AA/15/AS/19/UEPC - Amendments to the Constitution of the General Faculty: Creation of the Multicultural Requirement Subcommittee of the UEPC

Effective Fall 2019

RESOLVED: That if the attached Amendments are ratified by the General Faculty and approved by the President, the Multicultural Requirement Subcommittee be constituted effective Fall 2019; and be it further

RESOLVED: That Committee on Committees shall ensure that the initial appointment of members to the Subcommittee will provide for staggered terms; and be it further

RESOLVED: That if the attached Amendments are ratified by the General Faculty and approved by the President, the Approval for Curricular Actions procedure shall be revised to indicate that all multicultural course modifications and new course proposals are reviewed after approval by the College Dean. If such courses are also General Education courses, Liberal Studies courses, or Writing Proficiency Courses, the Multicultural Review will be the final review prior to submission to the AVPAA. Each course in review will need to submit a syllabus with course learning outcomes and provide an explanation of how the Multicultural goals/outcomes are being met in the course.

RESOLVED: That should the Multicultural Requirement be renamed, the title of this Subcommittee shall be revised to match the title of the Baccalaureate Degree Requirement, and reference to the Subcommittee updated in all relevant documents.

RATIONALE:
When the General Education program at Stanislaus State was revised in Spring 2018 to comply with EO 1100 (revised), the “multicultural requirement” was moved out of general education and adopted as a Baccalaureate Degree Requirement (14/AS/18/UEPC/GE). Such a change removed from the General Education Subcommittee the responsibility for review and approval of multicultural courses, and this responsibility has by default been placed on the University Educational Policies Committee. Given the importance of the multicultural requirement in the baccalaureate degree, and its core role in supporting the University Mission including the Statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice, the creation of a specific subcommittee to review and approve such courses helps to better ensure that courses are reviewed by faculty with expertise related to this curricular requirement.

The Subcommittee is constituted, and its charge designed, in a manner similar to the other curricular subcommittees of the UEPC (General Education Subcommittee, University Writing Committee). As with all such subcommittees, procedures for curricular review shall be developed by the membership, and approved by the UEPC.

The resolution indicates where the review of courses satisfying the multicultural requirement shall occur within the current Curricular Actions procedure (last review before Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs). For example,

Multicultural Courses (Not General Education, Not Writing Proficiency)
DCC > DC > CC > D > MC > AVPAA
General Education and Multicultural Courses (New, Modified, Deactivated, Deleted)
DCC > DC > CC > D > GE > MC > AVPAA
Liberal Studies and Multicultural Courses (New, Modified, Deactivated, Deleted)
DCC > DC > CC > D > LS > MC > AVPAA
Writing Proficiency and Multicultural Courses (New, Modified, Deactivated, Deleted)
DCC > DC > CC > D > UWC > MC > AVPAA

See the Curricular Actions procedure for full list of approval routes and legend of codes - http://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/groups/Office%20of%20Academic%20Programs/approvalcurraction.pdf

This constitutional amendment was recommended to UEPC by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Multicultural Requirement, responding to their charge to develop a procedure for the review of Multicultural Courses. The second component of the Committee’s charge is to review the aims of the Multicultural Requirement, and to recommend maintaining or modifying its title, description and/or unit requirements. The proposed Subcommittee’s title reflects the current naming of the degree requirement, but if in the future the requirement is redefined the title shall be modified to match the curricular requirement. Should the focus of the current multicultural requirement be significantly redefined, it may be necessary to revisit the membership requirements and recommendations.

In support of the specific recommendation encouraging inclusion members of both Ethnic Studies and Gender Studies on the Subcommittee:

1. The language is intentionally specific to state an encouragement, not an additional mandate, to include both Ethnic and Gender Studies faculty. The Committee on Committees can always invite members from both Ethnic Studies and Gender Studies, but given the full make-up of the committee they might decide that the at-large or CAHSS position should go to a faculty member with particular expertise in an area that is under-represented on the committee.

2. The inclusion of the statement of encouragement provides a reminder to Committee on Committees that Ethnic Studies and Gender Studies are academic programs with a particular stake in this requirement given their disciplinary expertise, program size, and anticipated large representation within the revised requirement. The statement is meant to suggest that should the opportunity arise to include a representative from both programs, that this would be beneficial to the committee and the requirement. The disciplines of Ethnic Studies and Gender Studies are distinct from one another and can bring their own unique contributions to this requirement and this committee. We did not wish to tokenize their participation on this committee by not explicitly recognizing this distinction in the policy recommendation. To not recognize this distinction could be viewed as a form of marginalization.

Review History: Approved by the Academic Senate on 04/16/19
Approved by the General Faculty on 05/02/19
Approved by President Junn on 05/23/19

Academic Affairs Division has the primary responsibility for this policy.

Attachment(s): 15/AS/19/UEPC – Amendments to the Constitution of the General Faculty: Creation of the Multicultural Requirement Subcommittee of the UEPC  

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