Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting

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

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

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!