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October 10, 2023

FSU Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

October 10, 2023, 2:00pm (M-4-624 and Zoom)

Executive Committee Members Present: Caroline Coscia (President); Sana Haroon (Vice President); Chris Barcelos; Lynne Benson; Dana Commesso; Monique Fuguet; Jessica Holden; Linda Liu; Jared Poole; Brian White

Others Present: Lorenzo Nencioli (FSU Senior Staff Member); Katie D’Urso (MTA Field Rep); Gonzalo Bacigalupe; Natalia Scarpetti; Wei Zhang

  1. Approval of Agenda: Agreement on the agenda as presented.

     
  2. Approval of Minutes: Motion to approve the September 26 Executive Committee meeting minutes. Motion seconded. Motion passes.

     
  3. TT Election: TT election ends tomorrow. There will be an open vote count tomorrow at 10:00. A Zoom meeting will be available. Candidates will be notified of the results. Later that day, results will be sent to the members at large.

     
  4. Community Engagement and AFRs: FSU asked the Administration in the last Labor Management meeting about AFRs and community engagement. The ALR allows faculty to describe community engagement in seven words. The Administration would like to cull anonymous data on community engagement and generate a report. The say that they want to promote the community engagement that faculty do, and they reiterated that community engagement is not a requirement for faculty. Discussion: Where is this request coming from – the provost or Faculty Council? Who is the audience – will this be for the provost’s internal use, or will it be a publication for marketing/budgeting/incoming students? FSU will ask for clarification.

     
  5. Spring CLRs: Deadline for CLRs is two weeks before registration begins. Sana and Caroline are each taking a CLR for their roles as FSU President and Vice President; Paul Dyson and Heidi Stanish are each taking a CLR for their roles as grievance officers. Motion to approve these four CLRs. Motion seconded. Motion passes.

     
  6. Antiracism Grant: We need a committee to approve faculty applications. There is a $45,000 pool. Mickaella Perina and Trei Martin have served on the committee in the past. Chris and Jared would like to serve on the committee. Caroline will ask Mickaella and Trei if they are interested in serving again.

     
  7. University Website Petition: FSU’s petition to restore the old UMass Boston website went to the student government. They had a discussion and are voting on whether to endorse the petition. FSU also sent the petition to PSU, CSU, and GEO. We have 130 signatures so far, most of which are TT faculty. Discussion of how to move forward. Faculty and staff are having to make an enormous number of fixes on top of having full time jobs. Financial stability and student enrollment are big concerns. Brian will lead a meeting with Megan Sullivan and will be joined by Caroline, Katie, and Lorenzo. The next issue of The Point will focus on the university website and will be written by Steve Striffler. It will come out this Thursday and will include a link to the petition.

     
  8. Covid – Response to Our 9/28 Email: FSU emailed Robert Pomales regarding the university’s current covid policy because cases have been on the rise. Caroline will be meeting with Pomales. She told him Health Services needs to send out an email blast reminding the UMass Boston community of available resources. Discussion of a mouse problem in Wheatley.

     
  9. FSU Role: MTA and MCAS Ballot Question: Thursday 10:00-2::00: We have a table in the main lobby of the Campus Center to collect signatures. FSU has petition forms.

     
  10. October 17 General Member Meeting: Fall member meeting will be held next Tuesday. We will be soliciting feedback on parking bargaining. Meeting topics will include FSU activities and parking bargaining/transportation. We will then open the meeting up to members for any other discussion topics. This is an open meeting for all unit members.

     
  11. 2024-2027 Contract Bargaining: The current FSU contract expires June 30, 2024. The new bargaining cycle begins in January. Last year’s team got an agreement on expanded bargaining, and we have lots of proposals ready to go for the next cycle. Ex Comm decides who is appointed to bargaining team. FSU will send out a request for applications next week and Ex Comm will vote on November 7.

     
  12. Labor Management Meeting Update:
  • FSU met last week with the provost and Denise McNair. FSU asked about the Sodexo contract and expanding university dining. The provost is forming a committee/working group to “study” university dining. Lynne volunteers to serve as FSU rep on the committee. FSU asked for a copy of Sodexo contract since we were told it’s a financial issue – not fully opening university dining club and reopening the Healey café. There are more searches for faculty lines this year than ever before. How can we get to a more meaningful conversation about hiring needs for TT and NTT lines? We also need more staff and librarian lines. Contractors are being hired instead of full-time union staff positions.
  • Discussion about Senior Lecturer II and Senior Lecturer III CLRs, service, and courseloads. 30 NTT faculty were promoted to SL3 in the spring. Service required for CLRs is in addition to NTT basic service. Concerns about equity and service loads. FSU will send a simple message to members saying that we recommend that departments and FSU members consider equity at the departmental level when determining service assignments related to Senior Lecturer II and Senior Lecturer III CLRs. There are different service loads and expectations across different departments. Anyone at the rank of Lecturer or above can be mandated to do basic service.

MEETING ADJOURNS