Principles for Decision Making on Regional and Statewide Program Alignments in the California State University

AS-2648-04/AA - March 11-12, 2004

RESOLVED: That the Academic Senate of the California State University (CSU) recommend that the process for reaching consensus or agreement on regional and statewide lower-division program alignments be:

1. CSU faculty will determine, within the provisions of Title 5 and/or Executive Orders, the common courses and/or subject matter preparation acceptable statewide, within a region, and within a degree program for the Integrated Teacher Preparation Programs and for the statewide campus-specific transfer patterns.



2. Faculty representatives from all affected campuses in the system or region will be included in decision making and approval requires an explicit affirmative vote from the representatives.



3. 3Faculty and staff will be provided sufficient time and support to travel, meet, confer, and reach consensus or agreement.



4. In the event that programs, regions, etc. cannot achieve consensus, the position held by at least three-fourths of affected campuses will constitute the agreement for all affected CSU campuses within the system or region.



5. All program and curricular changes must be subject to consultation with elected faculty governance representatives at the local campuses, and, to the greatest extent possible, program and curricular changes must be achieved subject to the normal approval processes of the individual campuses.



6. Faculty from the region or discipline will continue to meet periodically to review the curriculum for appropriateness, currency to the profession, content, and the effectiveness of the program in preparing transfer students to begin upper-division work in the CSU.



7. The real costs of implementing these large-scale programs in the CSU, including the necessary time and travel for faculty and staff, must be adequately funded.

RATIONALE: To conform to legislation, Title 5, and Executive Orders, campuses will be compelled to agree on alignment. Owing to the variety in degree program requirements and courses across the system, some campuses may need to create or modify courses or modify programs. Control by local faculty governance of the local curriculum is an important standard of shared governance and, to the extent possible, all curricular modifications should be subject to recommendation of local faculty governance (see AS-2626-03/AA). After programs are aligned, it will be necessary for faculty to meet from time to time to ensure that the curriculum remains appropriate. To successfully complete such an initiative, which the state and system desire undertaken in a time of reduced budgets, requires recognition of and compensation for the additional time taken and work performed by faculty.