Know Your Rights

By Debbie DeLaRosa, AFT 6157 Negotiator and Grievance Officer

Class Cancellation and Full-Time Faculty

Knowing the various aspects of class cancellation procedures should be on the minds of all full time faculty members, particularly in these difficult budget times. The contract is very clear about what happens. Here are some of the important points related to class cancellations.

• Scheduled classes shall be canceled only after consultation with the instructor.

• Classes may be canceled with the consent of the instructor at any time.

• A class may be canceled within thirty (30) days before the class starts if the enrollment is less than 60% of the class maximum without the consent of the instructor.

• During the first two weeks of instruction, a class may be canceled if enrollment is less than 80% of the class maximum.

• Classes shall not be canceled after the second week of instruction without the consent of the instructor.

• The contract lays out how faculty members are reassigned when their class is canceled. If one of your classes is canceled, please be aware of the following process.

• A faculty member, whose regular load has been displaced through cancellation, and the immediate dean shall consult and agree on the alternative(s) to complete the faculty member’s regular load.

• If no agreement can be reached between the dean and the faculty member, the faculty member may choose among any unstaffed instructional assignment in one of the faculty members FSA’s.

• If no such unstaffed instructional assignment which falls within the normal work assignment exists, then the faculty member and the division Dean will collaboratively choose an instructional assignment in one of the faculty members FSA’s, first among those staffed by academic adjunct faculty or second among those staffed as an overload by a full-time faculty member.

• If none of the above is chosen, the dean may assign any instructional assignment to the faculty member in one of his/her FSA’s.

In the situation where the above alternatives do not exist or are not chosen, the faculty member shall have an under load as describe in 12.2.