Governing Board Accepts Settlement Agreement

Today the Faculty Executive Council and the Governing Board approved the negotiated Settlement Agreement ending our ongoing legal dispute. We are pleased to report the Settlement Agreement contained the following provisions:

• The 2017-18 RFP is extended through June 30, 2020. (The RFP was set to expire in a few short days on June 30, 2019.)
• Reassigned time, as described in the RFP 2.12, is reaffirmed.
• The Faculty Administration Collaboration Team (FACT) will expand by one additional member to each of the Adjunct Faculty, Residential Faculty, and Administration teams, thereby increasing FACT to 9 members from 6. Team members will be elected by their groups.
• The new Faculty Agreement to replace the RFP will be presented to the Governing Board by December 31, 2019.
• Academic Freedom and Free Speech protections will be negotiated in FACT this year, and mandatory training will be provided to all faculty and academic administrators by June 30, 2020.
• Modification to the Whistleblower Protection Policy will be requested of the GB Policy Committee no later than December 31, 2019 so that a someone who whistleblows against a Chancellor will be properly protected from retaliation.
• $100,000 in compensatory damages and $12,000 in legal fees. Please note, the entirety of the $100,000 compensatory damages will be deposited in the FA treasury to be used to further the purposes and goals of the Faculty Association. None of the money recovered will go to any individual named plaintiff or faculty member.
• A waiver of all claims by all the Parties.

The Agreement will be posted in its entirety on our website soon.

The Faculty Executive Council fully supports this resolution to our legal challenges and are looking forward to working with the District to strengthen our core values of Academic Freedom and Shared Governance as we continue to serve our students and our communities.