After eight years of hard work and dedication, David Breed has decided to step down as Edmonds College Faculty Senate President to focus on more concentrated teaching.
Beginning with an idea in 2014, Breed worked tirelessly to help create a senate whose goal is to provide the college faculty a voice. Looking back, Breed recalled that the formation of the Faculty Senate was not an easy task.
“When I was elected in spring of 2015, we had two documents, we had a charter and we had bylaws. We had no formal structures of any kind and I had nobody on the senate council yet,” he said. “Now, I think we have a really good structure in place that will continue well beyond my time as president.”
Breed has been re-elected president three times and has enjoyed this leadership role. Brent Leithauser, a longstanding member of the Faculty Senate Council representing the Health and Human Services Division, said that Breed has constructed a firm foundation for the young senate. “David has a wonderful sense of fairness and justice and inclusivity. I think that David very naturally always wanted to ensure that everybody’s voice is heard. It is so important to him that business be conducted in a way that is fair and that represents the interest of all parties. That spirit permeates all his work. And as a result I think that has been a very strong guiding principle for the faculty senate.”
Throughout his presidency, Breed has made sure to work to support and listen to all his fellow educators at the college. One of the proudest changes Breed has been a part of has been to provide more respect and support for the school’s Associate Faculty.
Breed said “We have done a lot to support our Associate Faculty. I am sure that there is more that needs to be done, but we have made some big steps. And I am very proud of the fact that we are one of the few colleges, maybe the only one in the entire system, that went this far out of its way to try to provide some equity to our Associate Faculty.”
Breed has also played a large role in many other positive changes at the college, from lowering textbook prices to getting the people who control the class schedules on the web to be mindful of students.
Breed expressed his gratitude for each and every one of his Faculty Senate Council colleagues and highlighted that the work the senate members have done needs to be more broadly recognized. “These people represent every academic division… so we really have true representation,” he said. “Because of this, the kinds of dialogues that happen at the senate council are unequaled at the college…We can have very authentic, very open communication about the reality of what we are experiencing in our different programs, in our different departments, and that is rare at our college… The senate has given us an opportunity to partner in ways that never really existed before, and to do it on a regular basis. I will miss those conversations because they have been just so informative.”
Looking forward, Breed explained that the Faculty Senate will continue to push for a participatory governance structure at the college.
“What we are asking for next is for the administration to partner with the Faculty Senate and other constituency groups, like student government and the classified staff that keep the college running day by day, to establish a task force to figure out how a more inclusive, more regular, consistent model could be implemented for participatory governance,” he said. “We are not looking to veto the president’s decisions, instead we are looking to have a consistent process by which our input is solicited, considered, and at times followed.” Breed believes that if this happens, down the road Edmonds College will be much more inclusive, have less controversy, and the decisions made at our college will be much more informed.
Although Breed is stepping down, he said he is not planning to disengage from advocating for improvements at the college.
“I am not leaving, I am still going to be an instructor at Edmonds, still a full timer, and I am still going to remain active in the senate. I am just not going to be leading it any longer.” Starting summer quarter, Breed plans to take over department chair for the High School Completion Department he currently works in. Possibly down the road in a few years he will consider running for a senate council seat, but for now he is content on the sidelines as the senate’s biggest cheerleader. “I am hoping that the Faculty Senate continues to flourish, and I believe that it will. I see it getting stronger, not weaker… I hope that the faculty will be highly engaged in the work of the senate going into the future,” he said.
