Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting

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

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

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.