Union Notes From Union / Management Meeting

Present – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Danny Harrington, Teodros Kiros, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, David Scott, Jackson Schultz, and Jeri Sykes. 

Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Bill Whitney, Kari Juusela, Darla Hanley, Jeanine Cowan, Mac Hisey, Chris Connors, and Nikki Kirk.

1. Jackson opened the meeting. We were going to discuss faculty teaching students with disabilities but Bob Mulvey could not make the meeting. But I am going to jump in, part-time faculty have been working with some students outside of class time at least an hour a week. We should be compensating part-time faculty at least an hour a week for additional work.

Larry: you’ve raised the issue in the past; we want to have Bob Mulvey and Chi Kim present at the discussion. We cannot just agree to add/comp now but we will look at the topic. It’s not as simple as if you have a blind student in your class you automatically get an extra hour per week. We need to look at the issue; it’s an important issue and has come up in my meetings with departments. We will work through this issue with the union.

Danny: In addition to the compensation we need room to work with students, space is still a major concern.

Jackson: two separate issues, the long-term plan and the immediate fix for the faculty that are involved this semester and going through this now.

Larry: we need to look at these issues on a case-by-case basis.

Danny: I am looking for a place for teachers and students to work together. We need more room … if there was a new Vice President they would get a new office.

Larry: it is not that simple of an issue, we need to look at each case individually.

Danny: we have to have materials; there is not enough support on a day-to-day basis or on a week-to-week basis. We am looking out for the part-time faculty. They need assistance and we need space to work with them.

Larry: we will deal with this issue. We have a faculty budget but no real line items.

Mac: There is a federal mandate with dedicated budget for these issues. The new 150 lobby was designed with this in mind.

Jay: There is also a work-study budget that may help ease the stress.

Jackson: we have a part-time faculty member that was asked to re-create all of the examples from the book and create Sibelius files. This is a lot of extra work that is not being compensated.

2. Service to the college. Jackson: there is an inequity with some faculty having a lot and some having none. The writing division is under a lot of stress and it shows there needs to be more full-time faculty. Some tasks like performing concerts are no longer being considered as service. The greater need is that we need more full-time faculty.

Larry: we have converted more PT to FT faculty than we are contractually obligated. We will look at the needs of the college as we consider more FT faculty. We have not looked at specific issues; if you provide a list of faculty that have been denied service we will look at it.

Jackson: in theory it’s supposed to be mutually agreed upon but a lot of times it is not. I suggest that you mention to the Deans that they mention to the chairs that concerts around the school are considered service. And that also brings up the BPC – concerts should be free. This is great PR for the school!

3. 150 Mass Ave. Update – Bill Whitney. We want to profitably use the space that was vacated by the old dining hall. First phase was the new lobby. We want to address the dorm access and the façade on Belvedere St next. May/June construction will begin with some work in December. (We looked at the plans).