27 June 2008

To: Dr. Bruce Leslie

From: The District Council of Chairs
Re: Faculty Concerns

Recent disturbing developments in the ACC prompted the District Council of Chairs
to meet on Tuesday, 23 June. We reviewed the letter sent to you by the San Antonio
College Faculty Senate and vigorously endorse the positions expressed in this document.
Like the SAC Faculty Senate, department chairs representing all five colleges are deeply
troubled by the district’s increasingly heavy-handed top-down administrative style, its
apparent disregard for shared governance, and the profusion of costly high level positions
added to the district often without adequate transparency in the hiring process. Most
unsettling is the perception that the district is doing business in ways that dramatically
contradict the ACC’s core values of integrity, communication, and accountability.

As department chairs, we witness daily the undermining of resources and morale

that is detrimental to the positive learning environments we are committed to creating for
our students. For example, department chairs at each of the colleges, are being asked to
implement the following for the fall:

a) Increase in class size: Class size is being dictated by the district without regard
for pedagogical implications, specifically the toll larger classes will take on student success
and retention, especially in developmental and gatekeeper courses. At St. Philip’s College,
college level English classes are expected to increase from 25 to 35. This mandate
exemplifies the district’s concern for the bottom line at the expense of student success.
Further, dictates about class size fail to take into consideration the availability of adequate
classroom/lab space. At Palo Alto and many of our sister colleges, classrooms were
deliberately designed to accommodate no more than 30 students in order to provide the
personalized instruction necessary to maximize student success. Ironically, as a district, we
have prided ourselves on Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) results
that demonstrate ACC students feel a genuine sense of connection with their instructors
and their college. Increasing class size will jeopardize that vital connection that CCSSE
data shows is a reliable predicator of student retention and success.

b) Cut-backs in teaching staff: Throughout the district, colleges are losing both
full-time faculty positions and full-time temps. Without a sufficient number of faculty,
sections must be cut – as many as four sections (100 students) for each FT temp that is
lost. As a result, we fail our students and the communities we serve. In addition, the
district loses contact hour reimbursement. Even increased class size is not enough to off-
set the critical faculty shortage, especially at Northwest Vista and Northeast Lakeview
where growth is explosive.

c) Cut-backs in support staff: Fiscal constraints have prevented the hiring of

support staff essential to providing students with such necessary services as tutoring.
Northwest Vista College has two new fully equipped, state of the art labs – a reading lab and
a writing across the curriculum lab. These facilities will not be opened in the fall, as
scheduled, because funds to hire tutors have been cut. Without tutors, the labs cannot
operate.

d) Proposed faculty transfers: The prospect of involuntary transfers as soon as

this fall has deeply unsettled faculty. We reiterate the concerns expressed so cogently by
the SAC Faculty Senate. No procedure is in place for transfers. No guidelines have been
developed about how transfer will affect progress toward tenure and promotion. We
assert that faculty are not interchangeable widgets to be moved around at will. Such a
mechanistic model seems diametrically opposed to the “joyful culture of learning and
service” espoused by the district’s core value of Community.

Because we feel the district has repeatedly failed to embody its core values of
Integrity, Communication, and Accountability, the Council of Chairs stands united in its
vehement protest against the recent barrage of short-sighted administrative decisions that
will have far-reaching consequences deleterious to faculty, students, and staff. Particularly
appalling are the massive funding cutbacks mandated at each college (as much as 10% of the
operating budget) while the district continues to add costly, high level administrative
positions. The implicit perception that the district’s superstructure expands at the
expense of its infrastructure drastically erodes public trust and political good will. Thus,
we express our grave concerns as faculty with an unprecedented sense of urgency to
prevent compromising the quality of education we provide to the citizens and the
communities we serve.

We look forward to your response.

Respectfully,

The District Council of Chairs

CC: Gary Beitzel

Anna Bustamante
Marcelo Casillas
Charles Connor
Denver McClendon
James Rindfuss
Dr. Gene Sprague
Dr. Bernard Weiner
Roberto Zarate