Faculty unanimously approved making edits to free speech policy revisions, which have been proposed by El Camino College’s administration, at the Academic Senate meeting Tuesday, May 20.
Edits on the college’s Time, Place, and Manner policy — which regulates expression on campus — will be made over shared documents and voted on at the next senate meeting Tuesday, June 3.
Any edits or suggestions on the proposed policy, which is formally known as Board Policy and Academic Procedure 3900, will be made by faculty through email and must be submitted by Wednesday, May 28.
Concerns regarding the policy revisions involve faculty being barred from publicly posting materials on office doors that express personal beliefs.
“A couple of them [the revised provisions] we don’t even have suggestions, we’re like, ‘This part is problematic,'” English professor Erica Brenes said.
Senate members previously formed a committee and wrote a letter containing concerns regarding the proposed policies, which was to be shared with college president Brenda Thames.
“We gave them our letter, and our questions. They would prefer to have edits directly on BP 3900, not a letter,” Brenes said.
If voted on and approved by the senate in June, the edits would have to undergo review by ECC’s legal counsel.
Brenes said the senate’s BP 3900 subcommittee recently met with ECC’s legal counsel, Thames, Vice President of Student Services Jeffrey Stephenson, and representatives of part-time faculty and the faculty union to discuss the policy.
“[It’s a] huge silver lining that faculty are invited to meet with legal and get our concerns answered,” Brenes said. “BP 3900 is too ambiguous, so getting clarity is helpful.”
Brenes said the subcommittee was told by ECC’s legal counsel that the district has the right to control what is posted on office doors, which are college property, but that the district is not required to do so.
She added that the current Time, Place and Manner policy enacted in 2016 may be interpreted to disallow expressions not approved by the college, but that there has been an irregular enforcement of it by division deans.
English professor Stephanie Burnham said that under the proposed policy, faculty can publicly display college-approved messages, including promotional materials from the Black Student Success Center and the LGBTQIA+ Pride Center.
Any publicly-displayed materials are being interpreted as reflecting both faculty members’ beliefs and those of the district. Faculty union posters, as well as clothing and pins worn by faculty, are not subject to the policy.
Burnham said that under the policy, non-approved materials cannot be posted publicly on doors and must face inwards into offices.
Vice President of Academic Affairs Carlos Lopez said that posters placed on the inside of office doors being publicly viewable when the door is open is transient and not subject to the policy.
“If you leave your door open 24/7, well, that’s a safety and security concern, I would hope you wouldn’t do that either,” Lopez said during the meeting.
This is the fourth time revisions to El Camino’s free speech policies have appeared on the Academic Senate’s agenda this semester. The policies were first discussed at a senate meeting Tuesday, March 18.
“I’m happy with where we’re at with the process and how it’s going so far, right, and again there’s been contention on some procedures and how it came about, but I think we’re on a good trajectory,” Burnham said.
