By S. Hennessy Machado-Hildalgo
Academic Senate President Jeffrey Hernandez implored President Alberto Román to reassign catalog responsibilities to Dean Kerrin McMahan instead of Dean Djuradj Babic in an email sent September 14.
Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean McMahan oversees East Los Angeles College’s curriculum, while Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean and Director of Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) Babic is responsible for ELAC’s catalog.
Hernandez sent the email after the Senate, “unanimously approved a motion to reaffirm its 2012 recommendation that there shall be the same dean for curriculum and catalog,” on September 13.
In his email, Hernandez reviewed key points reported at the Senate:
After Vice President Arenas’ approval of splitting curriculum and catalog responsibilities between two deans, similar problems of inefficacy that took place in 2012 when responsibilities had been split between McMahan and Academic Affairs Dean Carol Kozeracki have reemerged.
A printed catalog is not currently available and it does not appear one will be available anytime soon.
The publication of the catalog has been delayed due to the dean that has been recently assigned to duties of the catalog [Babic] not having first hand knowledge of the overwhelming portion of the edits to the catalog such as curriculum changes.
There is a lack of executive direction to ensure the staff assigned to the catalog are allowed to perform the work necessary.
It took an inordinate amount of time over the summer to produce the version of the catalog that is currently posted online due to administrative interference such as the dean [Babic] not letting his personal classified worker work on the catalog.
It was further noted that, “It is irrational to have a dean over catalog, who has no relationship to curriculum, doesn’t attend curriculum meetings… to oversee all of those curricular changes being placed in the catalog.”
Journalism Department Chair Jean Stapleton comments, “Not having a catalog is a problem for students. A catalog is more or less a contract between the college and the students. The catalog you begin college under controls your requirements as long as you stay in college. If the requirements change, they don’t affect you as long as you’re under an earlier catalog.”