11. Integrity

Description | Appraisal | Projection | Exhibits

Description

Capital Community College is bound by standards of performance derived from the Connecticut General Assembly’s 1992 statute (Exhibit 11.1) that merged Connecticut’s community and technical colleges into a single system of twelve comprehensive community technical colleges. This merger widened access to opportunities for career and transfer education. The Board of Trustees, cognizant of its responsibility to the citizens of the state, also recognizes that the Connecticut Community-Technical Colleges must have the flexibility and resources that will enable them to undertake continuous improvement and to fulfill the multiple responsibilities included in their mandate. Within this larger system, Capital Community College’s mission and governing authority are established in state law. Certain fundamental ethical standards are also established by statutes. These include: CGS1-83, known as the Ethics Statute; CGS10a-6 (b), which provides for freedom of information in the conduct of public business and at the federal level; and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, which protects the privacy of students (Exhibits 11.2, 11.3, & 11.4). Thus, a firm and public legal foundation provides a clear and broad framework within which the College can establish, communicate, monitor, and assess its institutional ethics.

Through its mission statement, Capital Community College commits itself to providing “access to higher education to the diverse residents of the greater Hartford region.”The College articulates its educational obligations through a variety of publications including the Board of Trustees policies, the College’s course brochures, the College Catalog, the college website, and the Student Handbook (Exhibits 11.5 - 11.9). The College’s commitment to accessibility is directly supported by its open enrollment admission policies and by its services for assisting students in applying for financial aid. The integrity of the commitment to accessibility is underscored by the College’s efforts to retain and graduate the students in both degree and certificate programs. Students are served by dedicated counseling staff, financial aid officers, a well-trained faculty, and other support staff. Students have access to library and media services that are kept technologically current and germane to their studies. Furthermore, college staff and faculty have collaborated on designing a rich array of programs and services to sustain student success. These include the Academic Success Center, the Welcome Center, the English as a Second Language (ESL) Center, the Student Activities Center, the Career Development and Placement Center, the Early Alert and Fresh Start programs, a Writing Across the Curriculum initiative, Learning Communities, and numerous connections with feeder programs such as Tech Prep, ConnCas and ConnCap.

The Division of Continuing Education and its objectives are guided by the College’s mission to “be an integral part of Hartford’s cultural and economic district.” The D ivision is committed to providing lifelong training and education necessary for responding to the needs of individuals as well to the requirements of area businesses, industry and government. The Division provides cost-effective solutions to real-life issues not only for individuals but also for the public, private and corporate sectors.

The College recently helped to develop Capital Preparatory Magnet School, a Hartford public school that enrolls approximately 230 children in grades six through twelve who are receiving an education focused on the theme of social justice. The school is being housed at the College on a temporary basis while the College and the Magnet School search for a permanent Magnet School location that will serve the needs of students in both institutions.

The College’s commitment to external agencies, organizations and the general public is embodied in its attainment and maintenance of national and regional accreditations. A complete list of existing accreditations is available in the College Catalog (Exhibit 11.7a). Primarily a teaching institution, the College normally engages in only those research activities that are useful for institutional effectiveness, such as studies of students, student achievement, program assessment, and assessment of other services. Further, college faculty and staff participate in departmental planning, ad hoc studies, and accreditation reviews. These collaborations prompt regular monitoring of the College’s integrity and adherence to NEASC standards.

Academic freedom is fundamental to the pursuit of knowledge, and the College clearly articulates its importance for both faculty and students. Collective bargaining agreements of the Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges (4C’s) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) include articles establishing members’ rights to academic freedom and outlining grievance procedures dedicated to resolving complaints of academic freedom violations (Exhibits 11.10a & 11.11a). In addition, the College Catalog clearly states the right of students to " …enjoy the same freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, and right of petition that other citizens enjoy, and as members of the academic community they are subject to the obligations which accrue to them by virtue of this membership.” (Exhibit 11.7b)

Student conduct appropriate to a learning environment is important to the quality of education at the College. Standards of conduct, including a statement on plagiarism, are established and communicated to all students through the College Catalogand Student Handbook (Exhibits 11.7c & 11.9a). The Dean of Students oversees and administers the College’s student discipline system to ensure compliance with these standards of conduct. Student grievance procedures are specified in the Catalog and Handbook

Professional administrative personnel and support staff are covered not only by the unions noted above (4C’s & AFT), but also AFSCME-Administrators, AFSCME–Clerical, Protective Services, Service & Maintenance, and Administrative & Residual (Exhibit 11.12). All collective bargaining agreements define standards of conduct and the steps that the College must follow in addressing violations of established standards. Employees are ensured adequate due process and the right to appeal actions resulting from the college’s enforcement of its standards (Exhibits 10b & 11b).

The College adheres to non-discriminatory policies and practices in recruitment, admissions, employment, evaluation and advancement. Faculty and staff selection conform to systemwide policies intended to provide equal access to employment opportunities and to create a diverse workforce. Collective bargaining agreements, the State’s Civil Service regulations, the College’s affirmative action plan (Exhibit 11.13), and its employment policy all support equitable consideration for employment opportunities and advancement within the College.

The College’s annual affirmative action plan additionally specifies current goals and efforts toward achieving parity in an inclusive, collaborative workforce. The plan serves as a guide for the College to monitor its successes and its shortcomings. The plan clearly outlines procedures by which faculty, staff, and students can bring complaints of discrimination and sexual harassment (Exhibit 11.13a). The College ensures that complainants are made aware of other vehicles by which they may pursue their concerns. These vehicles include the State’s Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Office of Civil Rights.

Other College policies and procedures clearly outlined in the College Catalog concern people with disabilities, violence prevention and response, disturbances on campus, drug free environment, weapons on campus, AIDS and other communicable diseases, racism and acts of intolerance, and campus sex crime prevention (Exhibit 11.7d).

The College takes periodic opportunities to assess both its ethical policies and the mechanisms by which they are enforced. The negotiation of collective bargaining agreements every three to four years prompts self-examination. Negotiations assess the impact of administrative behavior on faculty and staff, the problems that have arisen for both parties over the course of the last contract, and the ways that parties can better work together to resolve differences and revise unbalanced systems. Preparation of the annual affirmative action plan focuses attention on adherence to the principles of non-discrimination and equal opportunity. The College Senate provides an avenue for assessing and revising, as needed, institutional policies affecting both academic programs and governance. The Senate monitors all policies and programs to assure that they adhere to standards of integrity, both those established by law and those that the College has established for itself.

Appraisal

The integrity of the institution depends on adherence to those programs, practices and policies that are designed to ensure the fair, accurate, legal, and ethical management of all the College’s relations.

Despite progress toward unifying areas of collective bargaining across diverse unions, problems remain concerning issues ranging from faculty workloads to weather-related closings. These differences have provided numerous opportunities for testing the integrity of the institution. Recent grievances have effectively clarified contract language, and the College abides by all settlements. There have been no recent instances of violations of programs, policies or laws, as measured by (a) the absence of any sanctions of College personnel or of the College as a unit by the Board of Trustees or the Department of Higher Education; and (b) the absence of adverse findings or penalties against the College as a result of complaints filed by college personnel, individual students or their representatives (such as the Student Senate).

In recent years, questions have arisen concerning grade notations for students who discontinue courses without formally withdrawing. Although the guidelines for formal course withdrawals are defined in the College Catalog and the Student Handbook (Exhibit 11.7e & 11.9b), neither publication specifies what happens when the withdrawal is not formalized. Through 2005, college faculty used an Administrative Withdrawal notation (AW) in lieu of a grade, but this practice was interpreted and applied variously, raising concern and widespread discussion about inconsistencies. In the spring of 2006, the AW notation was discontinued systemwide, and faculty have been given the choice of using a notation of N (no grade) or a grade of F in these unofficial withdrawal cases. The N solves some of the problems attending the AW, but perpetuates concerns about the vagueness of standards for its use and about resulting inconsistencies.

Misunderstandings about the necessity of prerequisites have caused unevenness in course progression sequences for some students. A related problem affects students who need developmental courses but avoid them, circumventing policies designed to prevent such enrollment. Discussions between the Academic Dean and Department Chairs have confirmed the importance of prerequisites, and a strengthened academic advising system is under development to guide students more attentively in course progressions at all levels.

In late 1999, the College made a significant investment in an environmental audit carried out by a consulting firm (Exhibit 11.14). The audit led to recommendations for several changes to the workplace environment including improvements in the following areas: communications; training and mentoring systems; recruitment and hiring systems; evaluation, promotion, and recognition; and celebration of diversity (Exhibit 11.15). The consultants returned to conduct follow-up workshops with members of the college community at all levels, but these responses were not well known or understood outside of the workshops. However, some of the recommendations were incorporated in the 2000-2006 Strategic plan.

The inclusion of the Capital Prep Magnet School has caused controversy on campus. The adoption of the magnet school responds to the systemwide mission that calls for collaboration with K-12 education and to the College mission to provide access to higher education. The pairing between the magnet school and the College has stimulated innovations in program planning, and the possibility of ultimately sharing some physical facilities offers opportunities for enhancing the campuses for both partners. However, the ongoing unanticipated delay in securing either the planned magnet school space or the planned College expansion space has led to crowding and frustration for both units. During this transition, the introduction of over 200 magnet school children into the life of the College is a cause for concern.

• Already constrained for classroom, office and ancillary space, the College’s inclusion of the magnet school within the building has drawn physical resources away from college purposes. (For details, see S tandard 8.)Over the past three years, increased student enrollment, along with expansion of services, has led to an authenticated need and a clearly defined intention to acquire thousands more square feet of space for regular college purposes. The decision to lend space to a magnet school has been a temporary but protracted deviation from the intention to improve physical capacity.
• Mixing college and magnet school students, some as young as 6 th graders, creates tension among the student body, diminishing the sense that the College is an adult learning environment. For many college students, the echoes of a high school atmosphere on campus are discouraging. The College faces the danger of alienating some members of the core target community.
• Accommodations to the various needs of the disparate groups (food service, medical facilities, recreation space, library holdings, etc.) threaten to draw additional financial resources away from college needs, and there has not been evident training of college staff for dealing with the new population.
• There are few natural or organized interactions between the regular college community and the magnet school. Most college students and staff are puzzled by the presence of the magnet school and unaware of how it supports the College’s mission, thereby posing a question of integrity.

Projection

 The College continues to work in good faith toward harmonizing workload and other employment relationships for staff in diverse unions. Many of the salient issues are negotiated at the statewide level, but some are accessible to local solutions. For these latter, discussions will remain respectful and collegial.

The college governance system will review the use of the new grade notation of N. In the fall of 2006, the Curriculum and Academic Policy Committee will study the application of the notation among sister colleges in the system and will report to the Senate recommending when and by what standards the N can best be used at this campus.

A promising new academic advising model (Exhibit 11.16), initiated in the summer of 2006, will be evaluated and developed throughout the 2006-2007 academic year. This integrated approach to advising, enrollment, and mentoring will address problems of prerequisite avoidance and will foster adherence to curricular sequencing.

Multiple focus groups have been part of the Achieving the Dream initiative, and some of the issues that were not addressed as a result of the 1999 environmental audit have been given a new context through the current initiative. The President will address issues that rise to prominence in the current environment.

Physical constrictions related to the magnet school presence on campus are temporary. The College is pursuing a plan to expand to contiguous space within the current building, converting unused space into classrooms (Exhibit 11.17). Further, the magnet school is seeking an appropriate location elsewhere. After the move, the two schools will continue to share selected facilities, thereby supporting activities that neither could provide alone (Exhibit 11.18). Of particular interest to the College is the probability that the ongoing partnership will provide College students with access to a gym. Misunderstandings about interactions between magnet school and college purposes are being addressed by a committee comprising faculty from both units, and the magnet school board includes members of the College community.

The College will continue to engage in self-examination and corrective action on a regular basis as it conforms with systemwide human rights policies and affirmative action mandates. Through these externally-prompted reviews and through the College’s own internal governance and institutional effectiveness mechanisms, Capital Community College will continue to adhere to policies that foster its integrity as an organization providing high quality, student-centered, accessible education to the diverse residents of the Hartford area.

Exhibits

• 11.1 Connecticut General Assembly Public Act 92-126, Section 27a
• 11.2 Connecticut General Statutes 1-83
• 11.3 Connecticut General Statutes 10a-6 (b)
• 11.4 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974
• 11.5 Board of Trustees policies
• 11.6 Sample course brochure
• 11.7 College Catalog 2005-06
  a. List of accreditations, pp 9
  b. Student rights and responsibilities, p 12
  c. Standards of student conduct pp 11-13 & 29
  d. Other policies for tolerant civil environment, pp 13-17
  e. Course withdrawals, pp 29
• 11.8 College website
• 11.9 Student Handbook 2005-06
  a. Standards of student conduct pp 89-95
  b. Course withdrawals, p 85
• 11.10 Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges Collective Bargaining Agreement
  a. Academic freedom, Article V
  b. Conduct standards and procedures, Articles XVI and VII
• 11.11 American Federation of Teachers Collective Bargaining Agreement
  a. Academic freedom, Article VI
  b. Conduct standards and procedures, Article XII and XIV
• 11.12 Other collective bargaining agreements (#1, #2, #3, #4)
• 11.13 College affirmative action plan (Available in the Human Resources Office - room 214)
  a. Complaints of discrimination and sexual harassment, Sec. 46a-68-46
• 11.14 Capital Community Technical College, Employee Culture Audit & Student Diversity Survey Summary Report. Rosario and Associates and ESB Consulting, 1999
• 11.15 Synopsis of Summary Report on Employee Culture Audit & Student Diversity Survey
• 11.16 Academic Advising Model
• 11.17 Request for Space (draft)
• 11.18 Agreement between Hartford Schools and the College concerning shared facilities