In This Issue:

Classification Study

The Interim Report Is In!

by Cathy Boudreau

It was during the week of March 22 that the MCCC expected to receive the "interim" faculty classification study report. On April 13, 1999, the Board of Higher Education received the interim report. The MCCC should receive this report within a few days for review and discussion. Since it is not a final report, all information will be embargoed until the final report is issued. According to the BHE, the professional staff report should be received within a few weeks.

Once the interim reports for faculty and professional staff are reviewed, the MCCC Classification Team will meet with the BHE to make recommendations for change, if necessary. Within a few weeks after that, a final report will be issued. Once the final report has been received and the information disseminated to MCCC members, the Classification Team will engage in impact bargaining over the recommendations for implementation of the report.

One activity -- political action -- is well under way at some campuses. Over the next few weeks, each campus should meet with as many of their representatives and senators as possible. The first step in the legislative process is to educate the legislators about the classification study. There is no reason for them to be aware of the study except through our meetings. When a bill is eventually prepared for submission--either by the BHE or by a legislator on our behalf-we will need to reconnect with the legislators to get our funding bill through the legislature. The No. Essex campus has been doing excellent work with their legislators. All campuses need to escalate their legislative meetings.

The next few months will be a critical time for all of us. The most important element to bear in mind is that we stay united in this effort. Everyone's frustration level is understandably high, and we do not want the BHE to take advantage of that frustration or have it divide us by it interfering with our goal-getting our classification study completed and funded.

Remember, this classification study was imposed on us during the last contract negotiations; therefore, we do not have to feel as if anyone is doing us a favor. We were told we had to do a classification study. But, the Team was also told orally and in writing that the BHE would submit an appropriation to fully fund the results of the classification study, and the MCCC also secured letters from legislators and former A&F secretary affirming their support for this funding.

Delegate Assembly Reminder

By now local campus organizers should have an estimate of the size of their campus' delegation to the MCCC Annual Meeting. The MCCC Annual Delegate Assembly is Saturday, May 1, 1999. The meeting will be held in the Opera Room at the Ramada Inn, Auburn. Directions to the Ramada and a map may be found on the MCCC Web page. (http//:www.tiac.net/users/ mccc). Registration will be held from 9-10:00 a.m. (see elsewhere in this newsletter for compiled delegate target and entitlement figures).

A continental breakfast of coffee, tea, bagels, danish and muffins will be served at 8:30 a.m. The luncheon menu will feature baked stuffed chicken, with oven roasted red bliss potatoes, tossed green salad, and a dessert of hot apple dumpling and ice cream.

The annual delegate assembly is a great opportunity to refresh old friendships and contacts statewide for veterans, and a quick study in the organization for newer members.

MCCC Reps for MTA Policy Workshops

On Friday March 25 and Saturday the 27^th, the MTA's Campus Campaign for Access and Excellence convened "working groups" at the Radisson Inn, Marlboro to prepare a draft document laying out its higher education components' positions on nine critical issues currently affecting our members. The drafts will I be polished, collated and presented for finalization at the MTA Annual Meeting in Boston in May.

Each working group was comprised of five to eight members representing a cross section of higher education unions in Massachusetts. Besides the MCCC, UMass' Faculty Senate Unions (FSU), the Massachusetts State College Association (MSCA) and USA and MSP Amherst fielded representatives for the marathon weekend effort. The MCCC was well represented by articulate and thoughtful personalities in each working group.

MCCC representation on groups was distributed as follows...

1. Tenure- Cathy Boudreau. 11. Admission Standards/ Exit Exams Sherry Sausville, Diane Yohe. 111. Privatization Marguerite Rosenthal Steve Sullivan. IV. New Teacher Testing Saul Greenblatt. V. Elimination Comprehensive Missions/ Abolishing Majors, Rick Lizotte, Joe Murphy. VI. Shared Governance Susan Dole. VII. Distance Learning Chris Hoeth, Sarah Hovsepian, Paulette Howarth, Tom Parsons. VIII. Part-Time Faculty Geri Curley, Regina Tree Fox. IX. Long Range Planning Committee Abe Sherf

L-R Paulette Howarth, Bristol Community College: Chris Hoathe, Bristol Community College; Andy Linebaugh, Director & Communications, MTA; Robert Paynter U.Mass/Amherst; Jenny Spencer, President, UMASS Amherst; Diana Yoke, Bristol Community College,- Joe Murphy, Bristol Community College. See "MCCC Reps for MTA Policy Workshops" page 3.

Contingent Academics Congress

The 3rd National Congress of COCAL, the Coalition of Contingent Academic labor will be held at UMass, Boston on Saturday, April 17, 1999 from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M at the third floor of the Wheatley Building. ^*1 The registration fee is $10, waived for hardship.

The congress will feature reports on struggles to improve pay, benefits and working conditions for contingent academic laborers. Opportunities to participate in workshops on union organizing, legislative strategies, creating alliances with full time faculty, state and municipal campaigns and the corporatization of higher education will be provided participants. Attendees are invited to attend a roundtable with activists from seven faculty and graduate employee unions: AAUP, AFT, HERE, IWW, NEA, UAW, and UE.

Congress sponsors include the AAUP, CUNY Adjuncts Unite, Industrial Workers of the World, NEA, and the UMass Boston Part-Time Faculty Committee.

Joseph Rizzo, MCCC Grievance Coordinator for Continuing Education, will be a presenter. Contact Joe at m3cdce@msn.com

¹ For further information contact Gary Zabel at gzabel@mediaone.net net or 617-28 7-6530. Directions and info available on the COCAL website at http://omaga.cc.umb.edu/~cocal/

Letter from MCCC President to the Chancellor

The following is the text of a March 25,1999 letter from MCCC President Sue Dole letter to BHE Chancellor Stanley Koplik regarding the BHE's commitment to Classification.

We are finally nearing the end of the classification study according to Peter Tsaffaras, but could be well into May before we sit down to discuss and impact bargain over the final report. This means that we are also approaching the end of this fiscal year, and it is hard to foresee a supplemental funding bill being filed before the next fiscal year.

This delay and process is disquieting, to say the least. I have serious concerns, and need to ask you to respond to some specific questions relative to this matter.

First, what is the Board of Higher Education's plan to have the bargained results of the study funded? I know you have talked about filing a supplemental funding bill. Have you any conversations with legislative leaders regarding the process that such a bill would follow, and the likelihood of passage? If we have not completed bargaining before June 30, 1999, what is the plan to have the results processed? Have you given any further thought to a strategy to ensure funding of the retroactive salary increases? Unfortunately, the delay in this whole process has increased the concern among unit members, and of course myself, on this issue.

Thank you for providing as much specificity as possible to these questions. The MCCC Executive Committee meets on April 2, 1999. We will use your response as a basis to evaluate where we are and to strategize where we need to be by June 30, 1999.

I believe that we both have a vested interest in moving this study to closure, including funding, as soon as possible. I know that you agree that the members of the MCCC deserve to have an equitable salary system. If we do not start planning to push the funding process now, we may have to wait another year. To say that would have a negative impact would be an understatement. The members of the MCCC have been more than patient. Additionally, it will be difficult to approach the next round of bargaining with a cooperative attitude when we do not have closure on the classification.

Respectfully,
Susan T. Dole

Classification Download

A downloadable PDF formatted slide presentation on classification featuring charts and graphs is now available on the MCCC Web page (http://www.tiac.net/users/mccc/) courtesy of MCCC VP Phil Mahler. Phil used the presentation prepared by Joe LeBlanc and Arthur Barlas at NECC and inserted some comparison data augmenting the already strong line of argument. The new presentation features charts demonstrating cost of living adjusted for inflation, and a bar graph salary comparison with other industrialized states.

The PDF download technique is conveniently included. This enables a printout of the pages, which can then be easily converted to thermafax or copying machine slides.

Charter College Lessons

editorial by Peter Flynn

Most higher education faculty received the mid-March Herald headline announcing Governor Cellucci attached a rider to his budget to establish charter colleges with amusement or perplexed disdain. What more choice could public charter colleges offer in a state already boasting the widest competition of higher education opportunities?

Mass. Maritime and Framingham State College are targeted for conversion to charter colleges. An act of the legislature could suspend collective bargaining rights of those institutions' employees, as occurred recently in Ohio.

A pivotal argument for K- 12 charters was competition leading to innovation. James Peyser, to replace John Silber as chair of the Board of Education, has stated charter schools did 'Just as well as the children in districts from which their students were drawn". Lackluster MCAS performance of charters has not dulled administration enthusiasm for raising the cap.

While the administration strives to raise the bar for public school teacher certification, K-12 charters are permitted, ironically, to use uncertified teachers. Their smaller classes, motivated students culled from supportive families, low percent of special needs enrollees, and higher per pupil costs combine to create an unleveled playing field in the MCAS competition.

The same impulse to elitism emerges in the new honors college at UMass, Amherst. New dorms, physical separated from the UMass masses, are deemed necessary to attract "Alphas".

The "libertarian" education agenda of the Weld Cellucci era advances unabated, incrementally, but inexorably. Successful manipulation of public opinion has cleared the path for innovation, though empirical support for initiatives in place has not materialized.

The charter college proposal has three lessons for us. First, this disingenuous proposal seems more about union busting than educational innovation. Second, public education professionals in K- 12, and elements of higher education, have common interest and must resist divide-and-conquer maneuvers. Third, the administration's program for education is manifestly reactionary, emphasizing top down management and hostile to traditional collegial governance.

Distance Ed Dissected at Teaching and Learning Conference

The Third Annual Conference on Teaching and Learning will be held at Middlesex Community College's Lowell campus, on Friday, April 23, 1999 from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. This year's conference is titled "Teaching for Learning: Exploration, Reflection, and Innovation". Dr. Carol Bader, Director of Developmental Studies, Middle Tennessee State University, will deliver the keynote address "Teaching Right-Brained Learners in a Left-Brained World".

The program includes topics exploring innovative approaches and successful strategies in related to serving non-traditional learners, challenging the bright, motivated, prepared student, technology (i.e., classroom, distance learning, support services), classroom practices including, assessment, collaborations, learning communities, interdisciplinary courses and community based learning and professional development initiatives. Of interest to many MCCC members will be a presentation titled "Ensuring Quality in Distance Education Negotiations." Panelists will be Maureen O'Neill (North Shore), Louise DeSantis-Deutsch (Cape Cod), Peter Flynn (Northern Essex), Charmian Sperling (Middlesex), Joseph Rizzo (MCCC), and Michelle Gallagher (MTA). Most are active in current distance education negotiations.

What follows is a summary and abstract written by Joe Rizzo of that presentation:

"Ensuring high quality instruction, content, technology, and student interaction demand effective assessment methodologies, faculty and staff development, and resources. This panel will discuss some ways to develop and sustain these initiatives as well as common impediments that may be anticipated. Panelists include faculty who are currently engaged in distance education as well as academic administrators and contract administrators for the Massachusetts Community College Council.

Abstract: Technological innovation can predictably bring changes in social process and relationships. Sometimes these ramifications are obvious and profound but are often subtler in nature. Perspicacious examination of the not so manifest consequences of technological change can reveal more far-reaching implications than was originally envisioned. Distance education can not only transverse time and space but can additionally provide students with an opportunity to interact with their instructor and other students in manner that was previously not possible. It can also structure and communicate course materials in a more efficient manner that may diffuse into general educational practice thus making traditional classroom instruction more effective. At the same time, the traditional mechanisms that the academy has utilized for a millennium to assure quality may not readily apply to the new virtual educational setting. It is possible for proactive faculty, staff and administrators to adapt the implementation and assessment of distance education in a manner that incorporates and reflects the long accepted objectives and values of higher education.

It is no longer a question of if or when distance education is coming, the Massachusetts Community Colleges are implementing educational offerings in settings beyond the traditional classroom-videotape, interactive television, web courses, CD ROMs-the cyber-list grows. This is the time in the development of this technologically driven pedagogy to examine the issues regarding educational quality and plan for the means of ensuring academic integrity and the efficacy of instruction."

Know Your Day Contract

Apr. 30	Fall assignments to Faculty with full-time schedules to chapter
May 1	President's tenure recommendations and sabbatical decisions due
May 15	Faculty submit College service and student advisement forms
May 20	Tenure decisions due
May 29	Professional staff College Service and Student advisement forms submitted

N.B. Dates may vary depending on first day of classes. Also, most of these dates are "last date" standards. In many instances, the action can be accomplished before the date indicated.