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Information For Faculty
APSCUF-KU Newsletter
Message from Mike Gambone
Colleagues,
This is an update on the Commonalities issue at Kutztown University.
In November 2005, local management received a draft of the Commonalities document that would govern the academic portion of SAP. It did not release the document to the faculty until October 2006, almost a year
later.
APSCUF-KU and the University Senate convened an ad hoc committee to examine the Commonalities proposals and discovered, after reviewing the document, that it would unilaterally revoke years of standing academic
policy that had been achieved through an established governance process. The Commonalities document will also have significant implications for faculty evaluations, work, curriculum, and a host of other
contractual issues. Portions of the document, for example, place local curricular decisions directly in the hands of the Chancellor’s office.
The ad hoc committee discussed these problems with Dr. James Moran, an Associate Vice Chancellor from PASSHE, in November 2006. At the time, Dr. Moran said that he saw no substantial problems in creating software
patches so that SAP/Commonalities could fit local policy. Dr. Moran also made it clear that changes would have to be agreed upon no later than 1 March 2007. APSCUF-KU pointed out that this was an extremely short
timeline given the complexity of the issues at hand. In public meetings with the faculty, president Cevallos indicated that he would consider funding alterations to SAP so that it would comply with local policy.
In January 2007, APSCUF-KU submitted a detailed explanation of our objections to the Commonalities document and included remedies for identified problems. We offered these remedies and prepared to discuss them
with management in good faith. That document is attached.
On 27 February, two days before the deadline, during my normal monthly meeting with Dr. Cevallos. I received the administration’s response to our concerns and our proposal regarding Commonalities.
Simply put: Nothing.
The administration is going to use the unmodified commonalities document. Local academic policy will not be considered. The ostensible reason is that Kutztown University cannot afford to pay for customized
software.
Right now, we have a choice. We can resign ourselves to the fact that PASSHE is pursuing centralization, that it has greater resources and resolve, that it is unstoppable, and that we can do absolutely nothing to
alter its course. We can choose to hunker down and hope for the best.
Or, we can fight.
Because we know this is wrong. Because we know that Kutztown is only one of the first universities in the state system to have this happen. Because what we do now will affect thousands of our colleagues and tens
of thousands of our students statewide.
APSCUF-KU is going to fight. We are preparing a twenty-two part policy grievance that will have implications for this campus and the state system as a whole.
Governance is a key component of the current contract negotiations. I want you all to understand that it is not something that exists in the abstract. Centralization, the deliberate destruction of local
governance, faculty autonomy, and good faith bargaining, is here. What is happening here will happen to you.
Time to make a pledge to the Solidarity Fund and prepare your finances.
Time to commit to the picket line.
Time to get ready.
Mike Gambone
Associate Professor of History
APSCUF-KU
Click here to view APSCUF-KU's Response and Suggested Remedies
General Membership Meeting
Click here to access a synopsis of the January 25, 2007 General Membership meeting (PDF)
State System School Faculties Fear Erosion of Quality
From The Morning Call
November 30, 2006 ''Our union now appears to be the sole protector of the quality of education at the universities.''
The union representing the faculties of the 14 state-system institutions of higher learning has again entered into contract negotiations with the managers of the system in Harrisburg. Our members are the primary
contacts for the more than 100,000 students who attend these universities, and our goal for this negotiation is to reach a reasonable settlement by the time our current contract expires on June 30.
While contract negotiations are always economic in nature, people should be aware that the union, the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, has significant concerns that they share,
even if they don't know anyone who attends one of our schools. Our concerns are the public's concerns because they encounter graduates of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education universities daily in
most, if not all, professions in the Lehigh Valley. Their children are taught by our graduates. Their parents are cared for by our graduates. And you encounter them on a daily basis.
The previous several negotiations between our union and the state system managers dragged on far beyond the expiration date of our contract, and were in the news due to impasses and other difficulties that we
believe were avoidable. Our universities are too important to our communities for contract negotiations to become a source of acrimony between faculty and the system managers, both locally and in Harrisburg.
Regrettably, management has used the past several negotiations to put forth what we believe are shortsighted proposals, several of which go to the heart of the foremost concern we all share, the quality of the
product offered at our institutions — the quality of the education our students receive.
Two of these troubling trends are efforts to increase class sizes and to increase the percentage of faculty that are part-time or on short-term contracts. More part-time faculty means that the percentage of
faculty who have long-term commitments to the universities is reduced. Although many of our temporary faculty members are excellent teachers, they cannot afford to give too much of themselves to the universities,
which exploit them to cut costs and then throw them away.
The primary characteristic that attracts many faculty to work at Kutztown, one of the state system schools, is the personalized approach to education that exists in these institutions. This manifests itself by
adherence to two basic principles:
Professors with a long-term commitment to the university teach classes, not graduate students.
Class sizes are small enough for students to receive the personal attention of faculty.
Both of these important principles are jeopardized by recent events. At Kutztown, a new classroom building will open in January with several classrooms, none of which has a capacity of less than 85 students, and
several of which have capacity of at least 175 students. At the same time, the system is proposing an increase in the percentage of faculty that may be temporary or part-time.
It is regrettable that our union now appears to be the sole protector of the quality of education at the universities. The state's financial contribution has progressively decreased, tuition has steadily risen,
and less and less of the system's budget has been used to enhance the quality of education. There has been a decade-long trend of the schools' management trying to force through shortsighted proposals that would
cut costs at the expense of educational quality, while the schools' administration itself grows. This unwise approach threatens the core principles that make our universities so valuable to the region.
Our union believes that the proposals go against the mission of our universities. A stable faculty, comprised of good teachers, is more likely when the climate at the institution is conducive to attracting and
keeping the best teachers. Regrettably, management's proposals, and the reality of large classroom buildings, work against this goal.
Naturally, we would like to have the public on our side in these contract negotiations. But we ask only that people join us in promoting the best possible education for students. Small class sizes and the best
possible faculty are not a luxury; they are necessary for our universities to continue to provide a high quality education at a reasonable price.
Daniel S. Spiegel, Ph.D., is assistant professor of computer science and William Towne is a professor of biological sciences, both at Kutztown University.
Click here to view a PDF of the article in its original format
Senate-APSCUF Ad Hoc Commonalties Report
Final Report
(11/14/2006) Commonalities Document (10/25/2006) Dear Faculty and Staff at Kutztown
University, The following is an initial response to Provost Vargas-Arbuto's email that was sent to faculty on 10/16/06. Mike
Gambone, as APSCUF President, and I, as University Senate President, have been discussing the Commonality Document since this email was sent. Since Mike and I represent two of the three parts of our Tripartite
Shared Governance System at KU, we were concerned that Kutztown University policies and procedures were going to be dictated to us by the State System. This Commonality Document would mean that the policies and
procedures established at Kutztown University through our shared governance system and Meet and Discuss would be brushed aside for the convenience of the programmers at SyTEC who are writing the software for
academic recording keeping for the 14 the PASSHE universities. We were always told that the 14 universities in the State System would be allowed to retain their
individual identities. The adoption of this Commonalities Agreement flies to the face of these earlier assurances about the implementation of SAP software! It also says that our shared governance system at KU is
a sham. Yes, we can play at passing academic policies through the University Senate and establishing local agreements through APSCUF Meet and Discuss, but they may all be swept away by the Chancellor's Office or
the Board of Governors when it is more convenient to replace them with something else without any meaningful consultation whatsoever with the faculty. If this
Commonality Document was created by the SyTEC folks in November 2005, why are we just hearing about it now one year later? Does anyone beside me find that SyTEC is
eerily similar to the goals of SkyNet from the Terminator movies? Why haven't the governance bodies at Kutztown University been consulted?
After a year has passed, why do we have a short eleven-day deadline? Why are we not examining the entire Commonality Document?
What To Do? Form a Kutztown University Senate-APSCUF Ad Hoc Committee on the Commonality Document
Originating Authority: Kutztown University Senate Constitution, Article I and Article II, Section E, 5. Membership: The Ad Hoc Commonalities Committee will consist of
six members. Three from the University Senate. Three be from APSCUF-KU. Charge: The Ad Hoc Committee on the Commonality Document will:
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Review the entire PASSHE Commonality Document
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Assess the impact of the Commonality Document on curriculum and academic affairs at Kutztown University
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Determine if the Commonality Document is in compliance with Article 31 F of the Collective Bargaining Agreement
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Report these findings to the University Senate, APSCUF-KU, and Provost Vargas-Arbuto
What Should Everyone Do? ASAP please send copies of all comments about the Commonality Document to Karen Epting in the APSCUF
Office: apscufku@kutztown.edu Please use the phrase "Commonality Document" in the subject line of all such emails.
Thanks, Bill & Mike William E. Bateman, President, University Senate
Michael D. Gambone, President, APSCUF-KU
KU Guidelines
Legislative Assembly Update
Collective Bargaining Agreement
Health and Welfare The PA Faculty Health and Welfare Fund’s online
survey is now underway (March 1 to March 31, 2007). Please take a few minutes to complete the survey. Click here for the Faculty Member Survey.
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