The Senate has a special role in college shared governance—the right to collegial consultation established by law. With the adoption of Assembly Bill 1725 (1988), the California Education Code §70902 (b)(7) directed the Board of Governors for the California Community Colleges to provide procedures that ensure “the right of academic senates to assume primary responsibility for making recommendation in the areas of curriculum and academic standards.”

These procedures in California Code of Regulations Title 5, Sections 53200 and 53203 provide that the district governing board “adopt policies for appropriate delegation of authority and responsibility to its college...academic senate.

Consult Collegially

Consult collegially means the college administration may either rely primarily upon the advice and judgment of the Academic Senate or reach mutual agreement with the Academic Senate. In 1993, the college administration and academic senate agreed that “the president, serving as the authorizedrepresentative of the LACCD Board of Trustees, will ‘rely primarily’ upon the recommendations of the Academic Senate in formulating, changing, and/or approving of policies on academic and professional matters as they relate to the instructional program.” Thus, in carrying out the mandates of Title 5, Sections 53200 and 53203, the Senate’s primary function is to make recommendations to the administration of the college and to the district’s governing board with respect to the following academic and professional matters:

Curriculum, including establishing prerequisites and placing courses within disciplines
Degree and certificate requirements
Grading policies
Educational program development
Standards or policies regarding student preparation and success
College governance structures, as related to faculty roles
Faculty roles and involvement in accreditation processes
Policies for faculty professional development activities
Processes for program review
Processes for institutional planning and budget development
Other academic and professional matters as are mutually agreed upon between the governing board and the Senate