Berklee Faculty Union: Home

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
April 17, 2008
Present – Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Dan Harrington, Michael Heyman, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio, Tom Stein, Stephen Webber, faculty guests: Bill Banfield, Herman Hampton.

1. Jeff made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meetings and update the website, Marti seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

2. Mike had a dinner meeting with Larry Simpson earlier this week. Paul Lyons is scheduled to represent management during the next contract negotiation. Larry has requested us not to make a big deal about the space issues that we have brought up over the past few meetings with management. We maintain the concern is coming from faculty not from the Union. Our next newsletter is focused on these Space issues.

If global policies are being changed, why is management not communicating with the Union?

The next item to be discussed is going to be student advising – not enough full-time faculty are interested, but not all full-time faculty have been asked. Part-timers will be compensated – a stipend rather than their hourly rate, about 25 hours total – $50 an hour, $15-$20 an hour less than our average hourly rate. Many issues need to be ironed out before we can agree. There are currently two systems of advising – Department advisors and Peer advisors. We need to meet with management to get more information, perhaps at a Union/Management meeting, May 1. Part-time pay for committees and meetings are inconsistent, sometimes $50, sometimes their hourly rate.

3. Constitution and By-laws – Mike gave a history of our Constitution and By-laws … we were presented with them in 1986. Times have changed – labor laws have changed – so we have updated our Constitution and By-laws. The main changes have been in election protocol, included stipends, expanded officers to include one from every division, Massachusetts conference attendees are approved by all faculty, elections are every other spring, an annual budget and fiscal report will be presented to faculty, outside audit and a faculty audit will continue – if we can find someone to participate.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
April 10, 2008
Present – Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Dan Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio, Tom Stein, Stephen Webber.
Guests: Larry Simpson, Larry Bethune, Tod Oliviere, Mirek Vana

1. Jeff made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meetings and update the website, Stephen seconded, and the vote was unanimous.

2. Mike opened the meeting; the BAS on-line posting of recommendation letters is the topic, personal and private information being posted on-line without input from the faculty or the union. Larry Simpson, there are no new policies, the confidentiality of faculty recommendations is still in place – Larry Bethune will walk us through the issue. Tod and Mirek are here to discuss the process that changed the practice. A teacher will give a student a recommendation letter – if they have the letter, they can do whatever they like with it – if it sent as a sealed letter to the Scholarship Office – it is a confidential document. The policy has not changed – if it is electronic, the same rules apply, the student does not have to pick-up the letter, it can be sent directly to the Scholarship Office, electronic or hard copy. The letters are not required to be posted – the students may be posting on their own on a public website.

The original letter stated that there was to be a Web-based portfolio and that the letters will be posted on-line. If faculty do not want their letters to be posted on-line, they should send directly to the Scholarship Office. The concept of moving from analog to digital has led to a change in practice not a change in policy. The letter came from the Scholarship Office the day before the letters were due – what about all the letters that faculty had already written.

There was a tremendous amount of confusion in the students, what they need to do, the policies, their procedures, etc… The students can use Berkleemusic.com as a source, they can get training, it is not about how the website looks, there are resources available to them, what is looked at: the academic track record, faculty support, etc…

If there are to be global policy or practice changes, there needs to be interaction before implementation – the faculty union should be consulted, a dialogue can take place, the union can help communicate with the faculty – so the process will be more successful in the end.

Mirek has acknowledged all of our points – he had several conversations with faculty regarding the practice of putting portfolios on-line during the Audition and Interview process, however, he did not mention that the letters would be posted on a public website.

Lets not make the process of writing recommendations a pass/fail concept – if a faculty member really likes a student then they will write a letter for on-line, if not, then they will only write a hard copy.

Clarity about the policy is the key – if a faculty member hands the letter to the student it can be public – let’s communicate the exact policy to all faculty – make sure we all know. The real audience for these letters is Damien, Tod, and Mirek.

What about submitting the letters on-line – directly to the Scholarship Office, and any public information asked for specifically by the students to the faculty?

Minutes from Union / Management Meeting
April 3, 2008
Present – Charles Cassara, Suzanne Dean, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Haidee Lorrey, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio, Tom Stein, Stephen Webber.
Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Bill Whitney, Darla Hanley, Greg Badolato, Rob Rose, David Berndt, Chris Connors, Carl Beatty.

Larry opened the meeting – the topic of space is still the main agenda item today. We made the decision to stay in the Back Bay, now we need to address our space issues. We have made improvements, they may not be as visible, so Jay will be addressing our accomplishments to date.

We have invested a lot of money on updating our current space – we have a six page document in the works: classroom standardization in regards to equipment, Nathan Goldstein is the classroom technology person, 61 general classrooms – we need about 10-15 more for the fall, the percussion department and the ensemble departments have been revamped, 7 Haviland – make an all academic building, the education division and Liberal Arts – from 22 the Fenway, 18,000 square feet – 11,400 usable, several buildings along Mass Ave 155, 163, 171, and 186 –no elevator, therefore not ADA compliant, maybe take one building down and start over. 75,000 square feet in total, most will be used towards academic needs. 7 Haviland may be available at the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010. The plan is to move the writing division across the street, the Berklee row buildings. The technology division is next on the list, but that is furthest down the road – the idea is to build a Technology Building that would house all the studios, offices, etc… We need to do all of the above before moving on the Berklee superstructure.

What about the immediate needs of the vocal department, can we address their issues? Admissions is trying to address the incoming class – the target is 850 entering students, they are going to regulate the voice population – there is a bubble of graduating vocalists. What has happened this year will not happen again next year.

The long-term plan of the superstructure will address our issue of a state of the art performance facility here on campus.

Improvements are a long way off – historically the issues have been here, when will we get relief? The longer there is an issue, the more it hurts, the problems have been out there for a long time. The current administration is not responsible – but you have to deal with it. There is space out there, the staff gets their space, the administration gets their space … the faculty and the students have to suffer.

Roger capped enrollment at 4,000 to address some of our space issues, Valencia will take 200 off campus, we are making the effort. Next week there will be information being sent out.

It is not just the space – it is the allocation of that space. Some parts of the college are not having the same space issues that the students and the faculty have. The new VP’s get their space – the faculty and students do not!

What are the realities of reallocating space? You take away one room to give office space – some faculty schedules will need to change to accommodate any reallocation of any space.

The dean and the chair are having these conversations – we have been trying to find solutions, and sometimes the departments are not interested in moving.

5,400 square feet will be come available in August – 155 Mass Ave second floor.

Can we leave this meeting on a positive note – can we set-up a conversation with Jan and the voice department, to address their issue for fall of 2008?

Yes, we will do that!