http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html Berklee Faculty Union: Minutes Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:02:08 -0800 http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#153 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.]]> http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#153 Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800 Serving Berklee Faculty Since 1986 - Berklee Faculty Union - Minutes http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#151 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.]]> http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#151 Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800 Serving Berklee Faculty Since 1986 - Berklee Faculty Union - Minutes http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#152 http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#152 Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800 Serving Berklee Faculty Since 1986 - Berklee Faculty Union - Minutes http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#150 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.]]> http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#150 Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800 Serving Berklee Faculty Since 1986 - Berklee Faculty Union - Minutes http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#149 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.]]> http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#149 Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800 Serving Berklee Faculty Since 1986 - Berklee Faculty Union - Minutes http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#148 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.]]> http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#148 Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700 Serving Berklee Faculty Since 1986 - Berklee Faculty Union - Minutes http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#147 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.]]> http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#147 Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700 Serving Berklee Faculty Since 1986 - Berklee Faculty Union - Minutes http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#146 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.]]> http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#146 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700 Serving Berklee Faculty Since 1986 - Berklee Faculty Union - Minutes http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#145 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.]]> http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#145 Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700 Serving Berklee Faculty Since 1986 - Berklee Faculty Union - Minutes http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#144 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.]]> http://berkleefacultyunion.org/news.html#144 Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700 Serving Berklee Faculty Since 1986 - Berklee Faculty Union - Minutes