During their regularly scheduled meeting held on Nov. 12, the Mt. SAC Academic Senate
debated the class size guideline proposals, discussed the Student Equity Committee goals and function statement and a plan to make Mt. SAC an anti-racist campus.

Raising the class size cap up to 36 was proposed, which some faculty members felt would have hefty drawbacks. Other concerns discussed were the possible lowering of lab class sizes rather than lecture type classes and students’ quality of learning being affected due to class size changes. These sizes vary within similar types of courses and disciplines, according to the Class Size Task Force Notes presented at the meeting.

Phil Wolf, a physics professor, said that it would not be fair to change the class size for larger classes without reviewing the classes with smaller class sizes.

“One does not have to look far to see the present range of class size is neither clear nor logical nor fair,” Wolf said. He said that doing so preserves what he calls an inequitable system.

“Faculty in some courses and in some departments are expected to work harder for the same pay for no reason beyond past practice,” Wolf said.

Mt. SAC is also currently working on developing an anti-racist task force to make recommendations to support equity and address any bias and systemic racism on campus.

According to the Task Force on Racial Justice document presented during the meeting, the task force began identifying areas of focus, such as equity and diversity in the hiring process, which they plan to combat by making recommendations throughout the process. The document states that, “It should be noted very clearly that this does not conclude the work of the Task Force on Racial Justice.”

The task force intends to continue meeting in order to address other aspects of systemic inequality and institutional racism.

During the meeting senate members went over the student equity committee, their purpose and function statement, as well as the committee’s goals.

According to the Student Equity Committee Purpose and Function statement presented on the agenda, “the committee manifested a “strategic plan” that would ensure the college would develop programs, curriculums and services that would provide the students of Mt. San Antonio College all the guidance needed for success.”

The next Academic Senate meeting will be held over zoom on Dec 12.