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February 7, 2025

FSU Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

February 7, 2025 3:30pm (Zoom)

Executive Committee Members Present: Caroline Coscia (President); Sana Haroon (Vice President); Suha Ballout; Lynne Benson; Jorge Capetillo; Andrew Elder; Monique Fuguet; Karen Grayson; Patricia Krueger-Henney; Jared Poole; Alejandro Reuss; Rania Said; Wei Zhang

Others Present: Lorenzo Nencioli (FSU Senior Staff Member); Maria Hegbloom (MTA Field Rep); Jessica Holden; Carol Chandler-Rourke; Travis Johnston; Nayelli Castro; Rita Kiki Edozie; Janet D’Angelo; Mickaella Perina; Steve Striffler; Karen Johannesson; Valentina Urbanek; Christine Moynihan; Daria Boeninger; Chris Denning

 

  1. Approval of Minutes: Motion to approve the minutes of the December 10 Executive Committee meeting. Motion seconded. Motion passes.

     
  2. Meeting format change: Discussion on why we are using the last 30 minutes to encourage members to join us on key issues.
    1. Members are asked to provide feedback on this change after the meeting has ended.
  3. Pizza luncheon series: Continue weekly gathering opportunities for members
    1. Caroline, Sana, and others consistently attended these events last term. From this experience, it is determined that providing food is the best way to improve attendance. Therefore, we are upgrading the offerings to pizza and cookies.
    2. Funding will come from an MTA grant (see updates below for details)
    3. Proposed dates: Wed, Feb 12th, Tues Feb 18th, Weds. Feb 26th, Tues Mar 4th, Weds. Mar 12th, Tues Mar 25th, Weds. Apr 2nd, Tues. Apr 8th, Weds. Apr 16th, Tues, Apr 22nd, Weds. Apr 30th and Tues May 6th
    4. Motion to accept these dates and allocate $2,400 to support these activities. Seconded and passed.
  4. University Dining (Lynne):
    1. Last semester an email was sent on re-opening the space with a luncheon. 
    2. There was a pushback specifically on the cost. Administration is determining whether and how much to charge faculty for use of the UDC.
  5. Immigration Enforcement:
    1. Sana coordinated the International Faculty Caucus meeting on Jan 31st.
    2. Concerns were compiled and sent to Joe Berger and Marie Bowen on Feb 3rd
    3. Feb 5th Labor Management Meeting
      1. Concerns about the Trump administration’s actions that affect members (particularly around immigration) were raised. Administration’s approach seems to be to avoid raising the university’s profile so as to not attract the attention of outside groups and become a target of political action. Hence, the university is not taking a public position on changes to immigration enforcement and providing virtually no information directly to faculty.
      2. This issue will be the focus of our Feb 12th pizza luncheon event. 
    4. Discuss possible FSU actions to increase pressure on administration and ensure that members are protected.
      1. The campus unions are discussing the possibility of making a joint statement.
      2. Tabling, posters/flyers are proposed as ways to increase FSU’s visibility on this issue and reach students directly.
  6. Executive Order on grant funding:
    1. MTA’s higher ed group organized a well-attended meeting on short notice to understand effects on members. Many MA campuses are being impacted. Attendees also shared strategies for avoiding impacts.
    2. Caroline will reach out to people with grants on our campus to assess the extent to which we are being affected.
    3. People on campus seem to be having different experiences regarding whether administration wants them to remove DEI language from public-facing materials (e.g., websites). Administration’s approach seems to be inconsistent in this regard. For instance, Boston 25 reported changes to our website (https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/massachusetts-colleges-make-changes-dei-website-pages/5JU3OYSERBAM7G5YGTIPTJOQ4A/), but members’ experiences suggest that this isn’t the product of a systematic or campus-wide policy.
  7. 4:30 – 5:00 (hard stop) conversation on issues related to recent university polices:
    1. Provide an overview of university policies that we see as infringements on our rights.
      1. Space use policy: FSU filed a CAD and a ULP in the Fall. We had our first ULP hearing on January 21st; our case emphasizes that the policy has a chilling effect on our members. Expecting a decision in 2-3 months; we hope the decision will call for a full investigation.  
      2. IT acceptable use policy: We have raised concerns with administration through multiple channels but have received no response (except that many SL IIs received laptops recently; such a move would have been necessary for administration to even nominally adhere to their own policy).
    2. Discussion on how we feel about this and strategize actions to take
      1. Ask other UMass campuses what they are doing.
      2. Hold some kind of demonstration/protest at events where administrators are present. Making administrators feel uncomfortable may be our best point of leverage.
  8. Updates
    1. Spring Elections
      1. Nominations run until February 21st.
    2. Collective Bargaining Session with Administration
      1. We had our first bargaining session since December on Feb 5th. Next bargaining session is Weds., Feb 12th (and every subsequent Weds) from 9:45 to 11:30AM. Members are encouraged to attend as silent observers.
    3. MTA Public Relations and Organizing Grant
      1. Caroline is working on submitting a grant to fund our membership and engagement efforts. Seeking funding to pay for the pizza luncheons, SEAM activation and other luncheons/forums during the semester. Our aim is to use this type of grant to engage faculty and librarians and grow membership.
    4. FSU Annual Meeting
      1. We are looking to hold our annual (and required) annual meeting on Thursday, April 17th 2:00-4:00PM.  Look at your calendars and mark it down. At our next meeting we’ll vote on the date
    5. Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) Meeting
      1. The FSU and Mass. Society of Professors (MSP) are joined together. No less than once a year the JCC must meet to set a budget. UMB JCC members include Caroline, Sana and Patricia. We are looking at late February to meet. In addition to setting the JCC budget, we also share what both chapters are doing and how we can work together.
    6. MTA Higher Education Conference:
      1. Saturday, March 1 (8a-4:30p)
      2. DCU Center, Worcester
    7. All Union Meeting: 
      1. Feb 18



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