I: Professional Expectations

Brookhaven College is one of seven colleges of the Dallas County Community College District. Brookhaven College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097: Telephone number 404-679-4501) to award the associate degree.

A. Brookhaven College Mission Statement and Goals

Mission Statement

Brookhaven College is dedicated to student success.

The college is committed to:

• Providing educational programs that maintain the highest standards of student performance;
• Providing an educational environment that emphasizes critical thinking and decision making, reflection and creativity;
• Providing innovative and enriching educational experiences for its varied constituencies;
• Responding to community needs through a variety of means, including collaboration with organizations and businesses;
• Providing a culturally competent and sensitive environment that reflects and celebrates diversity; and
• Providing a culture that supports employee success and encourages professional growth.

Within the overall mission, Brookhaven College provides the following:

• Technical programs up to two years in length leading to associate degrees or certificates;
• Vocational programs leading directly to employment in semi-skilled and skilled occupations;
• Freshman and sophomore courses in arts and sciences, including core and field of study curricula leading to associate and toward baccalaureate degrees;
• Continuing adult education programs for occupational upgrading or personal enrichment;
• Compensatory education programs designed to fulfill the commitment of an admissions policy allowing the enrollment of disadvantaged students;
• A continuing program of counseling and guidance designed to assist students in achieving their individual educational goals;
• Workforce development programs to meet local and statewide needs; and
• Adult literacy and other basic skills programs for adults.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board or the Dallas County Community College District Board of Trustees, in the best interest of post-secondary education in Texas, may prescribe other purposes.

The mission statement also can be found at http://www.brookhavencollege.edu/college/mission.aspx.

Goals

The following goals correlate to the Dallas County Community College District goals.

1. Career Preparation

   Brookhaven College will assist its students in obtaining knowledge, skills and services needed to succeed in jobs and careers, which meet the workforce needs of Dallas County.

2. Transfer Preparation

   Brookhaven College will assist students in obtaining the freshman-and sophomore-level knowledge, skills and services needed to succeed in earning a baccalaureate degree.

3. Continuing Education

   Brookhaven College will assist individuals in obtaining quality continuing education to enrich their lives personally, socially, and culturally and to upgrade occupational and job skills.

4. Basic Skills

   Brookhaven College will assist individuals in acquiring basic literacy skills and developmental education to live more functionally and to become ready to participate successfully in college-level curricula.

5. Access

   Brookhaven College will recruit students from all segments of its service area population and will help them persist in achieving their individual educational goals.

6. Economic Development

   Brookhaven College will develop educational partnerships with businesses, industry, and governmental entities to help ensure a quality workforce development for Dallas County.

7. Citizenship

   Brookhaven College will assist students in acquiring knowledge and skills needed to succeed in and contribute to a global community, to understand the value of lifelong learning, and to exercise their rights and responsibilities as citizens.

8. Distance Learning

   Brookhaven College will use existing and emerging telecommunication technologies to provide convenient and flexible access to accredited and lifelong learning opportunities to students and workforces.

In addition, Brookhaven College’s goals to support the mission of student success include:

1. providing an educational environment that emphasizes critical thinking and decision making, reflection and creativity;
2. providing information and enriching educational experiences for its varied constituencies;
3. responding to community needs through a variety of means, including collaboration with organizations and businesses;
4. providing a culturally competent and sensitive environment that reflects and celebrates diversity; and
5. providing a culture that supports employee success and encourages professional growth.

B. Role of the Instructor and Academic Freedom

The instructor has a primary role in the implementation of Brookhaven College’s educational mission. In that role, the instructor occupies a position of trust in relation to both students and the community, and the freedom to teach must be exercised responsibly. The district (and by extension Brookhaven’s) policy governing these important matters is quoted below in its entirety:

Academic Freedom

The district, like all other institutions of higher learning, serves the common good, which depends upon an uninhibited search for truth and its open expression. The points enumerated below constitute the district’s position on academic freedom:

1. Faculty members are appointed to impart to their students and to their communities the truth as they see it in their respective disciplines.
2. Subject to legal constraints, the following are among the responsibilities that reside primarily with the faculty: planning and revising curricula, selecting textbooks and other instructional materials and activities, choosing instructional methodologies, evaluating learners, assigning grades and maintaining classroom discipline.
3. It is essential that faculty members be free to pursue scholarly inquiry and to voice and publish their conclusions without fear of institutional censorship or discipline.
4. Faculty members are citizens and, therefore, possess the rights of citizens. These rights include, among others, the right as private citizens to speak freely outside the classroom on matters of public concern and to participate in lawful political activities.
5. Prior restraint or sanctions will not be imposed upon faculty members in the exercise of their rights as citizens or duties as teachers. Nor will faculty members fear reprisal for exercising their civic rights and academic freedom.

Academic Responsibility

The academic freedom of faculty members is accompanied by equally compelling obligations and responsibilities to their profession, their students, their district and their community. Faculty members must defend the rights of academic freedom while accepting willingly the responsibilities enumerated below:

1. Faculty members will be judicious in the introduction of material in the classroom without forfeiting the instructional benefits of controversy.
2. No faculty member will attempt to force on students a personal viewpoint intolerant of the rights of others to hold or express diverse opinions.
3. Faculty members must recognize their responsibility to maintain competence and adapt to change in their disciplines through continued professional development and to demonstrate their competence through consistently adequate preparation and performance.
4. Faculty members must recognize that the public will judge the district and their profession by their public conduct. Therefore, faculty members will make clear that the views they express are their own and should avoid creating the impression that they speak or act on behalf of the district or of the profession.

C. Faculty Participation in Academic Affairs

Brookhaven College faculty members have an active role in academic affairs and participate in decision making through division meetings and discipline workgroups, college committees, open forums, focus groups and Faculty Council. At the division and program levels, faculty members participate in decision making in curriculum and curriculum development, course scheduling, program management, planning, budgeting, facilities and facilities utilization, technology and equipment, resource development and search processes for staff. Serving as lead faculty or adjunct faculty supervisors are other ways faculty members take an active role in academic affairs. At the college level, an individual faculty member’s participation and input occur through committees and teams such as curriculum, planning and budget, institutional effectiveness, technology, resource allocation, commencement and Faculty Association.

D. Employee Standards of Ethics

Brookhaven College faculty members have legal and professional obligations that are detailed in the DCCCD Board Policy Manual. The “Faculty Code of Professional Ethics” (Board Policy Manual, section DH) comes from the Texas Community College Teachers Association and is a comprehensive statement of the rights and responsibilities of the “Professional Educator.” The last item in the code gives a sense of the tone and substance of the document: “The Professional Educator shall accept all rights and responsibilities of citizenship, always avoiding use of the privileges of his or her public position for private or partisan advantage.”

A statement of the legal obligations of faculty members also is found in the Board Policy Manual, section DH. It cites the sections of the Penal Code that apply to faculty as “public servants.”

E. Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is generally defined as any sexual attention that is unwelcome. Harassment means conduct amounting to more than an occasional, isolated or trivial act or remark.

Any faculty member who becomes aware of a faculty member or student who is being sexually harassed is required to report the alleged violation. Alleged violations concerning an employee should be reported to the campus human resources director. Alleged violations concerning a student should be reported to the vice president for student development.

A person who is malicious or intentionally dishonest in reporting a violation is subject to disciplinary action.

Copies of the complete DCCCD policy concerning sexual harassment may be obtained from the Human Resources Department. Questions also may be e-mailed to: bhcSHquestions@dcccd.edu.

F. Drug Free Workplace

Brookhaven College adheres to the district policy on alcohol and drugs (see Board Policy Manual, sections DO and FLBE). The use of either is forbidden on campus or during college-related off-campus activities. The only exceptions are doctor-prescribed drugs and the serving of alcohol at certain college functions when explicitly approved by the chancellor.