Update on union recent activities

Since presenting the faculty’s concerns to the Board of Trustees two weeks ago, the AAUP has continued to work to ensure that the administration better understands the issues we voiced there. While we have on several occasions further explained these concerns, recent communications leave me troubled and anticipating that a lot of work remains to convince the senior administration of the legitimacy of these concerns and the need to remedy them.

Some of the recent conversations include:
> A couple of days following the comments to the Board, several members of the Chapter executive committee met with Dr. Pollard and her academic leadership team. Discussion there centered on breakdowns in communication and the lack of appropriate faculty involvement in decision making.

> Last Monday, the AAUP-administration collaboration committee met. One of the tasks this group has been working on this semester is clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the full-time faculty.

> On Monday was also held a regularly scheduled meeting of the presidents of the three employee unions with Dr. Pollard. Discussion there included the impact of turnover of administrators and how it affects the formal and informal lines of communication at the College.

> On Tuesday, representatives of the AAUP and the administration met to discuss the difference in perceptions held by the faculty and the administration on the size of the administration relative to the overall size of the institution.
During this time as well, the faculty members of the academic restructuring committee continued to work with the resource members from the AAUP to develop proposals that incorporate the feedback that they have heard and that can be incorporated into the work of the restructuring committee.

Finally, in the midst of all of this, the night after the speech to the Board I testified at the County Council in support of the College’s budget request. While this is not directly related to the other recent discussions and meetings, I mention it here as another example of the faculty standing up for the good of the College and of the union touting the excellence of our faculty. That testimony is available on the Chapter website.