Keith Hoeller is an adjunct professor. He teaches philosophy for a living at Green River Community College, just outside Seattle. He has also spent much of the last two decades ruminating about the bigger picture for those at his level of the professorial pecking order. Over the years, Hoeller has lobbied relentlessly for adjunct-friendly…

Resolution 13.04, "A Document in Support of an Academic Culture," adopted at the Fall 2007 plenary session, asked the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (Academic Senate) to "create a document that sets out the basic elements of a higher education institution, particularly within California's community college…

This sixth edition of the State Governance Report summarizes the most relevant issues, legislative proposals, and proposed policies facing public higher education and its governance and oversight. The majority of coverage is devoted to the current or just recently completed 2009 legislative sessions. Other issues covered in this report include…

Local bookstore owners charge that the selling of best-sellers and trade books unrelated to coursework by community college bookstores violates California's education code. The decision was not based on free-speech grounds but on the language of the state code. (MSE)

California state statutes and a series of court cases have required campus security and police departments to release information about incidents occurring on campus to the media and the general public. Despite the law and case decisions, recent studies reveal campus police and security officials are still reluctant to release information to the…

Questions whether community colleges really exercise any meaningful degree of local control by examining bills passed in Michigan which place new forms of regulatory control on community colleges by the governor's office, legislature, state licensing agencies, labor organizations, federal agencies, or the attorney general's office. (TP)

Examines the relation of the part-time classification of teachers in California to the statutory tenure system as it has been construed by the state courts in a series of cases. Available from Wm. W. Gaunt & Sons, Inc., 3011 Gulf Dr., Holmes Beach, FL 35510. (Author/MLF)

Describes three law suits filed by part-time community college faculty members in Washington State for retirement benefits, health care benefits, and unpaid wages and overtime. Notes that college officials insist they have violated no state laws. Reports on the development of a lobbying group among the state's thousands of part-time faculty…

This paper contains an analysis of case law as it relates to the scope of bargainable issues and its possible impact on public two-year postsecondary institutions in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania's Public Employee Relations Act defines three categories of collective bargaining issues: (1) mandatory subjects of negotiation, (2) permissive issues of…

Community college students, like students in all of higher education, find their relationship with the college defined by contract. However, this contract is shaped and influenced by rights granted under state and federal constitutions and statutes. Knowing what these rights are can assist college officials in avoiding unnecessary litigation.

A California court ruling that part-time community college faculty are temporary and therefore have limited access to the state community college tenure system is discussed and criticized. (Journal availability: Wm. W. Gaunt & Sons, 3011 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, FL 35510, $6.50.) (MSE)

A ruling preventing state agencies, such as the community college in question, from contracting outside the institution for services that school civil service employees can and customarily do provide is criticized. (Journal availability: Washington Law Review, 1100 N.E. Campus Parkway, University of Washington, Condon Hall, JB-20, Seattle, WA…

Outlines the conditions leading to the passage of the tenure law for Illinois public community colleges. Reveals problems with the law's lack of definitions. Discusses the negative effects of the law on local control and part-time faculty. (AYC)

On November 5, 1996, California voters approved Proposition 209, which prohibits discrimination against or the granting of preferential treatment to anyone on the basis of race, sex, color, or ethnicity in the operation of public employment, education, or contracting. Regarding the prohibition of discrimination, 209 creates no new restrictions…

In spring 1975, the National Council of State Directors of Community and Junior Colleges polled all state directors to request information on actions taken by the state legislatures from 1973-75 which bear meaningfully on community/junior college operations and programs. Information used to compile this report includes: relevant laws enacted…