Minutes from Part-Time Meeting

Present UEC – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Dennis Cecere, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Teodros Kiros, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio. 

1. Jackson opened the meeting. Danny made a motion to accept the minutes and update the website, Dennis seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes. We will be bargaining the next contract next summer, (2013) and we wanted to touch base regarding part-time issues. The college is currently overleveraged by 15 million dollars. The college owes 15 million more than the endowment is valued at. This will not affect our stance during bargaining, including our raises etc… That is our stance.
    
2. Wendy discussed part-time issues and priorities for the next bargain. Last bargain issues were benefits, 3-year contracts, retirement 403b, and disability. One current concern is pay for extra duties and training. We have 12 conversions coming next year with over 300 part-time faculty. 
    
3. Jackson: the part-time faculty are bearing the brunt of the current financial situation. We wanted the conversions to be this year and management said no, “because we can”. Jackson discussed the classes being held back for the fall and the effect on 3-year contracts. Management does not care about how this affects the part-time faculty and their morale. This is the first time that this has happened here at Berklee. There will be a 5.9% tuition increase this fall and we have received a report that students have started a petition to see the financials of the college, including administration salaries vs. those of faculty. They need 2000 signatures and got 300 in two days. Management will listen to the student body and the parents; they want them to be happy. If the faculty are happy, the students will be happy – there is a spillover.
    
4. College re-accreditation and part-timers getting paid for their time, most departments are paying; some departments are doing the work during department meetings.
    
5. Voice department meetings are not happening as regularly as they should be. The contract states that there are four meetings minimum every semester.
    
6. Tuition increase – what is the reason for the increase? As management would say, “because we can”. 
    
7. All contracts should be issued by May 1. Please read the entire contract, Juliana Horton has left the college, so make sure everything is correct! 
    
8. The Executive Committee introduced themselves and we discussed the Union Leadership Tree, the division reps, and the importance of communication. 
    
9. We discussed the top-heavy nature of management, here and throughout academe. A lot of information has been presented in the Chronicle of Higher Ed.

Union notes from Union / Management Meeting

Present – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, and Will Silvio.  

Management – Larry Simpson, Jay Kennedy, Bill Whitney, Kari Juusela, Matt Marvuglio, Darla Hanley, Jeanine Cowan, Amelia Koch, John Eldert

Jackson opened the meeting. Financial update, Mac Hisey made a presentation on the financial status. Our rating is from Moody’s and S&P. The income is tuition and dorms – everything that comes in goes back into the institution, just in different ways. Since 2007, Berklee has spent 45-50 million on properties, over 8 million a year on maintenance of the buildings, and now the 160 Mass Ave and Valencia. Any money left over is a surplus, we borrow money for the bigger projects; we don’t take it out of the operating budget. The ratings institutions watch us based on our surplus, since we issued a bond last year, they are watching very closely. The forecasting we do to gauge our surplus is not always 100% accurate, we look for trends and try to build in wiggle room. Our surplus should be around 4%, as we watched our expenses increased our surplus was forecasting around 1%. We are in no means in panic mode – we try to be ahead of the trends and adjust our budgets, both short term and long term to manage the surplus. There is a big difference between a deficit and a lower surplus; we are not running at a deficit. A number of different contributors: certain summer programs, academic affairs 5% over budget – 2% (money for renegotiations, conversions from staff to faculty) 2% (CRI, ET 3x a week, 50 minute lessons), 1% (additional). We have been trying to cut costs all across the college. We are comfortable with all the results, the process was not as smooth as we liked, but we are working on that. The changes we implemented this year are a one-time savings, we are looking at ways we can cut costs over the long term. 

Peggy: Has our rating gone down, and do you see it going down any time soon?

Mac: We don’t anticipate any fluctuation in our rating; there was a slight drop after we issued the bond in 2011. A concern for the rating is that we are a tuition driven institution. We are looking at revenue diversification, Berkleemedia, 160 Mass Ave dorms, etc. Concerns are our high amount of debt for a school of our size. We are an A, Harvard is an AAA. One key strength, we are a dominant player as a music college, we have a high enrollment and a high number of applicants. Our endowment is currently 250 million, higher than Emerson, the recovery after 2008 was better than most.

Larry: We are being very aggressive with our fall 2012 class; we have admitted the largest class in the history of the college. We do not know how many of those people will actually show, we are not sure how many will say, “thanks, but I don’t have the money.” We are hedging our bet on the high side just to be sure we make the mark.

Jackson: the college is overexposed, to many projects, Valencia, 160 Mass Ave., our relationship with the bond holders are effecting your decisions, the part-time faculty are bearing the brunt of all these budget cuts, with classes being held. The overleveraging is effecting the students, faculty, and creating a destructive environment. With 5.9% tuition increase there are many students will not be able to continue.

Mac: we worked hand and hand as we issued the bond last year; they are a big stakeholder in our financial future. We are not freaking out about the lower surplus; all the funds go back into the college.

Dennis: what is our current debt?

Mac: 265 million. We are watching the level of our debt. We should be able to pay that back with great efficiency. Our payments are tied to our surplus each year.

Jackson: we are going into bargaining next summer, this will NOT affect our stance, and this will NOT affect our raises.

Larry: 421 days before we start bargaining, we are aware and will be ready to discuss the issues at hand.

Larry: In regards to held classes we are not targeting part-time faculty, or part-time faculty  on 3-Year contracts, we feel that we are offering too many sections of classes; we are trying to keep the space issues in mind, etc.

Minutes from All-Faculty Budget Meeting

Present UEC – Michael Abraham, Prince Charles Alexander, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Teodros Kiros, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio. 

1. Jackson opened the meeting. Peter made a motion to approve the minutes from the previous meeting and post on the web. Peggy seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.
    
2. Jackson discussed the bonds that have been issued and the concept of the bondholders watching over Berklee and their expectations.
    
3. Jeff presented the budget. Danny made a motion to approve the budget as proposed, Rich seconded, and the vote was unanimous.
    
4. AFT National will have Jackson, Will, Danny and Rich in attendance. Wendy, Peter, Jeff, Danny, Beth, and Jackson are interested in AFTMA. Rich made a motion to accept the list of delegates, Danny seconded and the vote was unanimous to approve the delegates.
    
5. Jackson and Roger Brown went out to lunch to start the semester. Roger would like the students to become ambassadors for Berklee. 
    
6. Jackson discussed the Instructor Initiated Withdrawal for ensembles and private lessons and its return starting this summer.
    
7. Jackson discussed the ADA compliance and the plans that management has in adjusting the 150 building. The discussion has been going on for 10 years and it is only in the last 6 months that movement has been made by management.
    
8. Part-time faculty are being given pending classes that are not being published – how can students sign up for classes that they don’t know about? This is affecting people on part-time 3-year contracts. Also, 57 classes were dropped due to lack of population before add/drop even started in the spring – this has also affected people on part-time 3-year contracts.
    
9. BCBS – the college has changed the PPO options without consulting us. If we want to make the specific terms of the health care in the contract, we need to bargain it. Right now it is just a percentage of what the college will pay. The college may be making significant changes to the offered health plan in 2013, through a consortium. 
    
10. In our next Union / Management meeting we will be given an accounting of the 2.5 million shortfall.