The Cuesta College Academic Senate during Friday’s meeting moved to censure Vice President of Instruction Jason Curtis for his comments during the November 22, 2024 meeting. After much discussion, the senate struck down the move to censure Curtis and instead moved to reduce the censure to, according to Senate President Alex Kahane, “a Resolution of Conflict.”
After Curtis spoke out against the senate president nomination of Chemistry Instructor Lara Baxley, the senate discussed and drafted a formal statement of censure to prevent issues in future senate elections.
Throughout Friday’s meeting, different senators expressed their thoughts on the initial plan to move toward a censure by an academic senate for an administrator.
Applied Behavioral Science Division Chair Cherie Moore told the senate why this censure may be necessary.
“He’s the vice president of faculty and instruction. I think that’s what is clear here and makes this very different,” Moore said. “I wanted to add that I feel it’s not any public comment. It’s who it was coming from, and the impact that had on our senate and our senate process and what’s happened.”
Steve Leone, Academic Senate curriculum co-chair, discussed his hesitancy, citing an example of a recent censure passed by the Academic Senate at USC.
“I think we really need to be mindful and cautious about the use of this body to have a resolution that may, in fact, be about a one-time situation that can be resolved with apology,” Leone said. “We need to heal as a campus, and I do not think – and neither do some of my colleagues think – that this resolution will allow us to do so.”
Other senate members discussed how the further conversation about the censure has only negatively affected their division, and distracted them from their priorities in the classroom.
“General consensus within my group is that this has taken enough of our attention away from our students,” one senator said during the discussion. “We would all just like to get back to having that be our priority.”
After discussing their opinions on the Resolution of Censure, the Academic Senate agreed to address Cuesta College’s Board of Trustees about changing the title from “Resolution of Censure” to a “Resolution of Conflict.” According to the Senate, the change was proposed to center the solution around the whole Academic Senate and what they tolerate during an election process, rather than center the solution around one specific person and issue.
Edits have been made to the resolution, and have been agreed upon by the senate. The draft will be sent to the Board of Trustees for further review on April 11.
