CCSB Academic Senate challenges allegation of violation of Brown’s Law following vote of no confidence

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The Santa Barbara City College Academic Senate again approved the resolution for a vote of no-confidence against several college board members, dismissing the trustees’ allegations that the Senate broke Brown Law to pass the resolution.

The resolution comes after years of faculty frustration with the board, as noted in the brief, a list of grievances about the behavior of trustees spanning more than four years. The directors named in the no-confidence vote are Marsha Croninger, Veronica Gallardo, Peter Haslund, Robert Miller and Kate Parker.

After the board vote on August 26, several trustees, including Marsha Croninger and Kate Parker, and college legal counsel Craig Price accused the Senate of breaking Brown’s law by moving a talking point to a subject giving rise to an action.

The President of the Academic Senate, Raeanne Napoleon, defended the decision, citing the Senate statutes and Roberts’ rules of procedure, which state that an urgent item can be proposed if there is a two-thirds vote among the senate. to do it.

Napoleon sought a third-party legal perspective after the meeting to confirm whether the Senate had violated Brown’s Law.

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Mark Manion, a lawyer at local law firm Price, Postel & Parma, wrote that he felt this was a rigid interpretation of Brown’s Law.

The courts have ruled that as long as the notice provides the essential nature of the case, technical errors will not prevent an agency from acting, Manion wrote.

Manion said the agenda item descriptions provide fair notice to anyone of what the Senate is considering. He also explained that the Senate was not precluded from taking action on an item in the discussion part of the agenda, but that a simple solution would be to make the item actionable in a meeting. next.

At its September 8 meeting, the Senate unanimously approved the resolution as part of its consent agenda reaffirming the August 10 decision.

The Board of Directors will have the opportunity to acknowledge these faculty grievances at its next meeting on September 23.

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