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September 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1 - Califormia Community College Independents [CCCI]: Report |
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By Dennis Frisch
California Community College Independents (CCCI) members met for their Spring Conference on May 7-8, 2004, in Sacramento. A major item of the agenda was the adoption of a new set of Bylaws to guide the organization into the near future. The need for new Bylaws had become more and more important as the State budget issues grew more serious and it became clearer that CCCI needed to develop a more active role at the State level. A draft of the proposed Bylaws were presented to the members at the Fall, 2003 meeting. Suggested changes to the draft language was to be reviewed at the Spring, 2004 Conference and a vote taken to pass the Bylaws. At the Spring, 2004 Conference, a draft incorporating all of the suggested changes was reviewed and discussed at some length. With minor changes (mostly such things as verb tense, etc.) the Bylaws were passed.
One of the provisions of the new Bylaws was an Executive Committee of three executive officers: The President, an Executive Secretary (a new office created as part of the new Bylaws), and a Treasurer. With the adoption of the new Bylaws, it was necessary to conduct elections for all three offices. Zoe Close (Grossmont College) was re-elected as President; Dennis Frisch (Santa Monica College) was elected Executive Secretary, and John Smith (Rancho Santiago College) was elected Treasurer. The Executive Committee was created to make it possible for CCCI to have representatives at important State-level and regional meetings of community college organizations. With three executive officers, the responsibilities for attending these meetings does not rest only on the shoulders of the President.
In addition to the traditional reports from each member College on recent collective bargaining developments at their college, CCCI passed several important motions establishing positions on key issues confronting community colleges. With some vigorous debate, a motion was passed supporting the linkage of equalization money to compliance with full-time hiring obligations. Another motion was passed unanimously supporting the inclusion of a line-item in the State budget for the full-time hiring obligation as stipulated by State law.
In the afternoon session of the second day of the Conference, a motion opposing the nomination of Margaret Quinones was passed unanimously. A motion in support of two part-time faculty organizations, COCAL ( Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor) and CPFA was passed which included a $500 contribution. The last significant action was a motion to create a standing committee of chief negotiators. CCCI will hold its Fall Conference on October 29 and 30 in San Diego.
This was a very important CCCI meeting in that the passage of new Bylaws has set the stage to enlarge the presence of CCCI at the state level during a time of increasingly difficult state budgets. As the first step in raising the CCCI profile statewide, Dennis Frisch, Executive Secreatry, attended the Southern California Chancellor’s Office State Budget Workshop. While the news from the Chancellor’s Office about this year’s budget was encouraging, the presentation by the LAO’s (Legislative Analyst’s Office) representative was sobering. The five-year forecast paints a picture of continuing large deficits in the state budget, which will create difficult times since most, if not all, of the borrowing options have been used. The difficult issues of tax increases and budget cuts have been put off this year, but cannot be avoided indefinitely. This was the conclusion of the LAO’s report.
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