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September 24, 2024

FSU Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

September 24, 2024, 3:30pm (Zoom)

Executive Committee Members Present: Caroline Coscia (President); Sana Haroon (Vice President); Suha Ballout; Lynne Benson; Rania Said; Monique Fuguet; Patricia Krueger-Henney; Jared Poole; Andrew Elder

Others Present: Lorenzo Nencioli (FSU Senior Staff Member); Joel Fish

 

  1. Adoption of Agenda: Motion to approve the agenda. Motion seconded. Motion passes.

     
  2. Approval of Minutes: The minutes from last time are not ready yet so we skipped this.

     
  3. Update on Special Election (Travis)
    1. We didn’t receive any nominations
    2. Karen says that she’s aware of at least two nominations (1 NTT, 1 TT) that are forthcoming—people just got busy and the deadline escaped them, but they are very interested in putting names forward.
    3. Sana moves to extend the deadline to nominate to Friday September 27 at 4pm. Motion seconded. Unanimously approved.
  4. Anti-Racism Grant Program (article 26.6.1.b.2)
    1. Lorenzo informs us that because we don’t have a contract, technically we are not guaranteed any money from admin. However, he highly doubts that it will not be granted.
      1. The question is raised, if we don’t have a contract, don’t we assume that the old contract obtains?
        1. Lorenzo informs us that those provisions are called “evergreen” clauses, and he doesn’t think that these kinds of “cost items” are evergreen
        2. It is decided to seek clarification from Mickey at labor relations tomorrow. In the meantime, we will proceed with informing the membership under the assumption that the funds will be granted.
    2. Setting a timeline.
      1. Caroline proposes:
        1. Announce in Sep 30 nuts and bolts. Give ~3 weeks to apply.
      2. Concerns are raised about having an application window that is wide enough to generate high-quality proposals without pushing the announcement of awards too deep into the semester. Jared was on the committee last year. His email exchanges from the 23-24 round of applications indicate that awards were announced Dec. 1, 2023.
      3. Timeline: Sana moves, seconded, unanimously approved.
        1. Announce Sep 30
        2. Close applications Nov 1
        3. Announce awardees Dec 2
      4. Jared, Karen, Patricia volunteered committee
  5. FSU Committees: Appointments
    1. We have representatives on some university committees that need to be allocated.  Many are reappointments.
      1. Monique stays as treasurer
      2. Travis stays on Academic Technology.
      3. Patricia joins Joint Coordinating Committee (Sana staying on).
      4. Caroline (joined the meeting late to attend to personal matters) will be asked about serving on Health and Safety Committee.
      5. Rania and Brian White for Anomaly Committee (possibility that Brian will step down now that Rania is coming in).
    2. The position of FSU Parliamentarian is deferred; no one volunteered to fill the position.
    3. We also need to officially have a Clerk.
      1. Jared self-nominated
    4. Vote (as a slate): Sana moves, seconded, unanimously approved.
  6. Member communications –urgent email proposals (Caroline)
    1. Propose that when we file a Cease and Desist that within 24 hours, we inform our membership
    2. Propose that when we file an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) that within 24 hours we inform out membership.
    3. These proposals generated considerable discussion resulting in the proposal being tabled. The following summarizes the major points raised.
      1. It is noted that with these quick turnaround times, people wishing to put out these communications will need to be clear about the language they want to include in the message, subject line, etc.
      2. Rapid notification of membership will place more demands on Lorenzo, so we may want to policy language that does not suggest that he should be sending communicatiosn on holidays, weekends, etc. (e.g., “w/in 1-business day”).
      3. Excom may want to craft some language (especially for senseative/consequential matters) together, so perhaps “w/in 1 day of next Excom meeting” is appropriate.
      4. It is suggested to develop a policy through trial and error (e.g., adopt some language without setting precise timelines; workout the timelines after we’ve made a practice of notifying membership promptly).
      5. Lorenzo informs us that not every aspect of CADs and ULPs contain confidential information. With ULPs, there is sometimes a way to describe aspects of them in a purely informational manner. CADs and ULPs can be discussed in a way that explains the wider context and Excom’s position on the broader issue, rather than specifics of a particular case.
      6. Caroline clarifies her intention behind the proposal: the purpose of the proposal is to be more transparent. In the past, we have filed these items and members never know about it.
      7. It is suggested that we ask Maria whether there MTA guidance on this matter.
  7. MTA Mentor/mentee program for faculty of color
    1. The MTA Retired Members have created a program to mentor new faculty of color.  We discuss whether this is something we should share/promote actively with our members. (https://massteacher.org/news/2024/09/mentorshipprogram) 
    2. Caroline notes her intention behind raising this issue: UMB and MA schools more broadly have a problem retaining faculty of color. This is part of MTA’s effort to address that problem. Therefore, it might make sense to make our union more active on this issue, and this could be a good place to start since the effort is already under way and backed by MTA.
      1. It is decided to include an announcement of the program in Nuts and Bolts.
    3. During the discussion, it is also noted that for many years there has been talk about interviewing faculty who leave. What are the implications of having FSU apply for an anti-racism grant to carry out those interviews.
      1. The concern is voiced that, while getting that data is very important, it is admin’s responsibility to get that data. FSU shouldn’t be burdened with it, spend our resources on it.
      2. Lorenzo reminds us that the bargaining team is working on a proposal to require these kinds of exit interviews.
      3. The concern is voiced about whether data collected by admin would be trustworthy and sufficient for FSU’s purposes.
      4. Jared informs based on the experience of the last round of Anti-racism Grant proposals: it is true that this shouldn’t be our issue, but there is a wider problem that all kinds of diversity/equity issues on campus are not properly funded and supported by administration (e.g., very basic affinity groups, even in core problem areas for the university regarding retention and promotion, need to come to the anti-racism grant committee for operating costs). To address that broader problem, we should consider agitating around all these instances where administration doesn’t provide very basic resources.
      5. FSU also has a surplus in the budget so we might allocate some of these funds.
  8. Membership Events:  Coffees, 12PM to 1:30PM in UDC
    1. Sept 18th/24th update.
      1. First event was attended fairly well but the 24th was not
    2. Discussion of ways to improve the event
      1. FSU asking MTA for assistance on designing and printing a sign
    3. Sana proposes that we invite one admin person to each event as a way of attracting members to raise their issues with them
      1. She will reach out to see if there is interest from anyone in administration.
    4. Sana will design a poster very quickly and we should post them around our floors
  9. Oct 1st Academic Freedom zoom workshop
    1. The Zoom we use for these meetings and many of our workshops is Caroline’s UMB account.
    2. We discuss parameters/logistics of the event
      1. Estimate that attendance will not exceed Caroline’s Zoom account capacity.
      2. Decide to disable chat during the call but enable the Q&A feature so that attendees can have relevant questions directly addressed.

UPDATES

  1. FSU computer purchase.  
    1. We have one laptop which is about five years old. It has recently showed signs of nearing the end of its useful life.  If something happened to this, we could access our email from another computer, but our data are a problem—we don’t currently have external storage of much of our data. Going to purchase a second laptop to have ready.  
    2. It is suggested that we invest more into this new computer than Lorenzo might be inclined to, because if we spend too little then it won’t last very long.
  2. Yes on 2 Campaign
    1. MTA is the primary proponent of this ballot question.  If you wish to get involved, you can do so on campus and off. On Campus:  Labor Studies students will be tabling every day in the CC.  You can join then. You can also come by the union office for materials (lawn signs, factsheets) .  Off campus: you can sign up to phone bank or canvas door to door. Https://massteacher.org/current-initiatives/high-stakes-testing  
    2. It is suggested that we target colleagues in education department for support
    3. Members and Excom should attend an Oct 1 all member meeting to discuss Yes on 2 (check MTA email) for more information on the campaign and talking points for canvassing or talking to friends and neighbors. Can put into Nuts and Bolts.

MEETING ADJOURNS