Long term care, Bayside development meeting and info on your contract rights
10/4/2019
Dear Colleague,
As usual, a lot has been happening on campus:
► Long term care insurance: from Mutual of Omaha is a new program that is different from the existing disability insurance that is also currently being offered.
While disability insurance replaces your income due to your inability to work, long term care insurance pays for the caregiving costs of an assisted living home, nursing facility, or (possibly) for home care if you have a cognitive or physical disability. It can pay for temporary assistance as well if you break your leg and need help with the costs of taking care of yourself at home or at a facility. The administration will not be offering long term care insurance every year during open enrollment but only this once, until October 11. This benefit is portable—you can take it with you if you leave UMB. Call 888-428-6075 for rates and further information, or attend one of the informational workshops. You can see more information on this here.
► Bayside Development: Save UMB is partnering with Dorchester community groups that share an interest in our peninsula. Part of this partnering is to work in unison on the development of the site of the Bayside parking lot. In February 2019, Accordia Partners signed a 99-year $235 million lease to redevelop the site. Redevelopment will most likely be mixed use of housing, retail and office spaces.
Save UMB’s first step is convening a meeting of UMB union members. There will be two meetings (attend only one) this Monday, October 7th at 12:00-1:00 p.m. in Campus Center, 3rd floor, room 3545; or 4:15 p.m. at 150 Mt Vernon St, lower level, Suffolk room.
The Save UMB coalition, of which the FSU is a member, is a coalition of students, staff and faculty fighting for a fairer UMass Boston.
REMINDER ON YOUR RIGHTS
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Additional students above course capacities: For both in-person and distance learning courses, once course capacities are reached, only the individual faculty member may admit additional students (see Article 15.4 of the contract for more information). Faculty members have full discretion in this regard. Enrollment caps increases: Departments and faculty, not the Administration, set enrollment caps for all courses (see the language in Article 15.4 of the contract). If student enrollment caps are increased, or if you disagree with the caps, talk to your department. Teaching evaluations: Departments decide how to evaluate teaching, and multiple methods are encouraged. From Article 33.4 of the contract: “Each department, program or other analogous unit shall develop or adopt one or several modes appropriate to the process of evaluating teaching in that unit, as well as procedures for the administration of student evaluations of teaching. Over time, the annual evaluations of teaching should attempt to capture the total contribution of the candidate to the instructional mission, both inside and/or outside the classroom, through multiple modes of evaluation, not just student evaluations. For faculty involved in graduate education, the annual evaluation should address their effectiveness in advising and mentoring graduate students.” Don’t like the way you are evaluating teaching? Discuss this in your department. Right to Have a Witness In Meetings With Your Supervisor: You have the right to have a union witness present for any meeting with your supervisor that is of an investigatory nature or may have disciplinary repercussions (see the MTA primer on Weingarten Rights). Contract Violations- Asserting Your Rights: Contact the FSU office if you have questions about your contract rights or if you think these may have been violated. The contract specifies that if you want to proceed with a grievance should you think these rights have been violated, you need to file a grievance within 60 days from the date of the infraction. (See also the FSU primer on the grievance procedure.) |
► Distressing Students: Get assistance from the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs office if you are dealing with a distressing or distressed student (see here for more information). If at any time you feel that you or your students’ safety is at risk from a distressed or distressing student please call public safety immediately.
Marlene Kim
Faculty Staff Union President, and
Professor
Department of Economics
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