Berklee Faculty Union: Minutes

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
December 8, 2011
Present – Michael Abraham, Rick Applin, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Teodros Kiros, Dennis Cecere, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio. Guests: Michael Bierylo, Charles Cassara, and Mike Scott

1. Danny made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting. Jonathan seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Jackson reviewed the semester. This is the last meeting of the year. Tonight we have a budget meeting from 6-8 to go over all the finances. We discussed the petition to re-instate the Faculty Initiated W for ensembles only – a very hot topic on many levels.

3. Jackson has asked for a tour of all vacant space at the college so we know what we are talking about as we request more office space!

4. We celebrated the tenure of Mike Scott and Charles Cassara. We started this organization in 1978 and until this fall it was Mike and Charles running the ship. Thank you for your service.

Union notes from Union / Management Meeting
December 1, 2011
Present – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Teodros Kiros, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, and Will Silvio.
Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Bill Whitney, Kari Juusela, Darla Hanley, Matt Marvuglio, Jeanine Cowan, Amelia Koch, Chris Connors, Camille Colatosti, Mac Hisey.

1. Jackson opened the meeting and acknowledged the ground breaking yesterday for 160. Larry passed it over to Camille.

2. Self Study and Reaccreditation Process, Camille Colatosti – Dean of Institution Assessment and Graduate Studies. Accreditation is done by NEASC. Voluntary, self-regulated, and carried out by peer review, but very important to meet standards set by NEASC. Camille made a presentation about the process and where we are in terms of accreditation. March 3-6 of 2013 is the next visit to our campus. Valencia is also a campus to visit before the first class graduates, not sure how at this point.

3. College's Graduate Program Proposal (Camille Colatosti).
Valencia
Fall 2012
MM Contemporary Studio Performance
MM Scoring for Film, television and video games
MA Global Entertainment and Music Business

Fall 2013
MM Contemporary writing and production
MM Electronic production and design
MM Symphonic Band Studies

Boston
Fall 2013
(possibly)
MA Global Entertainment and Music Business
MA Music Therapy
MM Music Education
MM Contemporary studio performance

4. 150 Access/ADA Issues Update (Mac Hisey). This is a topic for after the break; tomorrow is the first meeting since our last meeting. Many options have been considered, John Eldert’s plan is the one that has the most promise at this point – expanding the 142 entrance to be more of a main entrance with an elevator that would have access to the entire building. The plan is to see drawings at our next union/management meeting.

5. Vocal Department Space Update (Jay Kennedy). The growth of the department has led to space issues. Slow and steady progress is being made. Room 5S has been cleared out to use for voice exclusively. Other spaces are becoming available and it will be better this spring and next fall will hopefully be even better. This is a divisional issue and not just a department issue. Progress is being made, 1140 bathroom plan is also an important topic.

No meeting due to Thanksgiving

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
November 17, 2011
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Teodros Kiros, Dennis Cecere, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio.

1. Rick made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting. Rich seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Jay Kennedy and Steven Riggs have been going to department meetings in 1140 to share their plans to renovate the bathrooms in 1140.

3. We discussed a letter to Performance Division in support of re-instating the Instructor Initiated Withdrawal in the Ensemble Department.

4. Jackson is making cookies for the Dec. 8th meeting; perhaps we will have special guests Charles Cassara and Mike Scott.

5. We discussed the 403b conversion to Diversified Retirement Services from the Standard and TIAA-CREF. Diversified also handles the defined benefit pension plan. The college is looking for a record keeper with funds that are not proprietary to their company. The Berklee Retirement Committee selects the funds that are available for faculty to contribute to. The Standard will no longer be an option at the college; the money will be moved to Diversified. If you have TIAA-CREF, the option is yours to move your existing money but all NEW contributions will be made to Diversified. The college needs to communicate better with our members; we need them to share the correct information with regards to the how and why this change is taking place.

6. There is a pending sexual harassment charge on a faculty member from a student. More information will follow. Jackson will be talking with Larry Simpson this afternoon.

7. We discussed the concept of a party for faculty during BTOT.

8. We discussed the position paper from last meeting. Teodros and Wendy have started and we need feedback on where we are and where we are headed with this concept. Jackson passed out the draft and we will e-mail him feedback.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
November 10, 2011
Present – Rick Applin, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Teodros Kiros, Dennis Cecere, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio. Guest: Charles Cassara.

1. Rick made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meetings. Peter seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Part-time faculty will be paid for the final week of the semester, even though finals week ends on Tuesday. Precedent has been set! Let’s disseminate this information through the department reps.

3. The ensemble department has drafted a letter in support of re-instating the Instructor Initiated Withdrawal, due to the specific issues that face ensemble teachers, 43 faculty members signed the petition. We discussed the academic policy involved and possible Yeshiva issues. The union is in support of the initiative but we will check with our lawyer before writing a letter in support.

4. Charles received the audit information and will be spending a lot of time with Jeff as the torch is finally passed, the LM2 will be published on-line by the accounting firm. The budget committee will meet to discuss the audit and set the new budget. All of the financial information will go into the fall newsletter.

5. We discussed the voice department space issues and the bathrooms in the 1140 building. There are many issues to consider if management allocates all rooms all the time, performance faculty need to have offices in addition to teaching rooms. With all the space being occupied all the time, make-ups are next to impossible.

6. We should craft a position paper outlining the issues of space and working conditions that affect our faculty with a vision for faculty and our future. Another possibility is getting the student government involved to share their perspective with management on space and overpopulation conditions. We will table this discussion until next week.

Union notes from Union / Management Meeting
November 3, 2011
Present – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Dennis Cecere, Peter Cokkinias, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Teodros Kiros, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, and Will Silvio.
Management – Jay Kennedy, Bill Whitney, Kari Juusela, Jeanine Cowan, Chris Connors, and Steven Riggs.

1. Jay opened the meeting. 160 Mass Ave Building Construction Project Overview – Bill Whitney made a presentation. This weekend barriers are going up around the area to protect the pedestrians and traffic. There will be a loss of parking around the area. There is a deal with the Westland Street garage, $10 a day or $170 a month – details in the Faculty/Staff news. Demo of the building should be done by end of November. December, below ground construction will begin. Foundation work will take several months to prepare with the removal of the “fill” that is currently there, before construction can begin. The goal is to have the building open in the fall of 2013. Then planning will begin for the renovation of 161-171 Mass Ave and the corner tower at Mass and Boylston. Space is at a premium; we need to consider asking the commercial tenants to move, renovate, then move in OR just move in now and do the work while we are there. In terms of Valencia, the majority of money for Valencia is gifts specifically for Valencia and we cannot use it here.

Union: once this project is done, I hope that we are included in the discussion of the reallocation of our current space; perhaps we could have more space for faculty offices in the new plans.

Management: berklee.edu/taskforce is a website that has plans of the new space.

2. 1140 Bathrooms – a study has been done, we have a plan and Steven Riggs discussed it. There is a core area between 2-5 behind the elevator that will serve as new bathrooms, health areas, and non-gender bathrooms.

Union: the most important element through this process is communication with faculty. We need to know that you are working on a solution.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
October 27, 2011
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Peggy Codding, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Michael Abraham, Teodros Kiros, Dennis Cecere, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Department Reps.

1. Danny made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting. Rich seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. The department reps are present to learn more about what the Executive Committee is up to and to be more connected to our process.

3. We discussed the graduate program as proposed by Management: six grad degrees with 20 students in each major in an ideal world. The program is still in the planning stages, it needs to be approved by a state board, NEAS&C, and then the college can implement it when it chooses to. The goal is to start the fall of 2011. The college also wants to offer two on-line Baccalaureate degrees. ADA compliance in the 150 building is another serious issue that is on our front burner. Management needs to do the right thing and take care of the issue. The voice department is phenomenally overcrowded – many space issues and insufficient bathroom service.

4. We looked at several articles on higher ed upper administrations across the country and how these are getting more and more top heavy. Let management know we are watching.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
October 20, 2011
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Jonathan Holland, Teodros Kiros, Dennis Cecere, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio.

1. Peter made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting. Jonathan seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. We discussed the financial transition from Charles to Jeff with Michael Bijan as the bookkeeper. Everything should be transferred over by the end of October.

3. Jackson will be meeting with a faculty member with physical disabilities to discuss the ADA issues with 150 and throughout the college.

4. We discussed an article from the Globe about the downfall of Higher Ed with a top-heavy administration. We will discuss with the department reps and perhaps share with the entire community. We can let the college know that we are looking at this issue but we cannot control the hiring practices of the administration. Management could be posturing to present a lower increase of faculty salaries in the next bargain.

5. We discussed office space, management wants faculty to be more present on campus, yet we are not given adequate office space to be comfortable while we are here. Office hours in the voice department are still another issue, there is not enough space for the faculty while every VP or Assistant VP get nice spaces. Space is a VERY important topic – bathrooms in 1140 – perhaps we can call in OSHA to look at 1140.

6. We discussed the final week of the semester. It ends on Tuesday December 20 – what about the rest of the week? Do part-time faculty get paid for the full-week? They should get paid for the full week.

7. Full-time faculty have not been getting the breakdown of the retirement package that describes exactly what their defined benefit plan actually will be.

8. Rick discussed new-hires in the fall and people on the TRC both in Phase I and Phase II.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
October 13, 2011
Present – Rick Applin, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Teodros Kiros, Dennis Cecere, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio.

1. Jackson opened the meeting. We discussed the minutes from the previous meetings. Danny made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meetings as amended. Peter seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the amended minutes.

2. We discussed our meeting last week with management regarding the ADA accessibilities to the 150 building. We are going to stay on top of this topic and bring it back up with management before the Winter break. We would like to see timelines of the entire project to make sure they are moving forward.

3. We have 41 new hires this fall. We looked at the numbers of PT – 58% and FT – 42% and transition contracts.

4. As faculty members are accepted into the three-year transitional contract part-time faculty at the college must be used to fill their full-time jobs. We need to clarify language in the contract in the next bargain.

5. Space issues in 1140 for the voice department and throughout the building will be a topic for our November union / management meeting.

6. Topics for union / management meeting in the future will be grad school starting Fall 2012 on Boston campus; all faculty teaching here and abroad should be apart of our bargaining unit, and On-line courses on campus.

7. Regular meeting next week, and the following week will have the Department Reps.

Union notes from Union / Management Meeting
October 6, 2011
Present – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Peggy Codding, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Richard Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Teodros Kiros, Jeff Perry, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio.
Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Jeanine Cowen, Kari Juusela, Darla Hanley, Mac Hisey, Bill Whitney, John Eldert, Amelia Koch, and Chris Connors.

1. Danny made a motion to make a $1000 donation to Jackson Schultz. His house was flooded recently and he lost all of his musical instruments and amplifiers. Jeff seconded and the vote was unanimous to make the donation.

2. Larry opened the meeting. The topic for today is ADA compliance in 150. Mac Hisey: this is an extremely complex issue. Many options have been considered, the building is used all the time, and the disruption factor has been a big consideration throughout. The entrance creates issues as a range ranch type of entrance, either going up or going down right away with a lot of congestion. We have looked at ramps, elevators, lifts, etc. with 8 to 10 plans trying to come up with best possible entrance. Another factor is the flow from building to building - access to elevator and additional floors. The leading plan right now is very early on, expanding the entrance at 146 and 142 with a 3-stop elevator with easy access to other parts of campus and additional parts of 150. A ramp can also be installed - now 2 widely accessible entrances. We are still at the beginning stages; a wooden model may be built to look at all the moving parts, built to scale of course. Still in consideration is the back freight elevator, so we could have more than one entrance.

Union: A ramp is a better consideration instead of lift, in case of fire. What about compliance? Is the college in compliance at this point?

Management: Code compliance has a certain amount of grandfathering involved. Our focus is doing this the right way with limited disruption. We are trying to find the best possible way to complete the project.

Union: From the outside looking in, this is NOT a priority. Other projects have been fast tracked ahead of this. This has been going for quite some time with no movement. If Roger had a disability, this would have been taken care of in the first two years of his tenure.

Management: In regards to the new 168 building, it has been in the works for a very long time. We have been working on this project for the past year at length on a weekly basis. Roger is absolutely focused on this project, he wants to gets it done right. There are many facilities in Boston that are not in compliance they are old buildings. We can't totally disrupt this building like we are in 168. We will get this done. Times have changed and we are moving forward.

Union: The entrances are constantly packed with students, with 2 entrances maybe the flow will just get bigger?

Management: We are looking at the one story add on Belvedere St. side; removing that and create a larger "south beach" for a better flow and a possible additional entrance.

When we look at 168 in 2013 - there will be a brand new building and we don't know where students will be hanging out. Also 161 and 171 will be used in the near future.

Union: When is the date for completion for 150?

Management: Nine months for planning and one year for completion. Assuming the plan all works, two years.

Union: When will we know if the project is moving forward?

Management: Let’s get to the next stage with an update in the near future.

Union: This is a very serious issue to this committee we want this to be dealt with ASAP.

Management: It is a complex project when dealing with an occupied building. We need to get this right the first time with limited displacement and disruption.

Egress is always going to an issue – a ramp will not get you to all the floors.

Union: Can you start a part of the project so we can see that the work is being done?

Management: Once we get an approved plan, it might be possible but we need to make sure that it will work with the whole plan.

Jackson: This monthly meeting is very important to the Union, it helps break down the barriers that we have.

Larry: By definition, collective bargaining is "us vs. them" but we can see that we all are on the same page with this issue in particular.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
September 29, 2011
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Teodros Kiros, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio. Guest: Charles Cassara.

1. Jonathan made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and Dennis seconded, the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Charles talked about the audit on October 13, 2011. He is finishing the 3rd quarter then Jeff will take over the books with much assistance from Michael Bijan. 19.4 million, 10.6 million, 30 million total faculty salaries, 1.25 % to base our budget on. We will have a monthly financial report and a budget committee.

3. Jackson met with Larry Simpson yesterday as a meet and greet. They discussed many things including the new Master’s programs both here and in Valencia. We want all new faculty to be in our bargaining unit. Workload is another issue, curriculum development, and salary structure. They are still in the planning stages and trying for approval to start fall 2012, maybe only the performance component. There are two stages; state approval and NEASC. Music Education, CWP, Film Scoring, Studio Performance, Music Therapy.

4. Next week is the Union/Management meeting. Main topic will be ADA and access to the 150 building. What has happened to all the plans for access and where are they now? Jackson passed out a synopsis of ADA access. Equal access for all individuals. The liability issue is huge, what happens during a fire?

5. Another topic that is very important for a future meeting is a discussion of teaching of students with learning disabilities or visually impaired students with no assistance or training for faculty. The training should take place before the class is taught for the faculty not while the student is in the faculty member’s class.

6. The on-line issue is a very large issue. Berkleemusic pays a royalty to all authors that have written a course when it is taught. It is a separate entity from the college. With the new on-line on-campus courses, what will the compensation be? Will there be a royalty for authors? If not, why not? Intellectual Property rights are a very important topic. Berklee is interested in offering two on-line Baccalaureate degrees. Perhaps we can get Dave Kusak or Debbie Cavalier to come in and talk with us.

7. Space is another issue throughout the college, especially felt in the voice department, we will discuss in future meetings.

No meeting, Town Hall meeting in the BPC.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
September 15, 2011
Present – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Teodross Kinos, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio. Guests: Michael Bijan and Charles Cassara.


1. Jackson opened the meeting; we went around the room and introduced ourselves. We discussed the new members and the role of the department reps. We need to change the current culture of faculty regarding how they need to address their issues, this is no longer a one-man shop, but grievances will still go through the president and the grievance officer.

2. Stipends – the new secretary/treasurer and president have requested that instead of a lump sum at the end of the year, they are paid monthly or bi-weekly. We discussed. Danny made a motion to accept the bi-weekly pay schedule for the new positions. Rick seconded and the vote was unanimous.

3. Union/Management meeting is coming up, e-mail ideas to Will. One possible topic is the ADA accessibility to the 150 building. The college is currently out of compliance and is more interested in building a new 94 million dollar building at 168. Another issue is the construction vehicles parking in the handicap only parking. We worked hard to get four spots around 150. We should have management invite the appropriate individuals to come to our meeting next month.

4. Jeff brought up the concept of a Budget Committee to discuss the Union finances: Danny, Jonathan, Peggy, Jackson, and Jeff are interested in being on the committee. We discussed the office and supplies that we need, 2 computers, printer, shredder, and back-up hard drives. We voted unanimously to purchase these items.

5. Communication with the rest of college. Jonathan brought up ways in which we can send e-mails. Rich is the postmaster of the BAFT e-mail, perhaps we can use that avenue. Jonathan brought up the BCC concept, so not all the e-mail addresses are shown. If a reply is to come from one person, it will come from Jackson or his designee. Rick brought up that it is not always a bad thing to have the “voice of the people.”

6. We discussed the folding in of the Technology Division into the Writing Division, now only three divisions and three deans. There are currently eight searches for chairs. Change is coming around the college.

Union notes from Union / Management Meeting
May 5, 2011
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.
Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Kari Juusela, Jeanine Cowen, Chris Connors, Amelia Koch,

1. Larry opened the meeting. We have the largest graduating class this year, 902.

2. Contract clarification points
a) Defined benefit eligibility, page 58. We clarified the language.
b) Seniority/approved leaves, if you are on leave, it still counts towards length of service. We have a case to look at and we will handle each on a case-by-case basis.
c) Wage renegotiation eligibility. We will look at each case individually, but the contract says every three years, that is the intent of the language. But the preference is to consider each case individually and not try to delay the faculty member an opportunity to re-negotiate their salary.
d) Part-time promotion to full-time status. Generally, these positions are being treated as outside hires, do they have to be in the same rank and receive a certain salary that they are at now? Larry: usually they are looking at a new status in regards to both rank and salary, there is flexibility, they may or may not move up, and we handle these on a case-by-case basis.

3. Gender issues at Berklee - Review of Committee Discussion. Beth started the discussion. The goal is to have no discrimination on campus of any kind but we need to find a way to achieve it. Administration and faculty can both model behavior to create the most comfortable environment for all the students, faculty, and staff. Wendy discussed two cases of students and lack of confidentiality with very personal issues, which brings up the concept of training and how to report specific events that occur on campus. Chris Connors talked about procedures and the desire to follow-up with the admin side.

How do we go about changing the culture here at Berklee with the music industry as it is? Perhaps we can start a joint committee to look at the issues of gender identity and sexual orientation.

It is not always about equitable pay and promotions, we need to make sure there is a certain level of civility, it does not make you less of a musician or teacher if you subscribe to the idea of fairness and appropriate behavior in an academic setting.

Larry: so much of the administrations work is in confidence, it may sometimes appear that we are not doing the work, but we just can’t talk about it.

Chris: we are working on a lot of different levels with committees that have faculty representation; we are working on a lot of specific topics but maybe not in the open, due to the nature of the topics. The specific incidents should NOT be dealt with in a committee. There is a difference between specific incidents and trying to change a culture.

Chris: we are creating a health room, it is complicated, but we are committed to create a couple of locations that people can use for lactation or other health issues (insulin shots, etc.)

Mike: we understand that changing the culture is not an easy thing, but we have succeeded to a certain extent, but we need to go further. We all feel that at the public events, all people involved should be sensitive to all issues as they work on their speeches. Also, elevating consciousness in the classroom is another way we can move forward.

Chris: there is a BTOT presentation that creates an inclusive classroom that is going around to all the departments.

Danny: to change our culture it must be at the grass roots level, we just need to keep trying.

Larry: we are all on the same page, we are committed to creating an environment for all. People must own their behavior and continue to make changes, hire the best people that we can to represent that mindset.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
April 28, 2011
Present – Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio and Department Reps.

1. Marti made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and update the website. Jonathan seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Mike discussed the new role of the Department Reps: when faculty have questions, we want the department reps to try and address them. We are trying to de-centralize and disseminate information for all faculty. The faculty members know the dept. reps.; they don’t always know the Executive Committee.

For salary questions, Rich Vigdor is the person to contact; for all benefits questions, contact HR; for all individual contract information, contact Juliana Horton. We have grown from 138 faculty to 525 since the Union started back in 1986.

Jackson discussed the new role, get a copy of the contract, read it, look up information. The concepts in the FAQ, talking points, etc. are for the reps to get more familiar with their new role. Ask your chair if you can make an announcement in your department meeting to let the people know who you are and what you can do. The intent is to personalize the union and the information.

Mike continued to discuss the importance of the reps and their expanded role. Make sure you have a copy of the contract to look things up, etc.

Can we put together a list of names, extensions, of people to contact for each situation? We will put together a family tree of dept. reps. and share that this summer and we can expand on that to include some of that information.

Mike went over the FAQ and addressed the importance of being affiliated with AFT and AFT-MA. Mike will be sending out an e-mail to share this information.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
April 21, 2011
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Jonathan Holland, Michael Heyman, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio. Guest: John Eldert

1. Rich made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and update the website. Peter seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. John Eldert is our guest today to discuss the Boston Consortium project called “Ed Health” and update us on the “Healthy You” program. The consortium has fifteen colleges in the Boston area with the addition of several workers comp groups that have agreed to work together to create an umbrella group to look at collective benefits. The goal is to even out claims, negotiation of premiums, and to lower the overall cost of healthcare. With the group owned concept we share the risk of healthcare, the group can negotiate with providers directly, with some providers in the group, Harvard, Tufts, etc. this can be a benefit. Along with the “healthy you” program, we can have TPA coaching to help us become healthier. We will have incentives to participate in the programs, like $100 to take part in health screenings, etc. 13 of the 15 consortium schools have already agreed to share health information regarding their constituents, to see the risk factors. Currently, we are being priced at 1700 employees, not a very large group, with all these schools together we will have much more bargaining power, we currently cannot shape our own plan, we don’t have the numbers. With this group idea, we can shape our healthcare plan to fit our members. What would help at Berklee to make Berklee healthier … that is one of our goals with the “healthy you” program.

Mike: we experienced a resistance to the PPO during bargaining last year, how can this help? We need to have all the options for our members.

John: With a larger group like this, we will have all the option still available. Because we will be controlling our own underwriting, we can shape the plans to suit all the members. Another item we are looking at, the co-pays, trying to get them as low as possible. But we have several different offerings with several different co-pay structures. Overall, it may be a lower increase as opposed to actual lower costs.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
April 14, 2011
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Jackson made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and update the website. Peter seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Mike discussed the part-time meeting from Tuesday where Fernando and Lello discussed part-time issues regarding conversion and seniority. We have made an offer to bring them to the next Union/Management meeting, May 5.

3. We discussed gender issues at Berklee. Beth made a presentation. With the recent events regarding the BTOT speech, this topic has been brought to the forefront. Broadening our discussion to include the larger issues of essentialism and other-ness may help us find ways to improve the situation for women faculty at Berklee. It is true that very few women and African Americans were working at Berklee 10-20 years ago. Equitable institutional policies, including hiring, were not in place. The institution needs to set the tone, using appropriate language at official Berklee events. Faculty attitudes are changing, but it is evolutionary; 15-20 years ago attitudes around the college were very different and significant changes have occurred.

We need to look at concrete things like salary – this man is making more than that woman for the same job – these are things we can address. When we look at a group of women that have been here a shorter time than a group of men, perhaps their salaries will be lower. When we look at the empirical view of salaries, there is not a complete picture. Although addressing salary discrepancies can make improvements for a few individuals it does not address the larger issue.

We have an administration, deans, and chairs, who are running the institution – this is where the attitudes need to change. The moral compass needs to start at the top!

We as faculty must set the standard for fair, sensitive and equitable treatment of all students in the classroom. Likewise, college administrators should be models of fair, sensitive and equitable treatment of all members in the Berklee community, especially at community functions like BTOT, Opening Day, etc.

Perhaps we can start a joint union/admin committee to look at these issues.

Union notes from Union / Management Meeting
April 7, 2011
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.
Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Kari Juusela, Darla Hanley, Chris Connors, guest: Dan Newsom, Jay Barnes, and friends

1. Larry opened the meeting. Chris Connors has an update about support for learning disabled students, there was a presentation at BTOT that was very popular and will be brought to departments through the Chairs, more to be determined.

2. On-line Course Development and Delivery. For the first time, we will be offering on-line classes for our on-campus students. Two this fall and two more in the spring. We will be surveying students to see if they want to have classes on-line. We have a few blended courses now that are very popular. Not all courses can be on-line, we are not saying that, we are just looking into the possibilities.

Jay Barnes made a presentation; there are four main points to consider when looking at a new CampusCruiser, or LMS.

1.) Faculty needs
2.) Colleague integration
3.) Leverage BerkleeMedia
4.) Cost efficiency

Moodle Rooms is a company that we are working with to develop software that suits our needs for on-campus courses and our new on-line component. A blended course is one hour in class and one hour at home. Some sections are one week on campus and one week on-line. The on-line course format is designed in conjunction with a faculty course team and instructional designers/editors. The Pulse team and the CTMI crew will be working on the courses as well.

Mike: what are we looking at for faculty involvement for time? In terms of wages, we have this covered in the contract, but how does this compare to a standard class?

Larry: some faculty may be given release time to develop courses. We are still looking at the policies. We need to start with four, then see where this will go. There is no pre-ordained design to have an on-line degree. We are going slowly and they will be treated as an on campus course. Class size is also going to be the same. We need to see how the community and students take to these on-line options, before we can come up with policies to fit these needs.

Dan Newsom made a presentation on the Pulse music method. Pulse is not a distance learning class; it cannot run without a teacher. We create materials that the teachers can use in their classrooms. We have 90 songs in the library. We do sound-a-likes to allow for freedom for use in many different ways.

http://berkleepulse.net/
lower case
username guest
password pulse

3. Danny made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and update the website. Rick seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

No Meeting. Higher Ed Conference in Philadelphia

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
March 24, 2011
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Michael Heyman, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio. Guest: Dennis Cecere.

1. Danny made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and update the website. Rick seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. We discussed the nomination meeting from Tuesday; we are ready to move forward with the transition. Tom McGah will send out info on all the nominees.

3. We have filed a grievance for a faculty member based on a scheduling problem for the fall. We will move forward fairly quickly.

4. Charles presented the Faculty Report, 536 total, 237 FT (44%) and 299 PT (56%).

5. April 7 will be the 25th Anniversary of the strike of 1986

6. The bookkeeper position has received a bid from Michael Bijon. We discussed the details of the bid and Michael. Mike made a motion to accept this bid with the provision of a signed contract. Rich seconded, the vote passed with two against and one abstention.

7. We discussed the AFT-MA convention in Danvers April 29th and 30th. Mike, Jackson, Rick, Wendy, Peter, Danny with Peggy and Rich as alternates.

8. Gender discussion will be April 14th, no meeting next week (AFT convention) and April 7 will be Union/Management.

No meeting, Spring Break

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
March 10, 2011
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Jonathan made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and update the website. Danny seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Danny made a motion to donate $1000.00 to help Wendy bring a student group to the National Flute Convention. Peggy seconded and the vote was unanimous.

3. Mike suggested the possibility of making a $500.00 donation to ActBlue, to help unions in Wisconsin repeal the loss of their collective bargaining rights. Danny made a motion to make the donation. Peggy seconded. The vote was unanimous.

4. We discussed who would be running in the upcoming elections. We looked at each position and who has committed to run or who might be good to run for each position. Danny made a motion to combine the Secretary and Treasurer position and eliminate the stipend for secretary. Jonathan seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. Diane asked about the responsibility of moving up to Division Rep. Mike and Jackson explain the position.

Union notes from Union / Management Meeting
March 3, 2011
Present – Prince Charles Alexander, Rick Applin, Peter Cokkinias, Peggy Codding, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio
Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Darla Hanley, Amelia Koch, Chris Connors, Richard “Mac” Hisey, John Eldert, Matt Marvuglio

1. Larry opened the meeting. On-line Course Development and Delivery for on-campus students. In the fall of 2011 and spring 2012, there will be one course in each division, two in fall and two in spring to see how this will work for students and faculty. This is not to replace any brick and mortar classes, just another learning modality. We have Berkleemusic and PULSE assets available to use. Perhaps we could have a PULSE presentation during this meeting in the future. Course developers are available to assist faculty in the design of the course.

Jackson: what support would be available for faculty? Larry: we are in the process of looking at all the options, course development, release time, service, etc.

Matt: we are currently running six blended courses of Basic Keys.
Jackson: can we get access to the course? Matt: yes it is all on campuscruiser, you only need a password.

Larry: we do not want to turn Berklee into the University of Phoenix, we are not in a hurry, there is no number of courses that we are planning on putting on-line, we just want to get started. Faculty should make the decisions about what types of courses should be offered on-line. We can turn the next meeting into an information meeting about the assets available, Berkleemusic and PULSE.

Mike: the contract does address the on-line delivery of courses on page 77; we can look at it and continue this discussion next month.

2. Gender Issues at Berklee. The Union Executive Committee has been discussing this issue in our meetings and we have not come to a conclusion at this time. We can discuss today but we will need to revisit this after the UEC reaches a conclusion on how to proceed. Perhaps we could set up a joint Union/Management committee regarding gender issues. Larry: this is not only a faculty issue; we have a diversity and inclusion council that has faculty, staff, and admin. I would be interested in a faculty only perspective to look at and address. The e-mail policies may need to be communicated to avoid future e-mail blizzards.

3. Faculty office space: the 155 building does not have private space to meet with students. Let’s sit down and seriously take a look at possibilities to adjust the space. Classroom facilities also need to be discussed.

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
February 24, 2011
Present – Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Peter Cokkinias, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Michael Heyman, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio, Guests: John Eldert, Phil Lima, and Judy Heaton

1. Rich made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting as amended and update the website. Peter seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. John Eldert, Phil Lima, and Judy Heaton are here to share information on benefits. John spoke about his experience and health care. The Boston consortium is 15 schools in the Boston area that are working together to address many similar issues. Managing healthcare takes a collaboration of efforts. With our 1600 insured members at Berklee it is very difficult to negotiate with BCBS or Harvard Pilgrim, we are too small. The consortium schools are looking at binding together to have group insurance, to shape and design a program that works for our institution. We could save 4-6% in our premiums. Health costs are escalating each year, we need to find a way to manage it. Investing in our health is a better way to save, this takes education, it may take more time, but it will pay off in the long run.

3. Mike: what are the numbers that would impress BCBS? 1600 isn’t enough, what is enough. John: the consortium is around 60,000 now, with changes in student health insurance, we could grow to 100, 000 to 350,000 very quickly. Phil: the power of the numbers is in the expense, our annual cost is around 8 million; the aggregated cost of the consortium members is around 500 million. John: other possible changes, BU has its own medical facility, if we get them involved we could change the health care model, i.e.: our local people may have access to their facilities.

4. Phil: there is a long-term care program study currently going on, we will be sharing this information and options to Berklee in the fall. John: downstream, we could make those costs cheaper as the consortium model is explored. Long-term care products are drying up, if we have our own model to offer, it will be a very good thing.

5. Managing our health, the bottom line of health care costs is health! It is all about education, sharing information, and increasing awareness. Of our 1600 members, approximately 800 get annual physicals, we need to know more about our health if we are going to stay healthy. What can we do for faculty and staff like the “Live Well” program for students? We have started “Healthy You.” We need to get the word out and share tools with faculty to get and stay healthy!

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting
February 17, 2011
Present – Rick Applin, Charles Cassara, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Jeff Perry, Diane Richardson, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Mike Scott, Will Silvio.

1. Wendy made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting as amended and update the website. Danny seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.

2. Mike met with management regarding two faculty members and their positions at the college. There will be further meetings to discuss their situations. We discussed their cases at length, confidentially.

3. Rick presented a wage comparison by rank, gender, and years of service. If we are going to pursue this, how are we going to handle it? What about a consultant, a third party, not a faculty member to crunch the numbers. There are a lot of variables to look at that can factor into our conclusions.

4. Let’s continue this gender discussion in two weeks.

5. Next week John Eldert, Phil Lima, and Judy Heaton will be coming to discuss benefits.