Official Minutes of the

Executive Board/Central Committee

September, 2006

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Minutes Index

September 1, 2006
College Eye Room, Maucker Union
3:30-5:00

•  Call to order

•  Call to Order/Announcements [Thompson] The meeting was called to order at 3:30.  

•  Membership Update and Upcoming Events – [Quirk] Quirk reported that membership is holding steady and gave an overall total, the number of retirements and moves to other institutions, and the number of new members.  

•  Presentation and Approval of Minutes [Hawbaker, subbing for Canning] The minutes from the May meeting are posted on the website but are not available for approval today.  

•  Treasurer's Report [Isakson] Isakson distributed a Balance Sheet and Profits & Loss reports for both last fiscal year and the current fiscal year to date. Meredith asked if some of the savings could be put into a 60 or 90 day CD or money market account. Isakson replied that he would explore this possibility.  

•  Grievance Reports [ Funderburk] Funderburk reported that he has been involved in several cases but none has resulted in a formal grievance. Isakson pointed out that several new members joined after Funderburk helped them with an issue, and encouraged members to spread the word that UF can offer some assistance to faculty whether they are currently members or not. Zeman described issues she is aware of regarding non-tenured, temporary or term employees who are serving as voting faculty members in faculty organizations and her concern about statements she has heard about tenure (e.g., tenure described as the major obstacle to institutional improvement). Discussion veered into the issue of online university degrees (University of Phoenix). Meredith reported issues with instructors and course delivery through 2+2 programs.  

VI. Old Business:

•  Update of Collective Bargaining [Quirk and Kessler] Quirk reported that we have asked for interest-based bargaining, but so far the Board of Regents has not accepted this proposal. Power asked for clarification on how interest based bargaining differs from past practice. Quirk replied that the discussion is focused on problems and solutions and mutual discussions rather than a proposal/counter proposal, adversarial bargaining. There was further discussion regarding the role of UNI administration in the bargaining process, the issue of merit pay, the new attorney for the Board of Regents, and past negotiations.    

•  Results of UNI Faculty Survey Funderburk sent out the results of the faculty survey, and the top three items were briefly discussed.  

•  Request for Interest Based Bargaining (see A)  

•  Multimodal Parking Garage and Campus Conversation [Thompson] Thompson reported that President Allen has studied the plan for the multi-modal parking garage and has decided not to proceed with the plan as it is currently conceived, but will meet with the committee to discuss how or whether to pursue this concept further.  

•  Ongoing Meetings With Campus Faculty Leaders Last spring, groups of campus faculty leaders met as part of the presidential search and Funderburk has initiated a proposal for the group to continue to meet for ongoing communication on issues of mutual concern.  

•  Governmental Relations - [Meredith and Swan] see attachment Meredith reported that the proposal is based on a balance between being open to candidates, while still exercising some control over the process.   Meredith/Funderburk moved to approve the policy proposed by the Governmental Relations Committee regarding requests by candidates for public office. The motion passed with the two amendments below.   Campbell/Funderburk moved to amend the motion by deleting the sentence “This is most likely to occur when a candidate's positions are evidently at odds with the mission of the university or the mission of United Faculty.” The amendment passed.   Isakson/Cutter moved to amend the motion by inserting “or at a forum designated by the Central Committee” into the sentence “Accordingly, United Faculty will make every effort to respond positively to legitimate relevant candidates for public office who seek to address the United Faculty Central Committee and membership by providing opportunities for candidates to make brief (10 to 15 minute) presentations during scheduled Central Committee meetings [or at a forum designated by the Central Committee].” The amendment passed.   Meredith reported that the committee seeks clarification on its role, such as if our organization wishes to pursue endorsing candidates and/or if the committee should be proactive about seeking candidates' positions on relevant issues. Thompson reported that at the University of Colorado, the faculty union sent out questions on issues important to the University to each candidate and then sent out each candidate's response or non-response to the questions to the membership. After discussion, the committee will attempt to create a list of questions, distribute to candidates for state office, and will post responses on our website.   Given timeline constraints, it was agreed that an email conversation among the Central Committee members would suffice to invite candidates to address the faculty.  

VII. New Business –  

•  UNI Human Resource Advice to Faculty on Medical Benefits, a Thompson reported on issues members have had related to the contract and Human Resource policies.  

•  Repayment Obligations following departure from UNI [Thompson] Thompson discussed differences in some college requirements regarding repayment obligations following departure from UNI. Discussion focused on whether consistency is more important than flexibility and college-level control of the policy.  

•  Search for a New Director of UNI Human Resources [Thompson] The Director of HR is retiring and there was no UF representative on the search committee until late in the process when Thompson was invited to interviews. Isakson observed that there is no requirement for UF participation in the search for administrators. Thompson will participate in the interviews and will represent UF concerns.  

•  Clinical Faculty Proposal [Adkins] see attachment Adkins spoke in support of implementing Clinical Instructors at UNI as a way to access financial and job security for adjunct instructors . She reported that there are a number of adjunct instructors who are hired back year after year, and who contribute to the department in a number of important ways, yet remain temporary adjunct instructors. Isakson explained that UF's past opposition to Clinical Instructors designation was because the proposal stated that Clinical Instructors would be outside the bargaining unit and master agreement, and outside of the tenure process, which could result in Clinical Instructors losing insurance, benefits, and protections of the master agreement. Further discussion focused on term appointments, exploitation of adjuncts, “implied tenure,” and who determines whether a position is adjunct, temporary, term, or tenure-track. Members recommended that Adkins seek a term appointment from her department head.  

VIII. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.  

Respectfully submitted, Becky Hawbaker (subbing for Christine Canning)