Today’s New York Times (and a number of other news sources) had an article about proposed legislation from Senator Steinberg that would require California’s public higher education systems to accept transfer credits from select online course providers for 50 of the state’s most impacted courses (some of these courses would be Community College or CSU courses but some could be UC courses, they have not been selected yet).
The IFA immediately responded to this news by sending a letter to the Academic Senate, and promptly received a response stating that the Senate had neither participated in shaping nor been informed about the bill before it was announced to the public.
The New York Times article is available online at:
Lillian Taiz, the president of the California Faculty Association (the union representing CSU faculty), is quoted in the article as saying:
“What’s really going on is that after the budget cuts have sucked public higher education dry of resources,” she continued, “the Legislature’s saying we should give away the job of educating our students.”
The language of the proposed bill is not available from the Legislative Counsel’s website yet, but HERE is a PDF of the proposed language and HERE is a PDF press release from Senator Steinberg’s office.
Also see: “Will the Academic Senate Defend Faculty Authority or not?” by Michael Meranze in response to the proposed legislation. Michael Meranze points out that Steinberg’s SB 520 re: online education will violate Regents Standing order 105.2