SR 20-02 - Resolution on Continuity Amid Disruption by COVID-19: Use of Student Ratings of Teaching and Mode of Instruction in AY20-21

Approve Date: October 20, 2020
Senate Resolution File:
SR 20-02 Resolution on Continuity Amid Disruption by COVID-19: Use of Student Ratings of Teaching and Mode of Instruction in AY20-21

Drafted By: John Yudelson and John Griffin
Senate Resolution
WHEREAS on June 8, 2020, the University announced plans to suspend face-to-face instruction for all but a few courses for the Fall 2020 term with those plans subsequently approved by the CSU Chancellor Timothy White; and

WHEREAS the continued spread of COVID-19 throughout our surrounding cities, region and state , puts immense pressure on all members of the University community, including unique pressures on the institution’s research, scholarship, and creative missions; and

WHEREAS the emergency conditions surrounding the pandemic create social and psychological stress on students and instructional faculty add to the difficulty of teaching and learning at a college-level; and

WHEREAS the rapid escalation of the world-wide health emergency has disrupted professional travel of faculty, forcing them unexpectedly to cancel attendance at professional conferences and meetings, to cancel presentations in and attendance of colloquia and seminars, and to cancel visits to sources of primary documents; and

WHEREAS feedback from students on courses is an important source of information for instructional faculty.

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that student ratings of teaching should be distributed at the end of each term in the 2020/21 academic year; and

BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that faculty be permitted without prejudice to choose to permanently exclude student ratings of teaching (SRT) from their Personnel Action Files (PAF) after seeing the evaluations, and on a course-by-course basis for the 2020/21 academic year; and

BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that in order to ensure continuity of quality instruction, the Academic Senate suspends Senate Policy 14-14, Senate Policy 12-10 and Senate Policy 12-08 to allow
faculty the flexibility to support their students through alternative modes of instruction for the duration of the 2020/21 academic year; and

BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that to ensure the University’s instructional enterprise hears student voices on the efforts made by instructional faculty to adjust instruction in these emergency circumstances, the Faculty Affairs Committee of the Academic Senate will design and distribute a survey to all enrolled students to elicit their feedback.
If any resolution or part of a resolution in this document conflicts with or contradicts guidance on other University policies or procedures, these resolutions shall prevail without invalidating any other portion of the University policy or procedure. If any part of a resolution statement in this document conflicts with existing CSU policy, executive order, or coded memoranda, or if any resolution in this document conflicts with local, state, or federal statute, or the Collective Bargaining Agreement, that part of a resolution statement will be declared invalid without harming any other resolution statement in this document; and further

BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate and that Associate Vice-President of Faculty Affairs will add a joint letter to the Personnel Action File of all faculty that will memorialize that the 2020-2021 academic year is an annus horriblis due to the effects of COVID-19 on the University.

Supporting documents:
1. https://www.csuci.edu/news/campus-updates/fall-2020/documents/csuci-fall-2020-plan-final-0731-update.pdf
2. https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-coronavirus-cases-tracking-outbreak/ventura-county/