California Polytechnic State University
AC-11: Open Access to Research

ScholarWorks provides hosting for journals created and managed by The California State University. In cooperation with the CSU libraries, the service is supported by Systemwide Digital Library Services of the Chancellor's Office.

ACADEMIC SENATE
OF
THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY
AS-3376-19/FA (Rev)
March 14-15, 2019
RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF FACULTY PUBLICATION RIGHTS WITH A
GREEN OPEN ACCESS POLICY FOR THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY
RESOLVED: That the Academic Senate of the California State University (ASCSU)
strongly encourages the Office of the Chancellor to instruct its Intellectual
Property legal experts to review the Harvard and University of California
(UC) Open Access policies in consultation with legal experts at Harvard
and the UC, and to share the results of that review in a report by August
2019; and be it further
RESOLVED: That the ASCSU strongly encourage the Office of the Chancellor to create
and approve a Harvard-UC Style Model Open Access policy by October
2019 that can be approved at each university within the CSU; and be it
further
RESOLVED: That the ASCSU strongly encourage the Office of the Chancellor to create
an Open Access Policy by February 2020 that extends to all CSU
employees, akin to the UC Presidential Open Access Policy; and be it
further
RESOLVED: That the ASCSU distribute this resolution to the CSU Board of Trustees,
CSU Chancellor, CSU campus Presidents, CSU campus Senate Chairs,
CSU campus Senate Executive Committees, CSU Provosts/Vice
Presidents of Academic Affairs, CSU campus articulation officers, the
California Faculty Association (CFA), California State Student
Association (CSSA), Emeritus and Retired Faculty and Staff Association
(ERFSA), Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges,
Academic Senate of the University of California, California Community
Colleges’ Board of Governors, and the University of California Board of
Regents.
RATIONALE: The taxpayers, students, alumni, and donors who fund the
California State University deserve to have reliable and perpetual access to the
articles written by our faculty. Most grant funders, both non-governmental and
governmental— including the State of California— have adopted mandates or
laws requiring the deposit of grant-funded articles in open access repositories. �
Academic Senate CSU AS-3376-19/FA (Rev)
Page 2 of 2 March 14-15, 2019
Similarly, faculty working on government contracts are often required to publish
their work in an open access format. Open access articles provide additional
resources to make education more affordable for students, in concert with the
Affordable Learning Solutions initiatives of the State of California and the
California State University. The Office of the Chancellor has already committed significant staff and technical resources to the development of a system-wide open access repository (CSU ScholarWorks) whose content will require legal licenses to host. The California State University, which strives to be a national model of public comprehensive higher education, would benefit from broader
international awareness of our scholarly research. Two universities in the
California State University system have passed such policies in their Academic Senate committees, policies in need of formal review by the Chancellor’s Office.
Such policies mitigate legal risk for faculties and universities, as we increasingly share and/or host scholarly articles on publicly accessible websites. Faculties across leading universities have adopted comparable open access policies to protect themselves and their articles, Faculty often unnecessarily sign away all copyright of their articles to publishers, when faculty can easily and collectively reserve those rights. Articles deposited in open access repositories are read and cited more quickly and broadly by scholars and the general public, furthering the pace and breadth at which scholarly knowledge is shared. Open access articles help bridge the information divide between persons affiliated with wealthy institutions and the majority of the world’s population who lack such privilege.
Approved Unanimously – May 16-17, 2019