Peace Studies at a California Community College

This is a case study of the development of a new peace studies program at Citrus College in Glendora, California, the third such program at a California community college. The program began in the spring semester of 2016 when the cornerstone course, Humanities 123 – Introduction to Peace Studies, was taught for the first time. The course is an introduction to peace and conflict studies, with an emphasis on war's destructive impact on culture. The course examines the systematic approaches that combatants have historically used to obliterate the cultural heritage of their battlefield opponents. It encourages tolerance and respect for different perspectives, as well as hope for peaceful conflict resolution. The chapter reviews the course content, as well as student reactions to the material. Overall, the students find the course to be rewarding and are surprised at how interesting peace studies can be. The program is now being expanded to include a study abroad component in Oslo, Norway.

Who Gets the Power, Resources, and Knowledge from California Assembly Bill 705?

California Assembly Bill 705 (AB 705) began full implementation in fall of 2020 for California community college English departments. This Bill requires schools to reconsider developmental education saying that students can no longer be required to take classes below transfer-level in English unless the school can show a student would not be able to succeed in college-level classes without that course. Additionally, there can no longer be sequences of multiple remedial classes as there were in the past, and schools can only offer classes one level below transfer. Students must be also now be recommended into courses using multiple measures and not assessment tests. The intent of the Bill is to prevent students from getting caught in remedial course sequences that frustrate them to the point of dropping out of college altogether. The purpose of this study is to interview English faculty from San Diego County community colleges to see what they are observing in the early implementation of AB 705. The Critical Policy Analysis framework will be used to see what teachers are noticing with their students and what is happening at their institutions in terms of distribution of power, resources, and knowledge, and if inequality and privilege exist because of this Bill. Findings and implications demonstrate that AB 705 appears to be helping students in some ways, but there are still concerns about some aspects of it because some students might still be left behind because of the Bill.