[Philip A. Pecorino]

On the locus for approval of the online mode of instruction I offer the following items below but the crux and bottom line is that under academic freedom and CUNY bylaws it is for faculty as a collective in academic departments have control of the educational policies of the department and thus to determine by policy the most appropriate modes of instruction and what are the acceptable modes for the students they have in their programs and courses. Chairpersons shall carry out the department’s policies.

Philip A. Pecorino, Ph.D.
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My article is found here:

Academic Freedom and Selection of Instructional Modalities :On Conversion of Courses to Online Format and Academic Freedom by Philip A. Pecorino, QCC, CUNY Spring 2006
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/Academic-Freedom-Class-Conversion.html
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QCC policy (4 elements) as passed by the QCC Governing body May 2010

Whereas in the aftermath of the Middle States Self-Study, the QCC Academic Senate created a Special Committee on Distance Education at QCC,
Whereas on April 20, 2010, this committee issued a plan to expand Distance Education at the college,
Whereas the College needs a clear resolve to support the development of distance education and a policy for online instruction,
be it therefore resolved that the College will:
1. Acknowledge that quality online education cannot take place without appropriate support for students, faculty, and infrastructure and take appropriate action to meet the needs of students and faculty. a. Such support for students entails:
1) An appropriate orientation so that they understand the requirements for online courses before they register and have the basic skills needed to succeed in online courses, and
2) Appropriate support while they are enrolled in online courses.

b. Such support for faculty entails appropriate assistance in the development, management, assessment, and continuing review of courses using distance education technologies.

2. Affirm the right of academic departments alone to:

a. Determine which courses should have fully or partly online sections,
b. Determine which faculty members are eligible to teach online courses, and
c. Establish prerequisites for students to meet before taking online courses; such prerequisites would undergo review by the Curriculum Committee and the Academic Senate.

3. Direct the College Personnel & Budget Committee—when making decisions regarding reappointment, tenure, and promotion—to recognize the contributions made by faculty who:

a. Develop and teach online courses
b. Publish research on online learning and teaching
c. Publish and disseminate materials related to online course instruction

4. Provide adjunct faculty teaching online courses the same support provided to full-time faculty

The entire report is found here:
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/Governance/documents/May_2010/Attachment-I.pdf

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CUNY BOT Policies and bylaws
The Board recognizes the historic tradition which vests both the privileges and responsibilities of academic governance in the faculty of a college. The faculty, as the body chiefly responsible for the educational mission as well as for academic standards, is that part upon which the health of the whole institution depends. In this role, the faculty has a long tradition of collegiality, in which its various educational responsibilities are freely shared among its members.—CUNY Policy Statement on Academic Peresonnel Practice 9-22-75

CUNY BOT BYLAWS

Article IX Organization and Duties of Faculty Departments
Section 9.1. Department Organization.
a. Each department, subject to the approval of the faculty or faculty council, where existent, and subject to the provisions of other sections of these bylaws, shall have control of the educational policies of the department through the vote of all of its members who have faculty rank or faculty status; and if the department so desires, it may enfranchise persons in visiting professorial titles and other members who have been appointed on an annual salary basis for a first or second year of full-time service to vote on departmental matters except for the election of department chairpersons, departmental committee on personnel and budget, or departmental committee on appointments. Each department shall cooperate with related departments and with college agencies in general in the development of college-wide interests.

Section 9.3. Duties of Department Chairperson.
a. The department chairperson shall be the executive officer of his/her department and shall carry out the department’s policies, as well as those of the faculty and the board which are related to it. He/she shall:
1. Be responsible for departmental records.
2. Assign courses to and arrange programs of instructional staff members of the department.
3. Initiate policy and action concerning the recruitment of faculty and other departmental affairs subject to the powers delegated by these bylaws to the staff of the department in regard to educational policy, and to the appropriate departmental committees in the matter of promotions and appointments.
4. Represent the department before the faculty council or faculty senate, the faculty, and the board.
5. Preside at meetings of the department.
6. Be responsible for the work of the department’s committee on appointments or the department’s committee on personnel and budget which he/she chairs.
7. Prepare the tentative departmental budget, subject to the approval by the department’s committee on appointments or the department’s committee on personnel and budget.
8. Transmit the tentative departmental budget to the president with his/her own recommendations.
9. Arrange for careful observation and guidance of the department’s instructional staff members.
10. Make a full report to the president and to the college committee on faculty personnel and budget of the action taken by the department committee on personnel and budget or department committee on appointments when recommending an appointee for tenure on the following:
a. Teaching qualifications and classroom work.
b. Relationship of the appointee with his/her students and colleagues.
c. Appointee’s professional and creative work.
11. Hold an annual evaluation conference with every member of the department after observation and prepare a memorandum thereof.
12. Generally supervise and administer the department.

[David M. Shapiro]

Philip,
When you get the opportunity, would you please send to me the Supreme Court references to which you referred in your discussion? Thank you.
dshapiro@jjay.cuny.edu

[Philip A. Pecorino]

For the Supreme Court Reference please see my presentation
Academic Freedom and CUNY: The role of the Faculty
at
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/ACADEMIC-FREEDOM-CUNY-MEC.html

from which this is taken:

In 1957 Sweezey v New Hampshire the US Supreme Court with Justice Earl Warren writing for the court sets out that Academic Freedom is a First Amendment right of an individual member of a faculty to some form of Academic Freedom. In Sweezey Justice Felix Frankfurter set out the component of academic freedom for institutions and individuals as relating to the needed autonomy of the institution from outside intrusion, particularly from government. Justice Frankfurter noted a statement from South Africa that identified “the four essential freedoms of a university to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study.” This established the sphere in which Individual and Institutional Academic Freedom operates. Many see this decision as clearly establishing that academic freedom exists for institutions. It might also be interpreted as indicating that academic freedom exists as shared by universities, professors and students, thus leaving at issue what happens should there be a conflict amongst those three as has often occurred and typifies the conflict in most cases finding there way to the courts since 1970.

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