FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING
Call to Order: F. van Hartesveldt called the meeting to
order at
Present: Nickie Alexander, Rick Barnhart, Jennifer
Batten, C. Lee Brown, Marie Burns, Lyttron Burris, Mike Campo, Jim Chesla, Frank
Conner, Anita Cook, Larry Crossman, Katie Danko, Mike DeVivo (for Carolyn
Grin), Beth Foster, Dick Godfrey, Dan Hearn, Brian Keelean, Amy Kerkstra, Robert
Long, Bernie Manker, Bob Monaldo, Brian Morris, Jeff Neumann, Kathleen Owens, Wayne
Rodgers, Jonathon Russell, Mark Saur, Jeff Spoelman, Joel Swets, Fred van
Hartesveldt, Doug Wabeke, George Zeeff
Absent: Jim Hayes, Stacey Heisler,
Visitors: John Cowles, Fred Garbowitz
Agenda: Today’s agenda was approved with the
addition of the New Super Senate to Discussion and Action Items.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the September 9, 2005, Faculty Council meeting were approved with one correction to the President’s Report—Regina Doubblestein in the list of retirees should be Carol Doubblestein.
Faculty Presentations from the Floor. F. van Hartesveldt made the following announcements:
§ Mike Kiss (Workbased Learning) had surgery—quadruple bypass.
§
Carol Manciu (Arts and Science)—grandson has
rare and fatal metabolic disorder. A
benefit to offset expenses of travel to
§
A tribute gathering to Eleanor Scheifele (Visual
Arts) is October 7,
§ Jim Hayes (English) and wife had complicated premature childbirth September 9.
§ GRCC Hurricane Relief fundraiser is scheduled for October 8. An e-mail will be sent to faculty from the Association requesting their support by making in-class announcements.
§ Lyttron Burrris (English) lost her mother during Hurricane Katrina, and the family has incurred thousands dollars in uninsured expenses. Faculty in the English department are seeking contributions to offset the family’s expenses. Contact Kim Wyngarden, English.
Secretary’s Report. C. L. Brown read thank-you notes received from the Don Edwards (former Wellness adjunct) family and St. John’s Home for a contribution to St. John’s in Don’s memory.
Grievance Report. F. Garbowitz gave the following grievance updates:
§ Grievance 151—Extra hours worked Summer 2004. Resolved. Faculty must look at FIF and schedule and remember that anything over 800 minutes per credit/contact hour should be considered break time.
§ Grievance 152—Sick days and service years discrepancy. Resolved in favor of grievant.
§ Grievance 156—Adjunct advanced training pay. This grievance is at the appeal stage. The administration’s and the Association’s lawyers will pick a neutral third party to decide the issue.
§ Grievance 157—Adjunct hired for Summer 2005 class, but later fired. Association claims the signed FIF was a contract, which administration denies. Grievance is at the appeal level.
§ Grievance 158—Partial tuition reimbursement for graduate class. Kathy McKimmy has said verbally that the full tuition will be reimbursed.
§ Grievances 159 and 161—Unsuitable working conditions and theft of personal property during office refurbishing project. Both resolved in Association’s favor.
§ Grievance 160—Denial of overload for exceeding overload cap in previous year. At Level 2.
§ Pending— Faculty seek overload compensation for telecourse classes in which enrollments exceed or exceeded the cap. At Level 1.
F. van Hartesveldt and K. Danko are updating a written Association grievance history.
President’s Report. F. van Hartesveldt’s report covered the
following items:
§
Retirees. GRCC retirees are becoming more active. M. Saur will serve as liaison between the
Association and the retirees. A Retirees’ Quarterly of writing by
retirees has been published. M. Saur
commented on the group’s plan for assisting the Foundation’s $10 million
campaign.
§
Handbook
for Adjunct Faculty. A. Cook and
others are compiling a handbook of frequently asked questions for adjunct and
full-time faculty on the Association Web site.
§ Personal Business Day Requests Reminder. Applications for personal days should NOT include a reason for the request, unless it’s simply “Personal Business—Not Medical.”
§ Office Hours. The Association has concerns about faculty contract violations of office hours. Faculty are expected to post and adhere to specific office hours.
§ Class List Revisions. Last year faculty expressed concern about names disappearing unexpectedly from the official class lists. In response to the Association’s inquiry, the Registrar’s Office agreed to notify instructors when names are removed from class lists. This year the Association has reminded the Registrar’s Office that the notice is an agreement, not just a courtesy.
§ Over/Under Payment. Faculty are reminded to review very carefully their pay advices for accuracy.
§ Board of Trustees. Following the Board’s Monday meeting, the Grand. Rapids Press ran an article on the Board’s discussions of The Collegiate, to the surprise of involved faculty. The Collegiate issues were felt to be internal issues that should have remained at the internal level.
§ GRCC Foundation. President Olivarez is spending more time fundraising for the Foundation’s $10 million campaign, e.g. attending luncheons and other gatherings with potential donors.
§ Faculty Response to Welcome and Start-Times Mailings. An adjunct faculty member replied to F. van Hartesveldt’s Welcome message with a thank-you for raising adjunct concerns, but also indicated that adjunct suggestions to the Association carried little weight.
§ Class start and end times. The e-mail F. van Hartesveldt sent to membership generated a dozen responses, one of which voiced concerns about class times. However, one Council rep requested clarification of contact hours versus credit hours. F. van Hartesveldt noted that the topic apparently still needs discussion and suggested that faculty submit concerns to the Extended Schedule Sub-Committee.
§
Faculty
Credentials Audit. Nine faculty in
§
Release
Time. F. van Hartesveldt proposed
release time for the Association president comparable to release time provided
to other faculty for various activities.
The president’s aid to the administration in administrating the contract
and help in personnel concerns and labor relations justifies release time. Under the contract, one-half release time for
the president would cost the Association about $10,000, the cost of
substitutes.
MOTION: In
order for F. van Hartesveldt to be able
to fulfill his duties completely for faculty and administration, the Council
encourages him to exercise Article 9E (of the Agreement Between the Board of Trustees of the GRCC and the Faculty
Association of the GRCC 2004-2007).
B. Manker; support, J. Swets.
Carried.
Discussion and Action
Items:
§ Health Care Legislation. Senate Bills 55 and 56 which call to eliminate local bargaining of health care benefits and create a state-wide pool to provide health plans have been declared dead by the Senate Appropriations Committee chair. MEA has spearheaded a state-wide petition drive for 500,000 signatures to get Senate Bill 246 on the ballot. Nominating petitions (due October 1) and related literature were distributed to those interested in obtaining signatures. If the bill passes the Legislature or is approved by voters, it will:
· Provide annual education funding increases equal to inflation for K-12 schools, community colleges and universities
· Reduce the per-pupil gap between the lowest-spending and highest-spending districts from $1300 to $1000 between 2007 and 20012
· Cap retirement costs for districts at the current 14.87 percent of payroll
· Fund school districts with declining enrollment based on the student enrollment average of the three prior fiscal years.
§
Retirement
Coordinating Council. RCC meetings
are scheduled monthly, October through June.
The next meeting is October 17 in
§ Committee Memberships. N. Alexander is head of the Ethics Committee. F. van Hartesveldt indicated that the Academic Senate has asked the Association to deal with ethics issues. The existing Faculty Association structure requires each department to appoint one member to the Ethics Committee. Any faculty appointed to serve as representative to the Ethics Committee should contact N. Alexander.
Next
Meeting.
Adjournment. Motion to adjourn, J. Spoelman; second, B.
Morris. The meeting was adjourned at
Submitted by C. Lee Brown, Secretary