.  The Council recommended that non-voting status be maintained another year, but this discussion will continue. 

The new Academic Council started its term of office on September 1, and the first Council meeting will be at UC Berkeley on September 24, 2003.