UFF-USF

If the governor approves a 5% undergraduate-tuition hike as part of the state’s budget reconciliation process, that will help the state’s higher-education picture in some small measure. For a variety of reasons, this cannot be the primary base of funding support at USF:

1. Currently, tuition is a fraction of the total costs of undergraduate education. A 10% tuition hike gives USF less than a 3% increase in related revenues. (The differential tuition bill signed by the governor in the spring will matter more, simply because of the significant differential approved.)
2. USF’s enrollment profile has been shifting away from undergraduate enrollment and towards graduate enrollment. Raising undergraduate tuition matters the least for institutions with a high proportion of graduate students.

The reality is that higher education funding must be diversified. Higher tuition is part of the picture (with considerable attention to financial aid and addressing student debt), but tuition cannot be the entire picture.

The faculty senate has postponed a discussion of a working paper on the role of community engagement in tenure and promotion. The Collective Bargaining Agreement has provisions for addressing changes in tenure and promotion guidelines, especially sensitivity towards changes in the middle of tenure-track years.

The FEA government relations staff are estimating that the mid-year cuts approved by the legislature amount to approximately 2.5% of general revenues. The cut to the base was 3.6%, but nonrecurring funds were added back.

These cuts are not good, but they are better than the governor’s early-September proposal of 6.2% cuts to higher-education  general revenues.

Chapter meeting, 11:45 a.m., EDU 413 (please note time change to accommodate consultation with administration at 1 pm). Tentative agenda:

1. Agenda amendment/approval
2. Announcements
3. Grievance procedure (see draft below)
4. Reports
5. For the good of the order

Every semester, the chapter has the right to two consultations with the administration over matters that are not subjects of collective bargaining (i.e., issues that can be discussed outside collective bargaining sessions). Below are the topics that the chapter has identified thus far to be discussed at one of the two fall sessions (the first one is this Friday, October 19):

• Faculty turnover
• The new ORP => FRS law (Chapter 2007-092)
• Domestic-abuse leave (F.S. 741.313)
• Calendar for administrators on CBA obligations
• Mentoring programs for faculty
• New-hire welcome
• Annual-review procedures update
• GEMS supplementation
• H1B/Permanent residency status
• Environmental controls and employees (i.e., what happens as we save energy)
• Appointment continuity and insurance

The following procedures will be presented as a motion at the chapter meeting this Friday (October 19). If you cannot make the meeting please e-mail Sherman with comments.

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The next collective bargaining session is October 12, 3-5 pm, in SVC 2070. This is for the purposes of impact bargaining in response to the university’s raising class sizes. (Impact bargaining is when a union and management bargain over the impact of a managerial decision that is within managerial rights.)

At its fall meeting over the weekend, the United Faculty of Florida statewide Senate approved a position that the next state budget should include a raise to the base for all state and university employees. This year, the state legislature provided for a $1000 bonus to state and university employees, and each chapter in the state will be negotiating for more; the United Faculty of Florida will be arguing that given the high turnover among faculty in Florida, university employees need a raise to the salary base.

Longtime higher-education union organizer Israel Kugler died October 1 in Maryland from pneumonia. More information is available from the New York Times obituary.

In its fall meeting over the weekend, the United Faculty of Florida statewide Senate reaffirmed its position that public support for higher education should be in the top quartile when compared to other states in the country.  If one includes state and local public revenues in 2003-04 (the latest year for which national data is available), Florida was currently 36th (out of 51) in public support per fall student. If one also includes tuition, Florida was 50th (out of 51st).