MPFA Draft Postion Papers

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I: Part-time Faculty Access to College Services

The following text is being considered as part of a formal portion statement to the academic senate from the MPFA executive committee. This and other parts of the position statements will be sent to all members of the part-time faculty for comment and vote.

As a valued member of the Mendocino College faculty, part-time faculty members must have access to the following:

• Adequate office space to meet with students, store instructional materials and perform tasks related to instruction;
  
• Communications, such as:
  1) telephones, to place and return calls to/from students and colleagues,
  2) answering/message devices such as voicemail or answering machines that can record easily- retrievable messages,
  3) college e-mail accounts that allow two- way communication with students and college staff, and
  4) up-to- date computers (preferably in resource offices) connected to the internet for easy access to e-mail and the world wide web (these computers and peripherals should also be capable to create, print and store instructional materials for instructional use);
  
• The full range of instructional materials and services necessary to provide high-quality instruction to students, in the classroom and through distance media, including duplication of handouts and examinations, audiovisual products and equipment, classroom supplies, etc.
  
• Full use of college facilities that will enhance instruction offered to students, including classrooms, library privileges, and computer laboratories.

In these and other respects, Mendocino College is obliged to treat part-time instructors no differently from full-time instructors. Anything that diminishes the capacity of any faculty member to offer full service instruction is a disservice to students and the citizens of the Mendocino-Lake Community College District.

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II. Democratic Process and Part-time faculty

The Mendocino Part-time Faculty Association holds the following:

A democratic process should be adopted regarding decisions that affect a) what and how we teach; and b) our earnings.

Faculty members, whether full- or part-time, would thus have a voice in decisions made which relate to the courses they teach, including issues of classes cancellations, modifications of course descriptions, and other such curricular matters.

We believe that the individual classroom instructor's perspective is central and should be heard. To exclude the instructor from this process is not consistent with the spirit and the letter of the College's established policy of shared governance.

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More positions coming soon.

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Copyright MPFA 2000
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited