Better late than never, the University has finally posted the online ballot for adjunct representatives on the University Senate and on the College Councils. Please take a few minutes to vote by following this link:
http://www.roosevelt.edu/adjunct/elections.htm
Elections close on Friday, June 2.
The deadline for RAFO members to return their ballots (sent through U.S. mail) on the proposed dues increase is May 5 (Friday). Don’t delay if you haven’t sent yours in yet.
By now, online elections for adjuncts to serve on the University Senate and College Councils should have already been opened (hence the delay in sending out this reminder). However, as of May 3, the nomination form is still open on RU’s website (http://www.roosevelt.edu/adjunct/rafoNominations.htm). So, until the University closes nominations and opens the election itself, it’s still possible to nominate yourself or someone else. Stay tuned for an email urging you to vote when the elections are open.
Also at the meeting, Elizabeth Marino and Jim Berger were chosen to be our delegates for the NEA Representative Assembly in Orlando. Several issues were also discussed at length, including student recruitment and retention (especially at Robin), course assignment and the declining number of sections, and the status of the academic freedom grievance.
There are monthly meetings during the school year for each position, as well as likely committee work. For those who provide reports on the meetings to RAFO’s executive committee, RAFO has paid a stipend out of the “union business leave” negotiated in the contract. If you want more information on what is expected of candidates, contact Beverly Stewart at prez@rafo.org. More information is also available on the nomination form itself: http://www.roosevelt.edu/adjunct/rafoNominations.htm
Here’s the general blurb he’s sent out (note the RSVP date of April 14):
Friday, April 21, 2006 from 9:45 am until 2:15 pm
Auditorium Building, Congress Lounge
We are pleased to invite all full-time and part-time faculty members, administrators, and staff to the Third Roosevelt University Mini-Conference on Teaching. The Mini-Conference will feature interactive workshops, teaching roundtable discussions, and a showcase of on-line learning and library resources to enhance teaching at the university. RUMCOT is an excellent opportunity to discuss and learn about innovations in teaching with your colleagues. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.
Please RSVP by Friday, April 14 to smeyers@roosevelt.edu if you would like to attend.
Here's the agenda:
Refreshments will be served!
Our IEA Region 37 colleagues at the New Trier Education Association have invited Reg Weaver to visit the New Trier-Northfield campus on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 11. If you have a chance to go, you're in for a dynamic event. For more information, download the flyer.
We and our allies also communicated our concerns through the vehicle of the National Council for Higher Education (the higher education caucus within the NEA). Beverly Stewart was elected to serve on the executive committee of that organization, where she has promised to be an advocate for adjunct issues. By the way, she follows in the footsteps of Barbara Dayton, longtime activist at Oakton Community College, who is retiring from the executive committee.
Besides promoting our concerns, delegates learned a lot about serious challenges facing higher education, particularly attacks on academic freedom by right-wing activists such as David Horowitz. In the sheep’s’ clothing of so-called "Academic Bills of Rights," he and his supporters have been introducing state and federal legislation to mandate "balance" in classroom discussions and curriculum. Parallel to attacks on academic freedom, according to speaker Robert McChesney (from the University of Illinois), are ongoing attacks on press freedom. Both undermine the critical role of access to information and debate in maintaining democracy.
On the latter front, we had one major success and a smaller failure. The major topic of the meeting was approving the budget for the I.E.A. This has been complicated in recent years by a several million dollar shortfall in funding the pensions of I.E.A. staff (e.g. UniServ directors and organizers), much of it brought on by the stock market downturn from a couple years ago. The assembly approved an increase in dues from the current $374 to $377 per year (we pay one-quarter of that, spread over two semesters). This amount is intended to bring the IEA closer to its legal obligations in funding the pensions, as well as to begin building up the contingency fund again. More relevant to us, the budget also includes restoration of one of the organizer positions that had gone unfilled with a recent resignation. The Higher Education Council strongly supported that, since most recent gains in IEA membership have come from organizing higher education faculty, especially adjuncts.
This was the success. The failure was not getting enough votes to have the IEA begin studying the process of establishing a higher education "region." Such a region could group locals such as us and adjuncts at Columbia, City Colleges and elsewhere into a single grouping with a dedicated UniServ director. Higher education locals are currently assigned to regions composed primarily of K-12 locals. For example, we are in region 37, which operates out of the Skokie office and includes us, Oakton Community College, and K12 teachers from New Trier. P-FAC at Columbia is in Region 58, which operates out the Lombard office.
Christine Pfeiffer of P-FAC at Columbia College prepared an extensive report on health insurance options (and challenges) for the contract bargaining team at Columbia in December 2005. Although this was geared to helping Columbia adjuncts negotiate some kind of health coverage there, the review of options is thorough, clearly written, and extremely helpful in framing the issues. It's available for download here. Christine and others from Chicago COCAL will be bringing it to discussions at the upcoming AFT/NEA Higher Education Conference in Orlando in March 2006.
Get your copy of the report (PDF)
One of Christine's major conclusions is that trying to get employer-linked health coverage will continue to be very difficult (and not just for adjuncts), so we should focus on single-payer plans. One possible avenue is trying to shape the Illinois plan mandated by the Health Care Justice Act. For more information on this, consult the Campaign for Better Health Care website (they were one of the main advocates of this law).
RAFO is entitled to send two delegates to the National Education Association's Representative Assembly this summer in Orlando, Florida. This gathering of over 9,000 delegates is the governing meeting for the entire organization. RAFO has been sending delegates for several years and expenses are paid by our IEA region. We're always trying to get new people involved and this is a big opportunity (and a big commitment). The meeting will be held from June 30 to July 5. For more information, follow this link: http://www.nea.org/annualmeeting/index.html.
To nominate someone (including yourself), click on the button below. The election of delegates will be held at the spring semester RAFO meeting (see below) on Saturday, April 8.
Reclaiming the Ivory Tower: Organizing Adjuncts to Change Higher Education by Joe Berry, is just out (2005) from Monthly Review Press and North American Alliance for Fair Employment. Look at http://www.reclaimingtheivorytower.org for full information, bulk ordering discounts, to join a group blog/discussion, or to invite Joe to speak at an event.
Joe will also be making two appearances in the Chicago area in January to read from and discuss his book:
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.F.D.R., March 1, 1945