Responses To Recommendations
PAGE 4 OF 10
Recommendation Four
Committee Members
Dr. Lyn MacConnaire, Co-Chair, Dean of Student Development
Luke Drew Hall, Co-Chair, Professor of Geography and Geology
Susan Bricker, Registrar
Rebecca Santillan Hull, Academic Senate Vice President and President-Elect,
Professor, Counseling
Patricia Parham, Director of Personnel Commission, District Service Center
William Studt, Vice Chancellor of Human Resources
Recommendation Four
The College and the District should conduct a systematic and comprehensive review of hiring processes for all full time and part time faculty, classified staff and administrators to ensure that all practices support the goal of selecting the most diverse and highly qualified staff available. (1996 Standards 7A.2, A.3, D2)
Response
The Spring 2002 Accreditation Visitation Team reasserted that the review of hiring process for all employees remained a critical issue for the College. The College staff agrees with this recommendation.
A. Activities
There are six main ways in which the campus and the District are addressing
this recommendation.
1. Communication between the College and the District
The College realizes the gravity of Recommendation Four and that for
any meaningful progress to be made the College would have to work closely
with the District Human Resources staff at the District Service Center
(DSC). The DSC must also undertake a coordinated effort, since the
hiring process is not solely in the hands of the College. The College
invited the new Vice Chancellor of Human Resources and the Director
of Personnel to participate on the Recommendation Four Committee. This
committee agreed that a clear call for action across the three colleges,
led by the District, was critical to obtain a coordinated review of
all hiring policies and practices. This committee also worked with
the College President to send a letter to the District Council of Human
Resources (DCHR) requesting the council initiate a comprehensive review
and evaluation of district-wide hiring practices that would consider
the accreditation standards as part of its criteria (R 4.1).
2. Coordination of the College and the District
Until the revised DCHR has been instituted, the new Vice Chancellor of
Human Resources decided to create a small working group to begin immediate
work on personnel hiring issues. This group will send its recommendations
to the DCHR.
The Human Resources Oversight Council (HROC) has representatives from each of the colleges, including the Academic Senates, in addition to key District Human Resources personnel. The recommendations of the HROC will be submitted to the DCHR, the larger district-wide representative council.
3. Part-Time Faculty Hiring Process
In early Fall 2002, the HROC completely reviewed the original Part-Time
Academic Hiring Policy and clarified the process for the hiring of
part-time faculty district-wide. The process was reviewed to ensure
that it emphasized the recruitment of qualified and diverse candidate
pools. As a result of the review:
(1) A flow chart was created to further clarify each step of the hiring process for the campuses
(2) Hiring forms were reviewed and simplified
(3) An effort was made to solve a repeated problem in payroll related to the change of status when part time faculty were hired to full time positions
The revised description and flow chart will be forwarded to the DCHR (R 4.2, R 4.3).
4. Full-Time Faculty Hiring Process
In Spring 1997, Moorpark College was granted an opportunity to “pilot” a
variation of the existing academic hiring/screening process. This change
was based on the premise that the existing process was too restrictive,
sterile, and time consuming. In addition, the faculty did not feel involved
since verbal discussion of the candidates’ strengths was not encouraged
prior to the final ranking process. The intent of the new process was
to increase hiring diversity and to better use faculty expertise. The
new “pilot’’ process included:
(1) A flow chart (R 4.4)
(2) Shorter timelines
(3) New forms (R 4.5)
(4) Follow-up questions during the interview
(5) Discussions of each candidate’s strengths after the interview
(6) Tally sheets that are shared with committee members
(7) The use of candidates’ names
The Associate Vice Chancellor of Human Resources and the three campus Staff Diversity Facilitators have been working together as an ad-hoc subcommittee of the HROC to review and revise the hiring policy and practices for full-time academic positions. This subcommittee has revised and presented a draft copy of the District’s hiring policy statement that eliminates affirmative action goals and includes diversity goals. In October 2002, this draft policy was delivered to the campuses for review by each of the Academic Senates and the three college presidents. The draft policy will be presented to the Governing Board at a meeting in early 2003 (R 4.6).
In addition, the campus Academic Senate recognized a need to document the process that prioritizes new full-time academic positions before being submitted to the President’s Council. This document was submitted for Senate review in November 2002 (R 4.7).
5. Classified Staff Hiring Process (R 4.8)
Our district is a one of only five Merit System community college districts
in the State of California. The Merit System is a personnel system
of rules and procedures administered by a Personnel Commission. These
rules are binding on all classified employees and provide procedures
to be followed by the Governing Board as they pertain to the classified
staff.
The Merit System ensures fair and equitable treatment in all personnel management matters including the selection process for classified employees. The Personnel Commission conducts recruitments from all segments of society and advancement on the basis of relative ability, knowledge, and skill and provides for the selection and retention of classified employees upon a basis of merit and fitness.
The rules of the Personnel Commission are currently under review by a District-wide committee that has and will continue to present drafts for revisions to the Commission for adoption. These rules contain language regarding testing requirements, eligibility lists, and points for such things as military service and seniority.
In addition, the collective bargaining process, in 1997, resulted in a change that significantly impacted the eligibility list composition and ensuing classified hires. Specifically, language was removed that required the district and the commission to create both open and promotional lists and give absolute priority to internal candidates. The current language and practice calls for combined open and promotional lists with seniority credits (to a maximum of 5) for internal applicants. This change allows for a more equitable distribution of candidates (both internal and external) in the top rankings.
The Office of the Personnel Commission regularly reviews the selection criteria and examinations. The Office of the Personnel Commission, on a regular basis, provides orientation to individuals who serve on screening and oral examination panels.
6. Management Hiring Process
The Executive Committee of the College Management Association (CMA) met
in November 2002 and agreed to bring the proposed Managers Operation
and Policy Manual (R 4.9) to the January 2003 general management meeting.
The section concerning Hiring Procedures for Managers has been a critical
area of review for the manual. The final version of the manual is to
be submitted to the Governing Board in March 2003 (see CMA Executive
Committee minutes, November 6, 2002).
B. Analysis
Significant progress has been made in the review of the hiring procedures
for all employee groups. The recently hired Vice Chancellor of Human
Resources has provided leadership for the review of the procedure in
hiring full-time and part-time faculty, as well as classified staff,
through the newly created HROC. The work of this group, along with
the letter sent by the College President requesting action by the DCHR,
has spurred the reactivation of this council. One practical improvement
has been the clarification and simplification of the forms used in
requesting positions. Flow charts have been created to clarify hiring
processes for the campuses. In addition, the District’s policy
language for hiring of faculty has been revised by the Associate Vice
Chancellor of Human Resources with assistance of each of the three
campus Diversity Facilitators. The revisions are currently being reviewed
at each of the three college campuses. There have only been positive
responses to the changes in hiring practices as a result of the pilot.
At Ventura College, the Academic Senate has clarified the process by which its subcommittee prioritizes new full-time faculty positions. The resulting document will allow faculty to better understand the process, in particular, by clarifying the link between the Senate and the President’s Cabinet.\
Though the District has taken a lead role in reviewing the hiring policy and procedure with the active support of the College staff, most employees do not yet know about the progress made. Once finalized, the revised policy language and procedure documentation need to be distributed broadly throughout the district.
Unquestionably, the Spring 2002 visiting accreditation team’s report was a spur to action for the College and the District. We share a general concern that the actions taken to date not stop here. A commitment to an ongoing review process is necessary to ensure that in the future, we hire the most qualified candidates that are representative of our student body and embody the values of the District and College.
C. Plan
The College recommends that the District continue a leadership role in
the review process in two ways. First, there is a need to work through
DCHR to increase awareness of the revised policy and hiring procedures
for all employee groups. Second, the College recommends that DCHR create
a calendar for a regular review of hiring policy and procedures.
We recommend that the changes in hiring practices for full-time academic positions be formally adopted by DCHR.
Recommendation Four List of Documents
| R 4.1 | Letter from VC President to District Council of Human Resources |
| R 4.2 | Original Part-Time Academic Hiring Policy |
| R 4.3 | Flow Chart & Simplified Forms for Part-Time Academic Hiring |
| R 4.4 | Flow Chart Full-Time Academic Hiring |
| R 4.5 | New Hiring Forms |
| R 4.6 | District's Draft Policy for Full-Time Academic Hiring |
| R 4.7 | Academic Senate Faculty Staffing Priorities Subcommittee Procedure |
| R 4.8 | Classified Employees Handbook |
| R 4.9 | Managers Operations and Policy Manual |
| Document Used in Preparation of Response but not cited | |
| R 4.10 | Review of District Human Resources Policies and Procedures for Accreditation Certification |
Ventura College, 4667 Telegraph Road, Ventura, CA 93003 (805) 654-6400