Sent on behalf of Harry Zarin and on behalf of the chapter:
Colleagues:
Update to the Faculty-November 2018
I arrived at my class on Monday morning and, due to the events in Pittsburgh and Kentucky, I wondered how I would start my class. Would I just begin with my planned lesson and say nothing, would the students bring up the tragedies from the weekend, would the students even know that something so tragic happened? As a role model for our students and as a member of a minority group, I am Jewish, I felt compelled to say something.
I started the class with the usual welcome, “hope you had a nice weekend,” informed them of the day’s lesson and then made a very brief statement.
“The events from this past weekend were very tragic and scary. I know there is little I can say to help you all understand how someone can have so much hate in their heart that they would search for and kill people just because they are Jewish or black. I hope that once you are married and have kids or just decide to have kids that you will raise your children not to hate. They don’t have to like everyone they meet but teach them not to hate. Teach them to respect themselves and the people around them. I believe that the only way these types of senseless acts will stop happening is if we raise our children not to hate.”
I believe we all need to be a role model for our students and we need to ensure that they have a safe place to study, learn, and to express their views. Be there for your students and do not hesitate to refer them to our counselors if they need someone to help them process these recent events and to deal with their feelings of anxiety or concern.
An E-mail Controversy:
Several members of the College community, myself included, recently received what some would call a rather controversial e-mail. The e-mail was particularly critical of the Administration. Within 24 hours of receiving this e-mail, it was deleted from my inbox. At least one other recipient of the e-mail reported that the e-mail was removed from the personal folders section of her Outlook. The concerns about this troubling situation are obvious. Under what conditions can Management monitor our e-mail? Under what conditions can Management remove e-mails from our inbox and personal folders? Tim Kirkner and I attended our monthly meeting with Carolyn Terry, Sanjay Rai, and Donna Schena on Tuesday, and we asked them these questions. Since IT is under the purview of the Senior Vice President for Administrative and Fiscal Services Donna said that she would research this issue and get back to us. I hope to have an answer for all of you by the time I send out my next update in December.
Until then, my message to all of you is very simple. If you don’t want Management to know the contents of what you are about to put in an e-mail, don’t use the College’s e-mail system. Pick up the phone and call someone or send your e-mail from one private e-mail account to another. You may also want to back up your email to a flash drive or separate server to maintain your existing records.
Monetary Concerns:
Included in the above-mentioned e-mail was information that we felt was very concerning. Among other things, the e-mail contained information about substantial bonuses paid to several members of the Administration. These bonuses were so substantial that one would wonder how an Administration, the BOT included, could express a concern about financial sustainability while at the same time approve additional payments to administrators who were just doing their jobs. Even if they did more than they were supposed to, these bonuses make no sense.
How can you provide an administrator a bonus of $35,000, another administrator a bonus of $15,000 paid in two installments and another administrator a temporary 15 percent increase in salary for up to six months? Did any administrator at MC deserve a $53,000 bonus in FY’17 and a $34,000 bonus in FY’18? Are these bonuses appropriate during a time of declining enrollments when they are asking the community to do more with less? Is this an appropriate action to take when the Administration breached our contract, and due to their failure to follow the terms and conditions of our negotiated Collective Bargaining Agreement, we did not receive a raise in FY’18? I believe not.
It is interesting to note that the administrator who received the $15,000 bonus is the very administrator who approved the 15 percent temporary increase in salary for one of his subordinates.
Tim and I expressed our concern about these bonuses at our meeting with the Senior Vice Presidents. We will pass on any response that we receive.
Our Court Case:
There has been no progress since I last provided you with an update regarding our on-going court case. We are still waiting for the Clerk of Court in the Montgomery County Circuit Court to provide the Maryland Court of Special Appeals with some information. Once that information is provided, the Court of Special Appeals will let our attorney know when his brief is due. Our attorney has tried to contact the Clerk of Court several times and has never heard back from her. I have given him the authority to personally go to the courthouse to visit the Clerk if that is what it takes.
How much do you earn?
For many years, all of the full-time faculty received a letter from HR with their stated annual base salary. The letter arrived at the beginning of the fall semester and included information about any raises that were incorporated into our annual salary. For some reason we stopped receiving this letter several years ago. I contacted the Payroll Office recently and asked how the faculty can learn of their actual salary. Below are the directions I received. If you are interested in learning how much you earn, your base salary, follow these directions:
Login to MyMC
- Click on the Workday Icon
- Click on the Cloud in the upper right corner
- Click on your name in the upper right corner
- Click on Compensation in the drop down on the left side of the screen
- Click on Total Rewards in the top of the page
Negotiations:
Negotiations are ongoing. We have met twice in sessions with the Administration and have three more meetings scheduled during this semester. Under discussion are salary, EAP, and bereavement leave. The Distance Learning Side Letter is being negotiated separately. We will update everyone as soon as we arrive at any tentative agreements.
Statement About Elections:
Several faculty members have asked me who the Chapter is supporting in the mid-term elections. A specific question was raised about the Circuit Court judges who are up for re-election. My answer is simple: we are not a political organization and we can’t make recommendations. I believe it is incumbent for each of you do your research, make an informed decision, and most importantly, vote.
Responses to this Update:
Generally, the Chapter receives several comments and/or questions after I send out an update. These comments and questions are forwarded to me for a response. Tomorrow I am heading out of the country for a week. I will not be returning to the office until Nov. 12.
I am letting all of you know this so that if you send a comment or question to this update to the Chapter’s website, you will not be surprised if you do not receive a response in a timely manner. Where am I heading? Peru for a one-week habitat-type build about two or three hours south of Lima.
If you need Chapter assistance while I am out of the office you should contact your campus Vice President or any other officer on the Executive Committee. The Chapter website, mcaaup.org has all of our names and contact information.
Harry Z.
Harry N. Zarin, Professor/Counselor
President-AAUP\Montgomery College
20200 Observation Dr. SA240B
Germantown, MD 20876
240-567-7767
240-567-1985 Fax
240-449-3452 VPN
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