DCFA Welfare and Benefits Committee Makes Survey Available for Faculty

The following message has been written by the DCFA Welfare and Benefits Committee, for faculty to read in advance of completing a survey on a number of issues and concerns related to Welfare and Benefits. Please read the information below, and then select this link to complete the survey.

The DCFA Welfare and Benefits (W/B) Committee gathered input from faculty on issues they would like addressed. These issues have been put together in a survey to determine what the top 3 issues are for faculty. This will help in our efforts to address these issues moving forward with administration. 

The information below is more context on the issues we’ve received. In the survey you are asked to rank these issues and before doing so it is important you understand what each issue means. Please read below and utilize links to get a short introduction on each issue. Remember these are in NO particular order. 

After reading through, or if you feel like you already understand the issues, please complete the survey (linked here). If you have any questions please contact your campus W/B representative. 

1. Scheduling 

1. We have received feedback from many faculty regarding:

1.  inequity across campuses and disciplines in how courses are assigned and what courses are assigned. 

2. Addressing the no 100% online teaching 

3. Addressing the 118ACH of load must be taught face to face. 

4. Pursuing a more faculty driven scheduling of courses 

5. Pursuing a higher level of collaboration on what courses are offered and who is teaching them 

6. County Collin stipend pay for dual credit 

2. Administration 

1. Issues brought up involve

1. advocating for more Dean/Chair autonomy to address many of the issues faculty are having - if Dean/Chair had the authority to make decisions

2. Addressing the DC policy making process and asking for more transparency and involvement in the process 

3. Addressing new hire issues - faculty and adjunct faculty being hired without input from current faculty. Who is chairing the hiring committees, what’s the onboarding process etc. 

4. Investigating use of funds across campuses 

3. Compensation 

1. Compression - no increase based on compression in __

2. Incentive Based Pay 

1. Incentive-Based Compensation

2. Incentive Based Pay Recommendations from all DC Faculty input 

3. Premium Pay 

1. Issue raised of no longer being able to take during winter/may

2. Increase in pay for premium pay should be in line with adjunct increase, etc)

4. Range Advancement 

1. Faculty who have moved up 2 or more range levels have only received one increase in pay instead of the proper pay increase for each range level

5. Cost-of-Living Comparisons for COLA

6. Student loan repayment assistance program

7. Clear and transparent, year over year, salary advancement schedule similar to that or Tarrant and CollinCounty

4. Benefits 

1. Parental Leave - current policy only for faculty who have worked 3 years full time and only covers 4 weeks of base pay. Can not be used again within another 3 years. 

1. Parental Leave Reference Document

2. Sabbatical 

3. Social Security - currently DC does not pay into SS for Faculty 

4. Sick leave use and distribution - faculty currently do not have a sick bank we can donate into and can not specify who we would like to give sick leave to 

5. Vacation time - Faculty do not have vacation time as do PSS etc. Looking at equality of pay and benefits 

5. Adjunct Policies 

1. Currently DC does not pay adjunct healthcare nor TRS if we overload them (more than 3 pieces).

2. COLA for adjuncts 

6. Faculty Contracts 

1. Methods of achieving contractual security 

2. Receive payments for contracts and extra service contracts on time before classes have started 

3. Tenure tract contracts (interest in pursuing these that we currently do not have) 

4. Keeping our 3 year rolling contracts (board has expressed interest in getting rid of these) 

5. Pursuing scaled faculty contracts 

6. Collin College Faculty Compensation Model

7. Tarrant County College Faculty Compensation Model

8. Tarrant County College Tenure Policy

9. Tenure-Track

7. Pay Equity 

1. DEI and Wage Gaps

2. Intersectionality and Wage Gaps

3. Inequality of pay (some faculty making below minimums, DEI issues)

4. Increase FT pay - equity across fellow faculty and in line with requirements for pss and admin and state/nation/etc. increase when adjunct pay increases

5. Race and Gender Disparities

6. Compensated equitably by peers at similar institutions 

7. Competitive field stipends

8. DEI stipends to incentivize faculty with DEI skills and, over time, reduce Dallas College faculty DEI skill deficiencies

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts Research Report Released

This folder on the DCCFA Share Point site contains links to a PDF and an Excel Spreadsheet, that catalogue existing efforts and opportunities in all aspects of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and are the culmination of the work of dozens of people across all seven campuses of Dallas College. This information is being presented to the faculty who will comprise the forthcoming Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Supercommittee, and six subcommittees.

Faculty Council Releases Results of June 26-30 Survey on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Between June 26 and June 30, a survey was made available for respondents to share their thoughts on the June 25 votes of the Faculty Council on various motions for proposed actions on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

The creators of the survey, Wade Hyde (El Centro), Carlos Martinez (Richland), and Matt Hinckley (Eastfield), used the survey to identify faculty from the campuses they represent, who were interested in working on a potential Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion task force. Hyde, Martinez, and Hinckley, forwarded the names of these self-identified faculty from their respective campuses, to Keith Baker, who was charged to gather information on existing DEI efforts across the District. The purpose of the survey having been accomplished, the survey was closed.

While this effort was ongoing, the survey link made its way to faculty at other campuses, and many faculty at those campuses were encouraged by colleagues at their campuses to complete it. As a result, after the survey was closed, the other members of the Faculty Council requested data from the survey. In order to ensure that all DCCCD faculty have equal access to the same information at the same time, the aggregated results are presented here. No personal identifying information is being shared or published. Names of respondents have been expunged from the raw data to protect anonymity. Also, note that the survey was voluntary, that respondents optionally could agree or decline to answer all demographic questions, and even those who did choose to answer demographic questions could select “prefer not to answer” to any individual question. As you will see below, some campuses had very few respondents. Consequently, disaggregated data (by campus) will not be published. There were 122 total survey respondents.

The first question asked, "In response to a charge made on June 22, 2020, by DCCCD Board of Trustees Chair Diana Flores, as well as Chancellor May’s June 16th email on observing Juneteenth, the DCCFA Council recently discussed what actions the faculty association could take to support diversity, equity, and inclusion. Please reorder, ranked from the best course of action to worst, which course of action would you recommend the faculty association take in this regard:"

74 said their first choice was to "Immediately from a DCCFA task force on diversity, equity, and inclusion;"

29 said their first choice was to "Charge one Faculty Council member to survey existing District efforts on diversity, equity, and inclusion before forming a task force;"

19 said their first choice was to "Do nothing;"

The second question asked, "Would you personally be willing to serve a DCCFA task force on diversity, equity, and inclusion?"

49 said Yes

40 said Maybe

33 said No

The third question asked, "Are you willing to answer a few personal demographic questions to help us better quantify respondents?"

109 said Yes

13 said No - these respondents then were not asked any further questions

This left 109 respondents who answered the demographic questions. The 109 answered the following questions:

My primary CAMPUS location is:

10 identified their home campus as BHC

7 identified their home campus at CVC

17 identified their home campus as EFC

28 identified their home campus as ECC

23 identified their home campus as MVC

5 identified their home campus as NLC

17 identified their home campus as RLC

2 preferred not to say

I define my GENDER as :

36 self-identified as a man

68 self-identified as a woman

5 preferred not to say 

I define by RACE/ETHNICITY primarily as:

1 self-identified as American Indian or Alaskan Native AND Black

1 self-identified as American Indian or Alaskan Native AND Hispanic or Latino

1 self-identified as American Indian or Alaskan Native AND White

6 self-identified as Asian

1 self-identified as Asian and White

22 self-identified as Black or African American

12 self-identified as Hispanic or Latino

3 self-identified as both Hispanic or Latino AND White

56 self-identified as White

6 preferred not to say

I define my SEXUAL ORIENTATION as:

5 self-identified as Bisexual

5 self-identified as Gay or Lesbian

90 self-identified as Straight/Heterosexual

9 preferred not to say

Are you challenged with a DISABILITY, such as: difficulty hearing; difficulty seeing; difficulty speaking or language impairment; mobility limitation/orthopedic impairment; traumatic brain injury;...

24 answered Yes

4 answered Maybe

75 answered No

6 preferred not to say

I define my GENERATION as:

1 defined their generation as Greatest Generation

2 defined their generation as Traditionalists/Silent Generation

29 defined their generation as Baby Boomer

53 defined their generation as Gen X

13 defined their generation as Gen Y/Millennial

4 defined their generation as Other/undefined

7 preferred not to say

DCCFA Faculty Council Votes Unanimously to Form and Charge a Super Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The DCCFA Faculty Council met July 1, 2020 (minutes located at this link), to pass the following statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), by unanimous consent (7-0):

Vision 

The Dallas Community College Faculty Association (DCCFA) envisions working within a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment where our members recognize and support the values, perspectives, and individual dignity of all members of our community. 

Values 

We support the DCCCD Board of Trustees Mission and Strategic Priorities for 2020-2021. In particular, we agree with the priority to foster an equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment for employees and students. 

We pledge to work closely with the four (4) newly created Dallas College employee resource groups (ERGs) to foster an equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment for all Dallas College employees. 

We commit to infusing diversity, equity, and inclusion into the primary responsibilities of full-time faculty, as defined by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC): Curriculum Design, Development, and Evaluation; Teaching; Identification and Assessment of Appropriate Student Learning Outcomes; Student Advising; Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity; and, Institutional and Professional Service.

We embrace diversity in our classrooms where students can openly discuss ideas, celebrate differences, express differing ideas, opinions, and world views, where dehumanizing ideas will not be tolerated.

We seek equity within faculty leadership and representation.  

We desire an inclusive workforce and work environment that fosters critical thinking, open-mindedness, empathy, and acceptance, where new ideas and great discoveries arise from a wide variety of minds, backgrounds, and experiences. 

Actions

Solicit and recruit faculty interested in serving on a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) “super committee” to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion at Dallas College.  

Develop six (6) diversified, co-chaired sub-committees that will independently focus on the SACSCOC-defined core faculty responsibilities: 

1. Curriculum Design, Development, and Evaluation
2. Teaching 
3. Identification and Assessment of Appropriate Student Learning Outcomes 
4. Student Advising 
5. Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity 
6. Institutional and Professional Service 

Charge each committee to: 

• Identify and acknowledge any issues that might restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion.

• Gather and catalog feedback from various stakeholders about advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

• Develop recommendations for change that results in a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive faculty. 

• Summarize subcommittee work in individual detailed reports. 

• Publish a comprehensive account of all subcommittee findings and recommendations. 

The Faculty Council acknowledges we all have been involved in difficult conversations during the past week, and that more difficult conversations are ahead. If you have spoken up, we hear you. We thank every member who has contributed to the ongoing conversation. We also thank those who already have volunteered to serve on a DEI task force. We further encourage additional faculty – particularly those whose voices and perspectives have not previously been heard – to join the effort, share their perspectives and experiences, and be heard. If you wish to be involved in this work, please contact your local campus Faculty Association president.

We do not intend that this is a “final statement,” but rather the beginning of the important work that our DEI task forces will lead.

As always, we thank you for your membership and for your service.