| Dear Colleagues,
Here is your SFCC-AAUP update for the week of September 24th, 2018. In this week’s update:
New: Summary of September 21st Regular Fall Meeting
Reminder: Joerg Hans-Tiede’s lecture “Academic Freedom in the Age of Trump”, Wednesday, October 3 at 11:30 in room 221
Reminder: Governing Board Meeting on Wednesday, September 26th at 5:30 and Labor Board Meeting, Friday September 28th at 9:00
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New: Summary of September 21st Regular Fall Meeting
Last Friday, September 21st, faculty members—along with our guest and attorney James Montalbano—gathered for SFCC-AAUP’s Fall Regular Meeting. After the approval of the agenda and the minutes, Liz Cervio and David Sicko were elected by acclamation to the positions of Vice President and Secretary, respectively. We would like to thank them both for their continued dedication to SFCC-AAUP and we look forward to having them both officially onboard the leadership team!
The announcement of their election was then followed by a reminder to members (and faculty members eligible to be in the bargaining unit) to become full-fledged members of SFCC-AAUP by paying both local and national dues. One of the easiest ways to do so is by visiting our new website, introduced at the meeting by David Sicko. It can be found at www.aaupsfcc.wordpress.com. Here, in addition to dues-paying information, you’ll find an archive of our communications.
The majority of the meeting that followed focused on negotiations updates (the detailed status of which you should have received an email about earlier this week). To summarize, though, at the last bargaining session, the administration gave its “last best offer,” indicating a desire to no longer negotiate. The administration has thus declared “impasse.” However, because negotiations seemed to be slowly progressing and our team was in the midst of submitting counter-proposals, our negotiations team does not agree that we are at “impasse.” SFCC-AAUP, along with our local legal counsel, firmly holds that impasse cannot be officially declared since our team is still interested in negotiating and because we have not reciprocated the college’s position by submitting a “Last Best Offer” (LBO). SFCC-AAUP’s team has now requested meditation with the administration’s team in order to avoid going to impasse, although the administration has suggested that they do not believe mediation will help the process proceed. SFCC-AAUP’s negotiation team emphasized that we strongly believe in continuing to seek mutuality and understanding between the respective parties. We will hold to this value even if the administration chooses not to attempt the same.
It was noted that we would like to avoid arbitration—the final step of the impasse process if, after mediation, we cannot move forward. At an arbitration, either the administration’s proposed full contract or ours will be chosen by the arbiter, thus preventing our members from actually choosing whether or not to ratify it. Still, Mr. Montalbano noted that an arbiter would look for “reasonable” proposals that most clearly resemble the status quo of working conditions at a community college in general as well as the current status quo working conditions of Santa Fe Community College. If a proposal seems unreasonable and departs drastically from the status quo, it would be unlikely for an arbiter to choose that contract.
The negotiations update was followed by a detailed question and answer session, during which time Mr. Montalbano emphasized that the challenges we are facing are all very typical for a first-time contract. Jerry ended the meeting by reminding us that our local attorneys have been representing unions for over 20 years and have a stellar reputation in the state of New Mexico. In addition, we’ve been guided by the expertise of Mike Mauer, our D.C. attorney and another well-respected expert in the field. Jerry reminded us that nothing in our contract or our experiences at the bargaining table seems unusual and expressed confidence in our contract as being representative of our faculty’s collective vision.
Reminder: Joerg Hans-Tiede’s lecture “Academic Freedom in the Age of Trump”, Wednesday, October 3rd at 11:30 in room 221
Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, October 3rd from 11:30-12:30 in room 221 to attend a lecture by Joerg Hans-Tiede, the Associate Secretary for the Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance of AAUP, entitled “Academic Freedom in the Age of Trump.”
Below is an abstract of the talk and a short bio of the speaker:
Today’s political climate has become increasingly inimical to academic freedom. Over the course of the last two years, the academic community has witnessed legislative and gubernatorial attacks on individual faculty members, course offerings, governing boards, the institution of tenure, and, generally, the institutional autonomy of colleges and universities. Websites such as Professor Watchlist are monitoring activities of faculty members and denouncing departures from what they view as acceptable. These activities have led to targeted harassment of faculty members. This presentation provides an overview of the concept of academic freedom, recent attacks on academic freedom, and how you can defend academic freedom.
Hans-Joerg Tiede is Senior Program Officer in the Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance at the American Association of University Professors. He is the editor of Policy Documents and Reports (the AAUP “Redbook”) (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015) and author of University Reform: The Founding of the American Association of University Professors (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015).
We look forward to seeing as many faculty members, students, and community members there as possible.
Reminder: Governing Board Meeting on Wednesday, September 26th at 5:30 and Labor Board Meeting, Friday September 28th at 9:00
Please join us at these important board meetings and make your voice heard!
As always, feel free to contact us with any of your ideas, your questions, or your concerns.
Sincerely, SFCC-AAUP Executive Committee |
Dear Colleagues,
Santa Fe Community College AAUP 