Guest Opinion | PCC Associate Professor Melissa Michelson: Pasadena City College Needs to Improve Equity and Respect Toward Faculty

For an institution that claims to put equity at the forefront, having added it to its mission statement (“Pasadena City College is an equity-minded learning community…”) and institutionalized a new administrative area called the Division of Institutional Equity, Diversity and Justice that aims to “advance diversity, equity and inclusion throughout all areas of Pasadena City College,” and “ support the creation of an inclusive, equitable community for students, faculty, and staff,” PCC has more work to do.  The lack of equity as well as brazen disrespect shown to PCC professors is unacceptable.

Where’s the equity?

A glaring socio-economic inequity exists among the faculty ranks at PCC.

• Full-time professors at PCC’s Foothill campus non-credit division are expected to work more hours (teaching, offering student feedback and preparing for class) for the same pay as the full-time professors at the Colorado Blvd. campus, sometimes even in the same subject area and with larger classroom caps. Looking at the  counter proposals the PCC administration have presented to the faculty union, it is clear their priority is not to address faculty workload inequity.
• Also egregious is the disparity of pay between part-time faculty that teach in the credit and non-credit fields at both campuses. Even with master’s degrees, part-time faculty at the Foothill campus receive 30% less than their counterparts at the campus on Colorado Blvd.

Statewide, part-time faculty are capped out from teaching a full load at any one college,  creating an under-class of professors that are forced to be freeway flyers as they patch together a full-time workload driving from college to college. Even with PhDs and/or more years of experience at the same school, they are paid less by their college employers than full-time faculty for doing the same work of teaching, preparing and grading and they are not entitled to get the same health insurance benefits, if they get any at all. 

The latest data from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office shows that in 2021, PCC employed 678 part-time professors to 394 full-time. Many have lost their jobs due to lower student enrollment and their lack of job security.

Faculty inequity at PCC doesn’t stop at socio-economic concerns. The unequal treatment between instructional and non-instructional faculty earlier this year contributed to PCC faculty’s vote of ‘no confidence’ on PCC president Dr. Erika Endrijonas, for “repeatedly demonstrate[ing] unequal treatment of non-instructional faculty from their instructional counterparts, resulting in an unsafe learning environment for students and employees” during the July 2021 Delta spike of the Coronavirus, without implementing consistent protective measures for the librarians and counselors who were forced to return to campus while instructors could choose whether to return in-person or continue teaching on Zoom.

Where’s the respect?

As a faculty member, I feel the administration at PCC does not respect faculty.  

PCC’s 2022 campus climate survey put out by PCC’s Institutional Effectiveness office shows that faculty and staff want improved collegiality, respect, accountability and transparency, among other concerns. That the Institutional Effectiveness office, which oversees research and data for the college, chose to remove respondents’ comments from the results altogether and instead summarize the general themes is a case in point for the call for transparency. 

When addressing faculty leadership groups such as the faculty senate, which is an important space for the administration to “consult collegially” and reach “mutual agreement” on college policy issues as per California Education Code Section 70902(b)(7); Title 5, administrators have demonstrated condescending, unprepared and disrespectful behavior to faculty.

At the September 26 Academic Senate meeting, when faculty senators asked questions, shared their concerns and gave feedback to the Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness, who has been in the process of revising PCC’s Public Records request policy, she was flippant, condescending and flat out refused suggestions without giving reasons.  

Earlier at the same meeting, the Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Instruction brought previously-requested equity data on the racial demographics of this year’s small cadre of full-time hires. She projected tiny print on the screen in the front of the room, to small for senators to read.  When faculty complained, she explained she had emailed the document to the Senate leadership right before the meeting. Emailing a document last minute to one person before a meeting isn’t conducive to discussion. 

The mission and values of PCC’s human resources department reads “we create an environment of respect for all, founded in equity, courtesy, approachability, understanding and responsiveness.” 

Indeed, the PCC administration has more work to do as it relates to faculty equity and respect, and their actions speak louder than words. 

Melissa Michelson is an Associate Professor at Pasadena City College