HEUU Boston Common Rally

Warm spring weather arrived in Boston along with thousands of public higher education faculty, staff and students who rallied at the State House Tuesday, April 29 to combat the deep cuts in funding facing the Commonwealth's institutions of higher education. Plans proposed by the governor and by the House are both shaping up to recommend effective 20% cuts with the devastating implications for college students, their families and employees of higher education in the Massachusetts.

"Higher Ed Unions United" (HEUU) ,a hastily constituted, but well organized coalition of unions representing faculty and staff at the state's universities, state and community colleges planned and promoted the event in the few short weeks since Governor Mitt Romney made public a radical proposal to reorganize the state's delivery system for post secondary education. The announced theme for the rally was "MA Students, Unions Declare State of Higher Ed Emergency."

Noting the 45 tax cuts since Governor Weld took office in 1990, the common theme of several of the speakers was that the budget crisis called for restoration of revenue- "There's no more fat to cut- restore the revenue," and "Not new taxesgive us the old taxes!" were among several quips emanating from the podium, and echoed in the crowd that stretched from the steps of the Statehouse down to Park Square station.

Michelle Botus, President of BHCC Student Government addresses HEUU Rally on Boston Common. April 29, 2003.

Former Speaker of the House and President of Holyoke Community College David Bartley described the Bain and Company report as "the biggest fraud I've witnessed in 40 years." He rhetorically cautioned Governor Romney "after 100 days in office, it's time to stop, look, and listen! Public education is not an expense, but an investment."

Michelle Botus, President of the Bunker Hill Community College Student Senate, and one of numerous and very articulate student leaders speaking, said that not only she, but one of her four children and her mother were studying at BHCC simultaneously. She criticized the Bain report, noting that many of the students she knew took courses as needed for job advancement and were not noted in statistics emphasizing the traditional, if antiquated, view that attainment of a degree was the singular criterion of success.

Speechmakers, punctuated frequently by a salsa style marching band, went on for over two hours. The mood was positive and very energetic as students and unionists from all corners of the state, occasionally interrupted by spontaneous chants, strode to the podium fueling the crowd with impassioned and inspirational orations.

Many of those in attendance spent the afternoon walking the halls of the Statehouse buttonholing legislators on the issues of increases in health insurance contributions, Romney's plan, funding cuts, and revenue restoration.

Late in the day the MCCC Strategic Action Committee met at length, huddling with their political consultant Charles Flaherty, and MTA Governance specialist Arline Isaacson. The political consultants shared intelligence regarding trends among the legislators, and suggested strategies for maintaining the momentum of political action.

SAC Battles On Many Fronts This Spring

by Joe LeBlanc, MCCC Vice President

The higher ed. rally is over. The House has just rejected any new tax increases (for now at least) by lopsided margins. As we fight to maintain 85/15, it's a good time to reflect on our accomplishments in one of the busiest seasons on Beacon Hill in many years.

The MCCC's Strategic Action Committee has lobbied furiously this semester to support the union's political action agenda. Working from both inside and outside the State House, the union has lobbied against the governor's proposals to reorganize higher education, gut the collective bargaining laws and privatize state employees' pensions. SAC and scores of political activists have also fought to maintain 85/15 and restore some of the revenues lost to tax cuts passed in the last decade.

Steering Committee members Sandy Cutler, Joe LeBlanc, Roberta Albano, Donnie McGee, Caroline Schwarzwalder and W. Brooks Smith have met with 20 House and Senate committee chairs, including Speaker Thomas Finneran. In a hour long get acquainted session arranged by Rep. Gale Candaras and MCCC lobbyist Charles Flaherty, the Speaker was quizzed on topics ranging from taxes and higher education to the tomatoes he grows each summer on Cape Cod and the history of the famous Eastham Turnip.

Meetings have also been held this spring with the following committee chairs: Senators Joan Menard, Steve Panagiotakos, Harriette Chandler, Sue Tucker, Cynthia Creem, Rob O'Leary, Mark Montigney, Stan Rosenberg and Michael Knapik. Also, Representatives Finneran, Lida Harkins, Tom Petrolati, Arthur Broadhurst, Tony Cabral, Candaras, Brian Dempsey, Colleen Garry, Peter Koutoujian, Michael Rodrigues, and Marie St. Fleur. More sessions will follow in May and June.

These individual meetings have been conducted both in the State House and indistrict. With the support of the MCCC PAC the Steering Committee has also attended fundraisers for Senate President Robert Travaglini, Senate Ways and Means Chair Therese Murray and others in an effort to get acquainted with legislators, setup future State House meetings and work to carve the union's unique identity.

Chapters have also contributed much to the cause this semester. STCC, Holyoke CC and others have run successful student letter writing campaigns, and thousands of letters have been written in support of more state aid to public higher education and against the governor's reorganization plan. MCCC member have also written personal letters to their legislators to lobby for the MCCC's political action agenda, which has been posted as a Powerpoint presentation on the union's website.

Members like McGee and SAC rep. Joe Nardoni, Middlesex CC, have also written letters to the editor and columns to the Providence Journal and Lowell Sun. The union has also underwritten the costs of newspaper ads in Springfield, Worcester and Eastern Massachusetts calling for more public higher ed. funding.

Chris Coolidge reports that her chapter has organized a breakfast, a local press conference and letter writing campaign. North Shore organized two breakfast for its local legislators as well as lots of letters. Middlesex organized its students to write to their legislators and also sent a busload of members to the April 29 rally. Eighty Berkshire CC students and faculty lobbied Sen. Andreas Nuciforo about higher ed. reorganization and better funding, and union activist Wayne Klug co-authored a column in the Berkshire Eagle. Roxbury CC organized a successful legislative breakfast with legislators and two Boston City Councilors attending. As we lobby for House Amendment 383 to preserve 85/15 and get ready to lobby just as hard as the Senate prepares its budget, lobbyists Flaherty and Arline Isaacson advise us to be ready to contact our legislators again when the budget heads to Conference Committee and a final vote. Stay tuned.

MCCC Strategic Action Committee visits Speaker of the House, April, 2003. From left Consultant Charles Flaherty, Brooks Smith of CCCC, SAC Co-Chair Sandy Cutler of STCC, Honorable Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Thomas M. Finneran, Roberta Albano of STCC, MCCC President Rick Doud, MCCC Vice President Joseph LeBlanc

---

Butler Award to Ridout

Theodore "Ted" C. Ridout, Professor of Communications at Bunker Hill Community College, will be awarded the 2003 Butler Award for distinguished service as a Massachusetts Community College Council Chapter President. Professor Ridout was nominated by BHCCPA Director Geri Gurley who described him as "a leader of vision and integrity with strong union and professional beliefs."

Ted took over the reins at BHCC a few years ago in a crisis when the chapter president became ill during the year. "Ted stepped forward and the transition was seamless," reports Curley.

Mr. Ridout has taught at BHCC since 1973. He holds a Ed.D. in Teacher Education from Teacher's College, Columbia University, and a M.Ed. from Temple. He earned his B.A. in Psychology from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Ridout served in the Peace Corps teaching English, math and science in the Somali Republic, East Africa between 1964 and 1966. While earning his Master's at Temple, Ridout served in the Teacher Corps. In 1969 he served as a Director of a Peace Corps program training language teachers for Ethiopia.

After earning his doctorate at Columbia, he worked in the Columbia University Curriculum and Textbook Project in Afghanistan. Several writings and publications in the area of language teaching have flowed from his pen over the years. Working with native speakers, he has co-written texts on training teachers Pashto and Dari, Afghan tongues, as second languages. He has also written on teaching English as a second language. He currently resides in Wayland with his wife, Christine, and three sons.

The Jon G. Butler Memorial Award for outstanding Chapter President was established in the Fall of 1984 in honor of Jon G. Butler, former chapter president at North Shore Community College, former MCCC Research Coordinator, and an outspoken and active proponent of unit members' rights.The purpose of the award is to recognize the Chapter President(s) whose leadership, acts, or support have made a significant impact on MCCC unit members.

Emmy award-winning Beth Germano of WBZ Channel 4, interviews Ted Ridout, President of BHCC Chapter, outside Suffolk University where Governor Romney was delivering his "State of the State" Address. February 25.

HELC Summit, Friday, April 11, 2003

Leadership of Massachusetts Higher Education Unions met Friday, April 11, 2003 at the Crowne Plaza, Natick to plan response to the crisis in Higher Education precipitated by a projected 3 billion dollar deficit in the states 2004 budget. Governor "Mitt" Willard Romney's plan to restructure public higher education in the Commonwealth was the focus of discussion. Strategies to counter a long list of "reforms" that threaten to dramatically reduce support for public education were the work of the meeting.

Numerous representatives of the Massachusetts Community College Council (MCCC) were in attendance (listed below). Representatives of the MCCC were seated, according to region, at tables with representatives of the Massachusetts State College Association, Faculty Staff Union (FSU) of UMass Boston, and Massachusetts Staff and Professors(MSP) of UMass Lowell and UMass Amherst, the Faculty Union (AFT affiliated) of UMass Dartmouth, and USA, a clerical and professional staff union at UMass. John Lees of JBL Associates, the opening speaker, addressed "Trend in States Financing of Public Education" to put the local crisis in national perspective. Lee depicted a politically conservative national agenda for educational policy that is moving away from the view that education should support the agenda of equality and opportunity that has informed educational policies since the mid-nineteenth century. Arlene Isaacson of MTA Governmental Services presented an overview of the Romney budget and plan to reorganize higher education. She spoke of the 45 tax cuts that have occurred during the stewardship of the four successive Republican governors since Weld, and stressed the analysis that the existing fiscal crisis is one of revenues, not government spending.

MTA Executive Director Edward Sullivan addressed the assembly underscoring the gravity of the current crisis. Conference participants broke up into groups roughly corresponding to regions across the state, to hash out strategies for responding to the threats of job loss, benefit cutbacks, contractual rights, and damage to students, and quality of public higher education in the Commonwealth threatened by the budget shortfall, the governor's budget plan, and other fiscal assaults on the colleges and universities.

The following MCCC members attended… Phyllis Barrett • Michael Bathory • Sandy Cutler • Carole Dupont • Carol Mathison • Geri Curley • Ruth Kiefson- Roberts • Tom Parsons • Ted Ridout • Ken Czuchra • Rick Doud • Joe Nardoni • Lynn Kleindienst • Donnie McGee • Greg Sethares • Sheila Willard • Peter Flynn • Joe LeBlanc • Caroline Schwarzwalder • Abe Sherf • Gail Stuart • Romayne Trudo • Don Williams.

Standing left Bob Walen, MTA field representative; Thomas Parsons Chairperson of HELC; Seated, clockwise from top; Gail Stuart, NECC; Don Williams, NSCC; Maggie Vaughan, MSCA; Joe LeBlanc, MCCC; Pat Markunas, President of the MSCA. Back to Camera; Romayne Trudo, MCCC; Abe Sherf, NSCC; Caroline Schwarzwalder, NSCC.

Election Results

The 2003 MCCC election for delegates to the MTA Annual meeting, May 30-31 at the John Hines Civic Center in Boston, and the National Education Association's Representative Assembly (NEA-RA) in New Orleans July 1-6, was concluded April 4th. All candidates listed in the MTA list will be qualified to attend the MTA Annual Meeting. The fifteen highest ranked candidates in the NEA list who attend the NEA-RA will receive subsidy from the MCCC. Some individuals listed in the top 15 may be elected as MTA representatives to the NEA, allowing candidates lower on the list to receive MCCC support. Subsidized delegates must submit all receipts for reimbursables within 30 days after the NEA-RA to MCCC Treasurer Phil Mahler.

President's Message

The Beat(ing) Goes On…

Rick Doud, MCCC President

First Governor Romney issues his budget package which called for the dismantling of a great public higher education system. With your strong support, both the MCCC and the MTA testified at numerous l e g i s l a t i v e hearings and lobbied the legislative leadership to make sure everyone knew that the Romney plan was no more than a thinly veiled attempt to privatize public higher education in the Commonwealth. Romney claimed that his reorganization plan would save 100 million dollars, but it was clear that there were no real savings. Based on our discussions at the state house, it appears that our efforts have been successful. We must remain vigilant to ensure that none of the Governor's proposals to close or merge any public higher education institution become a part of the budget that is ultimately enacted into law.

Now the other shoe has dropped. The House unveiled their initial budget, which contained no tax increases, but dramatic budget cuts that are sure to have a devastating effect on public higher education. We will continue our efforts to convince the legislative leadership that revenues must be raised. Please, pick up the phone and talk to your representatives. Let them know that revenues must be increased if we are to maintain an affordable, quality higher education experience for our students. If we fail in this effort, your college president will be forced to make some very difficult decisions regarding your campus budget. Unfortunately, student fees will need to be increased, but that alone will not make up for the budget shortfall each community college faces.

At the April 18th Board of Directors meeting, the BOD voted unanimously to oppose any furloughs of MCCC unit members. In the very near future your college president may try to convince you that by giving back a week's pay you can help avoid layoffs. Your president may even try to give you a "guarantee" that by agreeing to a furlough there will be absolutely no layoffs. Please don't buy into this argument.

The college budgets are bad, but they could get worse. If the college budgets were to be cut again in mid-year (as they have been the last 2 years), you know what will happen. The administration will be approaching you again next January. They will again ask you to give back another week's pay, or two or three, whatever it takes to again "guarantee" that no one will be laid off. We must not engage in this rush-to-the-bottom mentality. If cuts must be made, your president will have to make some tough choices. The college presidents need to honor their commitment to provide a high quality education for the students we serve. Lay-offs of full-time faculty and staff are not the way to honor that commitment.

In Solidarity, Rick

SAC Report

Dispelling the Myths of Romneyism

by Diana McGee, Bristol Community College, Fall River

Though specifics are not clearly charted, the Romney roadmap for the state of Massachusetts has many residents worried. And well they should be, given the proposed cuts and related consequences to cities, towns, educational systems, and human services. His cuts and his philosophy of governing are most unkind. His plans to reorganize public higher education and streamline the business of state government are supported by a budget proposal that continues to squeeze the vitality out of a state already struggling from similar budget cuts just a year ago. But Governor Romney claims his plan will get rid of waste and make government more efficient. The first business of government, however, is to serve the people effectively. The governor has been given his authority to govern in return for safeguarding the health, education, and welfare of those he represents. To serve as governor implies an understanding of this public trust. It assumes that one so elected would develop a modus operandi and a budget policy that is guided first by a humanistic ethic. Decision-making on how dollars are spent (or denied) should require an examination of the cost in terms of human consequence, not simply herald the dollars saved and efficiency achieved. In formulating his plan, Romney has relied heavily on a whirlwind study completed by Bain and Associates, his own private company, one that has sought little if any input from citizens, agencies or community leaders across the state. And the resultant proposal reflects a pervasive ignorance of the real costs in terms of lives altered and services terminated throughout the Commonwealth.

Also important to note: the state is not a business. Profit is not its goal. Citizens are not products. Waste and flaws are inherent in any system, private or public, but the "fat" has been removed from this budget to such an extent that the well-being and vitality of this state, economic and otherwise, will seriously be compromised. And the savings Romney has promised are exaggerated and not clearly, if at all, corroborated.

Unfortunately, the Romney rhetoric and the marketplace ethic of expediency that dominates too many aspects of our lives have co-opted citizens and community leaders alike into thinking that because the Commonwealth is facing another whopping $3+ billion projected deficit, that waste and overspending are at the root of this budget problem. People have bought the myths about Massachusetts, but these myths are not our reality.

Let's dispel some of the myths

What we have in this state is a revenue problem, not a spending problem. We are not overtaxed. Over the last 10 years, money has been given back to the taxpayers, both businesses and individuals, with huge tax breaks going to some of our bigger corporations. This year and last year's state budgets have failed to support state expenditures not because of imprudent spending, but because of an economy that has been crippled by the recent combination of many troubling realities: a recession exacerbated, if not precipitated, by corporate scandals; soaring security costs; a phenomenally expensive and disgracefully monitored "Big Dig" project; and declining federal support to states.

Additionally, Massachusetts is not a shining star with respect to its fiscal support for state colleges and universities. In fact, this state trails most others in the nation. According to the 2000 Census and studies published by The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, The Associated Industries of Massachusetts, and The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, our Commonwealth actually ranks 46th nationally in terms of the state taxpayer dollars used to support public higher education. Yet, such support is crucial to keeping this state alive and well. These institutions provide the human capital needed to refuel the economy. Graduates become productive citizens, usually remain in the state to live and work, and spend their money in local communities.

Furthermore, our educational system does not need full-scale reorganization: it is not broken. It was closely examined and reshaped 10+ years ago and serves this state very well. However, Romney now proposes a total restructuring of public higher education in Massachusetts, a plan developed without feedback from taxpayers, educators, businesses, or graduates. Ironically, the governor's proposal creates more bureaucracy, not less, and further distances those in charge from those being served. And his proposed merger of six state institutions into three would eliminate jobs, programs, and the unique strengths of local campuses. Plus, the Romney plan would privatize colleges that have been a long-time public investment, eliminating access for the very students these institutions were intended to educate &endash; those who cannot afford a private college education. Such a maneuver could be characterized as public theft and a sure violation of our public trust. His vision is shortsighted; his guiding ethic of expediency, flawed; and his alienation from the reality of our state's needs, mindboggling. The reality: Massachusetts lacks the revenues necessary to adequately support its cities, towns, and citizenry. Core services are being crippled. "Taxes" is not a dirty word; such revenues allow a state to safeguard the basic rights and welfare of all its people. Citizens and corporations alike need to pay their fair share to replenish a tax base that has steadily eroded for the past decade. And other revenue-enhancing strategies need to be implemented as well.

Do not be swayed by the Romney rhetoric or co-opted by this marketplace mythology. To keep our communities alive and well, ask your representatives and senators to raise revenues through a combination of strategies. Otherwise, legislators could easily follow Romney's lead and support a budget that severely jeopardizes this Commonwealth. Given the serious possibility of such political shortsightedness, choosing not to communicate your outrage to those who run our government could condemn Massachusetts citizens to suffer the consequences for many years to come.

Diana McGee, Professor of English and Coordinator of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA

Strategic Action Committee at April 29 Meeting. Nancy Teal RCC, MCCC VP Joe LeBlanc, Mike Nutter NECC, middle from left, Carol Schwarzwalder NSCC, SAC Co-chair Sandy Cutler, Roberta Albano and Carol Dupont STCC, and Joe Nardoni, MCC, front from left Linda Stern MBCC, Donnie McGee, BCC, Nancy Teal RCC.

Editorial Comment

Paradigm Shift

by Peter Flynn

John Lees' presentation at the April 11 strategy session of the Higher Education leadership Committee (HELC) included an abundant statistical display supporting a central premise that public higher education faculty may find hard to accept. There is, he posits, a radical revolution in politics, economics and ultimately American society, affecting the essential premise from which public educational policy is crafted.

In the 20th century public education was viewed as an essential right of the citizenry, with the ascendant goal of social equality, or at least equal opportunity. Since World War II public education, through programs like affirmative action and busing, was seen as a means of redressing the perceived wrongs of slavery, racism, sexism, classism, and other real or imagined &emdash;isms threatening a just society.

In the new millennium, the election of President George W. Bush, a republican congress, and new era governors like Romney are indices of a de facto acceptance by the body politic of a new value ordering. In the emerging society, the raison of public education is primarily economic. Public institutions should focus on reading, writing, arithmetic and workforce development. Education is reserved for a leadership class, and best accomplished in private institutions. A telling example is that the state of Colorado is in the process of privatizing its great institutions of public higher education. The educator community is understandably in denial of the sea change in our culture. Yet, until we wake up to the changing public perception of the education institution, our arguments will seem off point, and our values remain retrograde.

NEA Higher Ed Conference Roberta Albano and Sandy Cutler attended the NEA Higher Ed Conference in Washington DC on Feb 27th. On Thursday they met with Mass. Congressional leaders urging them to sign on for the Bill to repeal the Social Security Pension Offsett and Windfall Elimination Provision. These laws unjustly discriminate against state employees in fifteen states.

At this time the NEA has this bill on their radar screen and has appointed representatives in each of the states involved. Their charge is to network with other state employees and bring all congressional leaders on board to repeal this law.

While in DC, Roberta and Sandy met with NEA directors and NEA President Reggie Weaver to discuss this ongoing issue. They discussed plans and strategies necessary to bring this bill to the floor for a vote.

Carole Dupont, professor at STCC, will be providing leadership and education to our community colleges regarding this ongoing battle to repeal this law. To learn more about these laws go to www.nea.org.

STCC Dynamic Duo Roberta Albano and Sandy Cutler double team Massachusetts 6th district Congressman John Tierney (D), while in Washington at the NEA's annual Higher Education Conference March 2003.

BOD Action 4/18

In response to chapter concerns the BOD passed a motion stating that the official MCCC position is to oppose furloughs, or other such cost-savings measures (excluding those contained in the AGREEMENT page 98-99) that may be proposed by management for the FY 04 fiscal year. If the administration at your college approaches the local leadership to discuss furloughs or any other such measures, please refer them to Joe LeBlanc, MCCC Day Team Chair, or Katie D'Urso, our MTA consultant. Please read the President's message for more details.

---

Presidents May Legally Pay Points

by Katie D'Urso, MTA Consultant

In January, 2002, lawyers for the Community College Presidents drafted a legal opinion stating that it would be "inconsistent" with the law for the Presidents to fund the points out of College operating budgets. The Presidents relied upon this opinion, in part, in rejecting the Union's request for them to fund our April 1 annual point update. The MCCC asked the MTA legal department to analyze this legal opinion. MTA attorney Ira Fader, Esq. researched the issue and drafted an opinion for the Union.

Attorney Fader found that the Presidents' legal opinion did not tell the whole story. The Presidents' legal opinion accurately states that as a result of the Governor's rejection of the contract extension, there is no valid legislative appropriation to fund the points in the contract extension agreement. According to Attorney Fader, what the Presidents' legal opinion failed to state, however, is that once the funding for the contract extension agreement was rejected by the governor, the Union and the Presidents can conduct further bargaining and mutually agree that the points be paid out of the Colleges' existing budgets. Attorney Fader emphasized in his legal opinion that "there is nothing in the law which prohibit(s)" the Union and the Colleges to reach a new agreement that the points are to be paid out of the existing College budgets.

---

Report Your Dental Insurance Concerns Anyone having concerns about the Metlife Dental Plan should report them to Abe Sherf 402 Paradise Road Swampscott, MA 01907 Fax or Phone 781-592-1330

---

Know Your Day Contract

May & June 2003

May 15	Faculty submit college service and student advisement form
May 20	Tenure decisions due
May 26	Memorial Day celebrated
May 30	Professional staff College service and student advisement forms due
May 30-31	MTA Annual Meeting, Boston
June 1	Applications for sabbaticals for spring 2004
June 1	Professional Staff summary evaluations due
June 15	Sabbatical requests to committee
June 15	Student evaluation data tabulation reported
June 30	Last day for Professional staff pre-evaluation conferences
June 30	Evaluation of Part-time faculty in third appointment

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