AP 4021 Revision Update

by Jeanine Sepulveda, FA Executive Board Member

The Academic Senate is leading a collaborative effort to revise AP 4021, our college’s academic procedure for educational program initiation, modification, revitalization, and discontinuance. As part of my role on the task force, working on the revisions with a lens towards working conditions implications, I’m sharing an update on our progress. The goal is to create a clearer and more transparent set of procedures that outline the steps for program initiation, modification, revitalization, and discontinuance. 

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A Collaborative Process

This work began last May and has involved faculty and administration working together to review and revise the existing procedure. Key voices on the task force include Annie Ngo, Scott Fallstrom, Steve Isachsen, Robin Allyn, Polo Mariscal, Jim Sullivan, Daniel Ante-Contreras and myself.

The process has included much discussion of how the current procedure works in practice, clarification of roles and responsibilities, and consideration of timelines and clarity.  

Where We Started

Our review started with sharing perspectives on the clarity of our current procedure. We dove deep into questions like ‘What defines a program? How does this (current AP 4021) procedure fit in with Program Review? How do other colleges structure their program discontinuance process?’ This led the group to separate out AP 4021 into a proposed AP 4021A, which addresses the initiation, modification, revitalization, and deactivation of educational programs, sequence of courses leading to a degree, certificate or diploma, and AP 4021 B, which describes the revitalization and discontinuance procedure for an entire discipline or department. FA’s interest in this work is to preserve what is working and evaluate the potential impacts on working conditions that may result from proposed changes to the process. The current AP already includes steps that protect faculty and programs, it outlines the opportunities for revitalization before discontinuance, involves faculty input and provides opportunities for faculty retraining.

Where We Are Now

We are now in the final stages of revision. The current work is focused on refining and clarifying the language and determining if any gaps in understanding still exist, before being routed to the FAC and Senate for their review.

My personal take on this work is that it's about clarifying a process that supports both institutional needs and the faculty and students that may be impacted by a change. The new version of the AP will maintain clear and transparent pathways for program decisions, meaningful faculty participation in the process, and appropriate protections for faculty working conditions.