Union notes from Union / Management Meeting

Present – Michael Abraham, Dennis Cecere, Peggy Codding, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Teodros Kiros, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, David Scott, Jackson Schultz, and Will Silvio.  

Management – Jay Kennedy, Bill Whitney, Kari Juusela, Matt Marvuglio, Darla Hanley, Jeanine Cowan, Mac Hisey, Maria Bradley, Bill D’Agostino Chris Connors.

1. Jackson opened the meeting. Postini is taking e-mail out of the inbox that need to arrive. Can you turn it off? Bill D’Agostino – you can control spam, but it is very difficult. We get a report everyday at 9 pm. You can turn it off but you will still receive a quarantine report, we don’t shut it off globally yet. We are still trying to stop the spoof e-mails.
   
   Will  – Can you select what gets sent to postini?
   
   Bill – You can log in to postini and modify your filters.
   
   Jackson  – Can you send out an e-mail to the college about the procedures to modify your postini account?
   
   Bill – Yes, we will get an e-mail out.
   
   Rich – Why did we move to Google in the first place?
   
   Bill – we had to pick a place to house thousands of e-mail accounts, Google is better at that, and Google calendar started the process.
   
   Wendy – what protection do we have with Google mining? Google collects info and sells it to other companies.
   
   Bill – I don’t know if that’s true, I don’t think it is. We have Google for education, with different responsibilities. Josh Singletary has the information. The CTMI and 2238 can help with all your technology issues, Postini, the new portal, etc.
    
2. Ongoing contingency planning – Mac Hisey. We are beginning the work on the 150-accessibility project over break; high-rise buildings and what we can do for power back up to evacuate people if necessary. With 369 more students on campus in the new building, we are working on many contingency plans. 160 building construction is headed into winter, we have a tight schedule, and we are working on other possibilities if the building is not ready: room availability and dining hall. We are looking into insurance but it probably won’t cover the hotel rooms if necessary. We are just trying to raise the game on risk management; we want to be ready for as many possibilities as possible.
    
3. Jeanine – we are looking at an on-line repository for materials in a single place for all faculty. Harmony Department has a workgroup folder and we are working on getting a larger place for all faculty. The library holds all our copyright. We want to have a place where everyone will have access and it is legal. We will have all our assets in one place so we don’t need to re-invent the wheel.
    
4. Student safety and bicycles is becoming an issue around Boston. Several deaths in the area at other colleges. We need to educate the community to make sure we protect our students. We could bring security and possibly involve the consortium.

Minutes from All Faculty Meeting

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

1. Welcome, Roger’s state of the College Forum. Jackson pointed out the lack of faculty mentioned during his address.
    
2. Fraternization Policy. Jackson passed out a copy of the policy and discussed. Please read or download from our website.
    
3. We discussed the graduate programs and on-line teaching.
    
4. Filing of 2 ULP (you out there are the Union’s watch dog)
   
   - Limiting Department meetings to 4
   - Raising class minimums to 7 from 3 or 4 (40 classes cancelled)
    
5. We will be sending out a notice of elections taking place this spring, Tom McGah and Neil Olmstead have again agreed to organize the process.
    
6. 150 Mass Ave. is in serious violation of ADA issues, they are moving forward.
    
7. Jeff Perry presented the 2012-2013 proposed budget:
   
   - FY12 Actual to Budget comparison
   - Present Budget and increased stipends
   - Because the stipends are in our Constitution and Bylaws, we will be voting to amend the Constitution and Bylaws to reflect the new stipends should they be approved.
    
8. Questions were raised about the budget. Lawyers and arbitrations; we have a lawyer provided by AFT but we hire an additional lawyer for bargaining. The faculty has grown by 25% since 2003 when stipends were last raised. 
    
9. Vote by secret ballot. Jackson asked volunteers from those in attendance to count the ballots (overseen by Will Silvio). Peggy Codding moved to vote on the proposed budget, Daryl Katz seconded, and the ballots were handed out. Jeri Sykes and Kevin McCluskey counted the votes. The budget passed with a vote of 75 yes and 4 no.
    
10. We adjourned the meeting

Minutes from Union Executive Committee Meeting

Present – Dennis Cecere, Peter Cokkinias, Beth Denisch, Marti Epstein, Rich Grudzinski, Danny Harrington, Jonathan Holland, Teodros Kiros, Jeff Perry, Wendy Rolfe, Jackson Schultz, Will Silvio. 

1. Marti made a motion to accept the minutes from the previous meeting. Rich seconded and the vote was unanimous to accept the minutes.
    
2. We have a possible grievance with workload in the Composition department for the spring semester.
    
3. Jeff passed out the revised budget for discussion. The information will be placed on the website for download. We discussed the budget and the possible increase to stipends. Stipends have not changed since 2003 while our faculty has increased exponentially along with the responsibilities of the Executive Committee. Danny made a motion to approve the new budget with stipend increases, Rich seconded, and the vote was unanimous to accept the budget.
    
4. Jackson will be contacting Roget Brown to discuss the possibility of a faculty presence with the Board of Trustees. There are two visions for Berklee, one from the administration and one from the faculty. If there is no voice on the Board, only one vision is being represented. There is such a top down managerial style currently; the vision of the faculty is not being represented. The faculty union is mainly working on wages and working conditions and not being allowed to share our vision. For the first time in the history of the institution there are no musicians in leadership roles; Berklee is becoming corporate. The Board only knows what they are told by the administration. They don’t know what are working conditions are, or the space issues for offices. The door should be open for faculty to share their feelings. There is a dissonance between the corporate model and the cooperative model.
    
5. We discussed evacuation procedures and the need to have better communication throughout the college.