Apscuf-KU October Newsletter 2016

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APSCUF-KU Newsletter

October 2016

The coaches seem to be getting close to an agreement, and we should be happy for them. And we should also take a moment to recognize the move PASSHE is trying to make here by hanging us out to dry and dividing our bargaining unit this way. Now, we do have a session tomorrow, so we shall see how that goes.

Our strike chair, Kevin Mahoney, sent this notice out and I want to share it again. This is the moment, folks. Our last best chance of averting a strike is by having a large showing at the Board of Governors meeting next Thursday. We need more of you to sign up. Here is what Mahoney wrote and I agree: Join us on the bus to the Board of Governors meeting on Thursday, October 6th. You can sign up RIGHT HERE (https://goo.gl/DeLcEn) This will be one of the most important opportunities we have to stave off a strike. None of us want a strike. And this action at the Board of Governors meeting may be our last shot to stop it. That means we need to fill our bus to Harrisburg. This morning all Mobilization chairs received an email from state APSCUF underscoring their belief that a strong showing at the October 6th Board of Governors meeting may be our last opportunity to prevent a strike.

Consequences

Student Perspective

Teaching Machines

How all Pennsylvanians pay for a

This constant negotiation weakens

self-serving, short-

the bonds of community that

sighted agenda.

should draw people together.

“At the bargaining table, they once said they wanted to turn our temporary faculty into ‘teaching machines’..” ~APSCUF VP, Dr. Jamie Martin

~Mary Theis

P. 5

~Carly Gaba

P.6

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For your information and to share with students (but not during class): In response to yesterday's PASSHE sheet (https://goo.gl/YP33VB) sent to students, here is APSCUF's fact sheet (https://goo.gl/L3I6sY).

This is posted in a prominent spot on the APSCUF Students page (https://goo.gl/etDkgW), and Kathryn Morton, our state associate director of communications, will be posting it on social media (and boosting it) next. If you would like to do the same, please share the Student page on your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media feeds.

I also recommend you follow the student-designed Twitter account, https://twitter.com/strike_ku.

Some of our students were motivated to create this #withapscuf #solidarity feed specifically to answer their peers' questions. It is quite active and they are doing a great job.

Our PR chair, Dan Spiegel, is attempting to coordinate a mass distribution of this letter across all 14 schools closer to the strike date. And to help him, I need you to hold off sharing Eric's letter (or your own version of it) with your students for now. I am looking into how we can best distribute this letter to our own students, whether through KU email, D2L, or some other option. Once we strategize and plan a bit more, we will let you know what to do. Thank you for waiting.

16 Days to Strike...I put that in the subject line to get your attention. Really look at that - 16 days. That is not a lot of time to prepare. Everyone needs to realize that what has been happening at the bargaining table is a lot of hardball and dirty pool. The fact finding ploy by PASSHE is a recent example. With regard to health care, our team was told that the AFSCME contract prevented them from offering anything other than what was originally proposed. After we contacted the president of AFSCME for a fact check, guess what? This is only one example of the other team’s efforts to make lying as American as apple pie. Don’t forget the recent PASSHE announcement that money will be wasted just to accelerate the COBRA timeline should a strike occur.

State APSCUF President – Ken Mash, East Stroudsburg; Vice-President – Jamie Martin, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Immediate Past President – Steve Hicks, Lock Haven; Treasurer – Chris Hallen, Bloomsburg; Secretary – Helen Bieber, Kutztown; Coach Executive Leader – Keith White, Kutztown; Faculty Officer-At-Large – B.J. Mullaney, Cheney; Faculty Officer-At-Large – Joyce Overly, Clarion; Faculty Officer-At-Large –Kara Laskowski, Shippensburg Labor Relations, (Grievance - Faculty and Coaches): Head of Labor Relations – Mary Rita Duvall; Directors – Julie A. Reese, Joshua J. Grubbs, Sara E. Miller; Administrative Assistants – Jewell Tunstall, Angela Belcher Government and External Relations: Associate Director of Government Relations – Carrie Hillman; Associate Director of Communications – Kathryn Morton; Administrative Assistant – Ty Marks Membership Services: Director – Nancy Koutris; Secretary/Receptionist – Monica Troutman State Organizer: Chris Ayala Support Staff: Executive Secretary – Lisa Demko; Administrative Assistant for Fiscal Affairs & Manager for Physical Facilities – Dedorah Myers 319 North Front Street Harrisburg, PA 17101; 717.236.7487 or 800.932.0587 qualityeducation@apscuf.org

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October 2016

Good faith bargaining has yet to be seen. A long, long time ago at the first negotiation session, APSCUF identified the Retrenchment article as priority for negotiation. We stuck to this issue and a goodly amount of progress had been made until the very end of the marathon negotiations held last week. Our team was given a proposal, new and different from what had been hammered out. Now our Chancellor wants to be able to retrench without regard to rank and tenure. In addition, notice would be provided to faculty being retrenched in February, near the end of the academic year, making it exceptionally difficult to find another academic position for the fall. This is what we are contending with.

I have attached the updated timeline and PASSHE's "Comprehensive Economic Concessions," which shows the different scenarios they have offered, all (oddly) adding up to $70 million in savings for the System. No one has any idea where the number $70 million came from or who directed them to save that specific amount. Compounding this mystery is the fact that they are asking for more givebacks from us than any other bargaining unit AND the System is sitting on an unrestricted $439 million in savings.

Consequently, our mobilization efforts are redoubled. In order for you to be completely prepared, I will be sending out more information and guidance regularly. Sensitive information will be sent to your alternate e-mail address, so check that inbox daily. And when Kevin Mahoney or Mike Gambone contact you and ask for your help with picket lines and such, please say yes. We are stronger together. The longer the picket line, the shorter the strike.

For right now, however, if you are willing to sacrifice a personal day for our cause in averting a strike, Please sign up here to GET ON THE BUS (https://goo.gl/DeLcEn).

In solidarity, Amanda

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APSCUF Local Leadership

Leadership Faculty President, Delegate: Amanda Morris, English Vice-President, Alternate: Bill Donner, Anthro/Soc Secretary, Alternate: Albert Fu, Anthro/Soc Treasurer, Alternate: Ju Zhou, Mathematics Delegate: Tabetha Bernstein-Danis, Special Ed Delegate: Daniel Haxall, Fine Arts Delegate: Lisa Frye, CompSci & IT Delegate: Dina Hayduk, Sport Management & Leadership Studies Delegate: Jason Lanter, Psychology Delegate: Glenn Richardson, PolySci & Public Administration Delegate: Tom Stewart, Academic Enrichment Alternate: Kevin Mahoney, English Alternate: Denise Darrah, Elementary Ed Alternate: Angelo Rodriguez, Modern Languages Alternate: Vacant, 16-18 Alternate: Vacant, 16-17 Coaches President: John Gump Vice-President: Judy Lawes

APSCUF-KU Executive Committee President – Amanda Morris; Vice-President – Bill Donner; Secretary – Albert Fu; Treasurer – Ju Zhou; Delegates – Tabetha Berstein-Danis, Lisa Frye, Dina Hayduk, Jason Lanter, Daniel Haxall, Glenn Richardson, Thomas Stewart, Vacancy; Alternate Delegates – Bill Donner, Denise Darrah, Kevin Mahoney, Angelo Rodriguez, Vacancy; Senate Representative – Robert L. Smith; Health & Welfare – Dina Hayduk; Grievance Chairs – Ruth Perkins 4

APSCUF-KU Newsletter

Consequences to Public Higher Education for Short Sighted Agenda

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October 2016

The system’s proposed changes to the salaries and teaching loads as well as the freezing of the status of temporary adjunct professors in Pennsylvania’s fourteen state universities are blatantly unfair and demeaning. These discount the extremely valuable contributions made beyond their significant teaching loads to KU students, faculty, and the community by these very experienced temporary full-time faculty.

For instance, in the Department of Modern Language Studies, instructors Rachel López Salerno and Scheherazade Zuñiga Murphy have been instrumental in organizing and hosting one-day conferences for World Language Teachers' Professional Development and participated in planning World Language meets for high school students in the surrounding area. In addition to participating in several other workshops and conferences each year, Professor López Salerno has chaired the Scholarship Committee for graduating seniors since 2010, and Professor Zuñiga Murphy has taken charge of coordinating access codes to our online texts and has co-chaired the departmental Concern Committee for eight years.

Dr. Nancy Zimmerman, who began her career here in 1998 as a temporary faculty member, got her doctorate from Penn State in four years while working full-time here, teaching methods classes, and taking over the supervision of student teachers. She was still working on a temporary basis in 2010 when she was given the responsibility of writing the NCATE SPA report for the MLS education program that earned national recognition and accreditation for our department. She finished that huge project in 2010, her doctorate in 2011, was converted to tenure-track in 2012, and promoted this year to Associate Professor. Without the policy for conversion, she would not now be continuing her crucial work with our student teachers in MLS. These are just a few of the numerous ways these temporary adjunct professors have made our department function more smoothly. Why would anyone want to discourage these and other highly qualified professors from wanting to teach here by freezing their status, reducing their salaries and forcing them to teach what otherwise would be considered an overload, especially given the high student-teacher engagement required for effective second language instruction?

Given that these adjuncts demonstrate such loyalty to us despite not being given job security or raises, it is really disgusting to “reward” them by proposing more work for even less money and security in having those without masters degrees teaching here.

That also undermines the respect and image of those with job security and higher salaries: accepting erosion at the lower end of the pay scale affects all of us because it chips away at the quality education that all Pennsylvanian students deserve.

Since it all comes down to money, these are the consequences to higher education of legislators running and winning on a platform of lower taxes.

This is how all Pennsylvanians pay for that self-serving, short-sighted agenda.

Dr. Mary Theis Modern Language Studies, Kutztown University 5

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Kutztown Students Support Their Faculty

A survey was sent out to the students of Kutztown University to gather results on their opinions on the contract negotiation between APSCUF and PASSHE. In attempt to make this predicament understood by the students, it was found the students support their professors.

The pie graph on the right represents question 7, “Do you support faculty’s action?” Out of the 97 participants who completed the survey in full, 82 stated they support the faculty.

Yes No

There have been multiple arguments stating that unions make an education system more effective because it empowers teachers and gives them a part in shaping their working conditions.

“We, the students of Kutztown support you!” is just one of the comments left by a student at the end of the survey stating their support of their faculty.

Faculty and coaches are setting a good example to their students, to the extent that teachers have knowledge in creating effective learning environments. Results of studies show that by giving them more say over how resources are allocated could lead to better educational outcomes. It also provides them with a voice to create a work environment that will make them more satisfied to be apart of.

The bar graph on the left represents question 8, “Do you think PASSHE has the student’s best interest in mind?”

76 students out of the 97 total answered no.

Yes No 0

50

100

The strike won’t just affect Kutztown University; it will impact all fourteen campuses apart of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Students, including myself are worried this could impact graduation.

Our professors work well and deserve to be treated correctly for all of their achievements. This constant negotiation weakens the bonds of community that should draw people together. It is important that both sides come to an equal agreement, for the sake of the students.

Carly Gaba, Communications Major ‘17

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CAP: THE POLITICAL VOICE OF APSCUF

APSCUF-KU Newsletter

October 2016

APSCUF's Committee for Action through Politics (APSCUF/CAP) is the political voice for APSCUF faculty and coaches. Since its inception in 1981, CAP has assisted faculty and coaches in making informed political decisions. CAP is a nonpartisan organization that supports candidates who will advocate for APSCUF's goals and priorities. To find out more about APSCUF/CAP, download the CAP brochure.

Visit APSCUF's member's forum (login required) to view APSCUF/CAP's recommendations for the 2016 primary election.

Wondering why you should donate to CAP? When you contribute to APSCUF/CAP, you become involved in the political process. Your CAP donations support candidates for state office who will advocate for public higher education and have strong records on labor, education, and budget issues.

APSCUF/CAP members have the opportunity to: Attend fundraising events.

Build relationships with policymakers.

Make important endorsement decisions.

Assist candidates who support APSCUF goals.

Participate in golf outings to support candidates. http://apscuf.org/members/cap http://www.apscuf.org/forum/

q Leadership Faculty President, Delegate: Amanda Morris, English Vice-President, Alternate: Bill Donner, Anthro/Soc Secretary, Alternate: Albert Fu, Anthro/Soc Treasurer, Alternate: Ju Zhou, Mathematics Delegate: Tabetha Bernstein-Danis, Special Ed Delegate: Daniel Haxall, Fine Arts Delegate: Lisa Frye, CompSci & IT Delegate: Dina Hayduk, Sport Management & Leadership Studies Delegate: Jason Lanter, Psychology Delegate: Glenn Richardson, PolySci & Public Administration Delegate: Tom Stewart, Academic Enrichment Alternate: Kevin Mahoney, English Alternate: Denise Darrah, Elementary Ed Alternate: Angelo Rodriguez, Modern Languages Alternate: Vacant, 16-18 Alternate: Vacant, 16-17 Coaches President: John Gump Vice-President: Judy Lawes

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APSCUF-KU Newsletter

October 2016

When last we left APSCUF …

Aug. 25–26, 2016 — At a two-day negotiations session, the State System addressed salary scales and increases for the first time since discussion of a multiyear deal began. Their proposal offered 0 percent for 2015–16, 0 percent for 2016–17, 1 percent (in January) for 2017–18, 1 percent (in January) for 2018–19, and a step increase (in January of the final year). The System also proposed a one-time payment of $600 to full-time faculty members in exchange for accepting their healthcare proposal.

Since then …

Sept. 7–9 — Faculty strike-authorization voting

Sept. 8 — APSCUF and the State System discussed healthcare, with no movement in either direction. On the table was the same plan the State System proposed last year — which could cost faculty members thousands of dollars more for healthcare.

Sept. 12 — APSCUF announced faculty members authorized a strike after counting strikeauthorization votes. Of those 82 percent of APSCUF faculty members who voted, 93 percent were in favor of authorization.

Sept. 14–15 — Coaches strike-authorization voting

Sept. 16 — APSCUF announced coach members authorized a strike after counting strikeauthorization votes. Of those 97 percent of APSCUF coach members who voted, 94 percent were in favor of authorization. Elsewhere, faculty negotiators met with the State System and left frustrated but did not set a strike date. The State System offered AFSCME pattern (without details) in exchange for adoption of the entire healthcare proposal and their estimated $48 million in additional givebacks (see attachment, page 1).

Sept. 18 — Faculty negotiators met for the first day of a marathon session, negotiating for more than nine hours. Faculty offer a major healthcare giveback by accepting deductibles.

Sept. 19 — Negotiators met for the third time in four days, covering minor issues. The State System announced it had requested fact-finding from the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.

The State System offered the following salary proposal (breaking from AFSCME pattern) 8

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contingent on accepting all proposed changes to healthcare, the elimination of annuitant healthcare for future faculty, and the additional $48 million in givebacks. The State System was unresponsive to APSCUF’s acceptance of deductibles.

General pay increase 2015-16: 0 percent 2016-17: 2.75 percent (Fall) 2017-18: 2 percent (Fall) 2018-19: 2.5 percent (Fall)

STEPS 2017-18: January 2018-19: January

Sept. 20 — APSCUF asked for binding arbitration, during which a three-person panel could conclude the contract dispute. APSCUF asked the State System to respond by 9 a.m. Friday, Sept. 23. APSCUF calculated that the elimination of post-retirement health benefits could cost future members a combined $60 million a year.

Sept. 21 — The fourth consecutive day of bargaining ended with anger and frustration. The State System gave APSCUF a new list of givebacks (see attachment, page 2) but did not budge on salary. The State System also gave a retrenchment proposal that changed the announcement date to February and removed tenure and rank from the order of possible retrenchment. APSCUF officially informed State System negotiators and the mediator that unless a contract is reached, faculty members will go on strike by Oct. 30. The State System issued a release in which it said APSCUF would not set future negotiations dates; in fact, APSCUF said it could not meet because of that weekend’s preexisting commitments to legislative assembly and strike school — and offered other dates. The State System did not respond to those offers for days.

Sept. 23–24 — Legislative assembly

Sept. 23 — APSCUF announced a strike date during a live-streamed press conference on Facebook. Faculty members will go on strike Oct. 19, unless APSCUF and the State System reach a contract agreement that is fair to students and faculty. APSCUF will not strike if the State System negotiates a fair contract.

Sept. 24–25 — APSCUF held a strike school to train members in preparation, organization, and other skills they will need in the unfortunate event of a strike.

Sept. 26–27 — Coaches were hopeful after a two-day negotiations session with the State System. They put a comprehensive proposal on the table and expect a response in their next session, Oct. 3.

9 Sept. 29 — APSCUF faculty negotiators and the State System are scheduled to meet.

APSCUF-KU Newsletter

October 2016

OUR LEGISLATIVE GOALS AND AGENDA APSCUF LEGISLATIVE GOALS AND PRIORITIES FOR 2015-2016 SESSION

A. Restore state funding to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education to pre 2011 levels and guarantee a 2 year tuition freeze. Total funding needed is $513 million (a $110 million increase from 2014-15).

B. Protect member retirement benefits and options.

C. Work in solidarity with the labor movement to preserve worker’s rights (e.g.preserve fair share, prevailing wage, collection of union dues, oppose liquor privatization, and support raising the minimum wage.)

D. Protect tenure and academic freedom.

E. Support legislation or regulations that would increase transparency for the State System of Higher Education.

F. Advocate for student voting rights.

G. Work to decrease the indebtedness of PASSHE students in different ways including changes in PHEAA grants and studying other state’s solutions for student debt.

H. Identify and build policy solutions to help Cheyney University recover from recent financial and institutional problems, including the promotion and inancial restoration of the Cheyney Keystone Honors Academy.

I. Promote legislation that properly regulates for-profit institutions of higher education Read APSCUF’s positions on Degrees of Value report & per-credit tuition

Degrees of Value report

APSCUF’s complete response

“At this point, the purpose of the Degrees of Value document appears to be an indictment of not only the liberal arts majors but also a signal that proposed changes are on the way,” the statement concludes. “The document is a leverage tool. All faculty should familiarize themselves with the report and be prepared to respond.”

Per-Credit Tuition

APSCUF position statement

“These pilot programs come at a time when the average Pennsylvania student already graduates from the State System with over $30,000 in debt,” the 2015 resolution reads. “From a national perspective, Pennsylvania ranks third-highest in student loan debt. Nearly 80 percent of PASSHE students accept some form of financial aid.

These tuition increases will place an even greater financial burden on students and their families.”

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Sept. 29, 2016 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, contact: Kathryn Morton, kmorton@apscuf.org or 717-236-7486

'WE ARE ANYTHING BUT ‘TEACHING MACHINES,'' APSCUF VP SAYS AFTER DIFFICULT SESSION

Negotiations flared early today as faculty and management teams returned to the table to work on the contract between the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

“When we began, the State System immediately demanded we make cuts totaling $70 million,” APSCUF President Dr. Kenneth M. Mash said. “That is not bargaining. That is dictating. We understand there are fiscal issues to consider, but on most of the core issues, the State System continues to insist on cuts that hinder our ability to provide a quality education for our students.”

Dr. Jamie Martin, APSCUF’s vice president and chair of the negotiations team, underscored negotiators’ ire.

“Their proposed treatment of our adjunct faculty continues to be extremely troubling,” Martin said. “At the bargaining table, they once said they wanted to turn our temporary faculty into ‘teaching machines’ by suggesting that their salaries be cut or their workload be increased by 20 percent. They actually said that. I was disgusted by their disdain. My colleagues are hardworking teachers and researchers who provide valuable service to our students and our universities. We are anything but ‘teaching machines.’”

After negotiators expressed their frustration, the State System caucused for nearly four hours, after which the State System withdrew a number of its 249 proposals from the table. Most significant, the System withdrew its proposal to have newer graduate students teach courses.

APSCUF negotiators were glad the sides made some progress, but the parties remain far apart, Mash said.

“This is not a game,” Mash said, referring to the Oct. 19 strike date APSCUF announced last week. “This is going to be very, very hard, given that most of the most-controversial items are still on the table.”

The teams are scheduled to meet Oct. 14–16. APSCUF offered to meet Oct. 8–9, which is a weekend faculty negotiators don’t teach, but the State System rejected those dates.

The faculty contract expired June 30, 2015, and negotiations have been ongoing since late 2014.

APSCUF represents about 5,500 faculty and coaches at the State System universities: Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania.

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A Letter from Dr. Glenn Richardson, Legislative Committee Chair

Dear Fellow Faculty, Coaches, and Athletic Trainers -I write as someone who has represented you in our union (here and in Harrisburg) for nearly a decade. I wish to share with you the perspective from which I see our present moment.

Any union, and our union is no exception, must at times ask more from its members than the flawed humans (who for the most part volunteer to lead it) can truly earn. Yet our most fundamental commitment as a union must be to each other and the values we hold dear. Our strength is drawn from that unity.

Now we face a challenge thrust right at the heart of that unity. A bargaining partner who seeks at each turn to divide us, and to divide us for the sake of division.

Our negotiators report that never in the past have we even been so far along and yet so far apart. Each additional day of delay distracts us from our work (individually and as a union) and digs a deeper hole for us to get out of in seeking fairness. Our bargaining partners have achieved through obstinacy that which they could not achieve through negotiation. And so it is that we have come to this moment where the possibility of a job action is both imminent and real.

As someone long associated with our union, I have many colleagues who are willing to share their concerns. I hear from those who suggest they do not support striking on behalf of non-tenure track faculty, and from non-tenure track faculty who fear they will be sold out (again) by their union.

Our CBA and our union are revered among our professional colleagues across the country precisely because of the way we approach non-tenure track faculty. Our CBA seeks to match the compensation of non-tenure track positions as closely as possible to their tenure-track counterparts, providing those faculty a fair wage and reducing the financial incentive to rely on non-tenure track positions, while also establishing upper-limits on the proportion of positions that non-tenure track faculty may fill. I submit this is the best way to fairly unite tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty as a union, and that it is the best way to secure high quality faculty in all positions.

If you believe that a union is strong when it does not abandon its members, you must reject the PASSHE proposal to cut non-tenure track faculty pay (and presumably benefits) by 20 percent by requiring a five-course teaching load for full-time status at present pay.

Bear in mind self interest as well. More non-tenure track courses means less need for tenure-track faculty.

If you are a non-tenure track faculty member who is concerned about your workload and pay, your union is willing to take the fight and take the risk. You should be a member of your union. Now more than ever.

If you believe in fighting for quality public higher education in Pennsylvania, you must reject the PASSHE proposal to increase the share of non-tenure track faculty. And make 12

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no mistake about it: this time they seek to increase non-tenure track faculty by 20 percent (to a total of 30 percent, not including sabbatical replacements, etc.). Next time it will be more and sooner rather than later our union will find itself on a volatile fault line that could fracture its core, even as educational quality is sacrificed on the altar of austerity.

Indeed, PASSHE is offering nothing but a menu of distasteful options all bound together by one common ingredient: they require us to abandon one or another group of our members.

Not willing to pay for the Chancellor’s refusal to even request higher funding for our universities on the backs of non-tenure track faculty (even as we still lag tens of millions of dollars behind where we were half-a-dozen years go)? How about throwing science faculty under the bus by reducing credit hours for labs? Not that? How about the counselors? Surely they can’t be busy enough not to work more for lower pay. Maybe divide all current members from all future members by sacrificing retiree health benefits for new hires? The State System is insisting that we must choose from this basket of deplorables and call that a fair contract.

Please bear in mind, while the State System has sustained substantial cuts in its support from the Commonwealth, it is not broke. It maintains a reserve of 30 percent of the budget, nearly twice the amount normally seen as prudent.

No state employee union has been asked to accept the magnitude of structural changes to health care that PASSHE seeks from APSCUF. PASSHE seeks to reduce coverage of in-network services from 100 percent to 90 percent. To impose new deductibles and boost co-pays, some of which may double.

Nor have other state employee unions been asked to accept suspension of scheduled “step” increases.

Nor have other state employee unions been offered such paltry general pay increases. In 2015, the median U.S. household saw an income gain of better than 5 percent, the highest since the Census began releasing data in 1967. Yet PASSHE is proposing increases of zero, zero, and one-percent (half-way through the year) for the final two years of our contract.

Why are we being asked time and time again to accept what no other state employee union has been asked to accept? Because, unlike the other unions who negotiate directly with the governor, we negotiate with the State System--an independent entity.

Moreover, while the Governor appoints members to our Board of Governors, they must be approved by the Pennsylvania Senate, which is in the firm control of the governor’s opponents. They have rejected qualified and distinguished nominees the governor has put forth (such as emeritus Shippensburg faculty member Don Mayer). One can only assume that for even those gubernatorial appointees they do approve, the Senate insists upon placement of at least some nominees it finds pleasing.

In sum, while the governor has risked considerable political capital to fight for funding for education and higher education specifically, his ability to influence the PASSHE Board of Governors is at least somewhat more limited than one might assume. Bear in mind, the previous governor faced no such opposition to his appointments from his co-partisans in the Senate. So there is a cadre of appointees 13

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that have been the very architects of the pro-privatization anti-union movement in Pennsylvania higher education who will continue to reside on the Board for the near future.

And so it falls to us to fight this fight. It is a fight for quality public higher education in Pennsylvania.

It is a fight for the rights of employees to bargain collectively. In a war on the right of public employees to bargain collectively that has spread from Wisconsin, eastward to Michigan and Ohio, Pennsylvania has held the line. We held the line (if only barely) even against a Republican governor and a Republican legislature.

Now it falls to us to hold the line. And in a strike, your union asks of you to respect that line. I urge you, please do so.

And as you do, please bear in mind that you are the heir to the noble work of the organized labor movement. From the sacrifice and suffering of those before us, like A. Philip Randolph, who in 1925 organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominantly African-American labor union recognized by the American Federation of Labor. Like Mary Harris (aka “Mother Jones”) who organized the coal miners of West Virginia and fought to abolish child labor. Like Dolores Heurta and Cesar Chavez, who co-founded the National Farmworkers Association. Like Walter Reuther and John L. Lewis who led the great industrial unions of the 20th century. And like Caroline Durocher, the 21 year-old Taco Bell worker who in 2013 walked off the job not sure her coworkers would follow, igniting the push for $15 an hour and a union. Like these brave souls and countless thousands of ordinary Americans who have fought for the rights of labor and for dignity in work, we now must carry that torch and hold that line.

I can assure you that the women and men of Pennsylvania’s unions see our fight as their fight. They have expressed their support and it will grow in our hours of need. We owe it to them to give our best fight.

So it is that we must all answer this question: when the history of this moment is cast in stone and deed, where do you want your legacy to lie?

Yours with the highest respect, Glenn W. Richardson Jr. Department of Political Science APSCUF-KU Delegate APSCUF Legislative Committee Chair

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If Tenured Want to Survive, Pay Your Adjuncts “But in a world where public support of public higher ed continues to decline, where the professoriate is viewed by large swaths of the country as something between a political opponent and a fifth column traitor, where a U.S. senator in all seriousness proposes that a Ken Burns documentary can substitute for college credit (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/22/gop-senatorsave-money-replacing-instructors-ken-burns-videos) in the interests of breaking up the “higher education cartel,” you better believe that they’re coming for everyone and “tenure” is a pretty poor shield.” ~ John Warner, Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/if-tenured-want-survive-pay-youradjuncts#.V8TksCzUWtY.twitter

Ken Burns or Instructors?

"We’ve got the internet -- you have so much information available. Why do you have to keep paying different lecturers to teach the same course? You get one solid lecturer and put it up online and have everybody available to that knowledge for a whole lot cheaper? But that doesn’t play very well to tenured professors in the higher education cartel. So again, we need disruptive technology for our higher education system," he said.” ~ Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/22/gop-senator-save-money-replacinginstructors-ken-burns-videos

University lecturers on the breadline: is the UK following in America’s footsteps?

“The thing is the real economic hardship of this,” says Wedell, who lectures at the University of Southern California Roski School of Art and Design. Her annual wages from non-permanent contracts in the past few years have oscillated between $21,000 and $24,000 depending on how many classes she’s been given to teach. “Scrabbling around” for non-academic work to supplement her income has been essential. “I have to sublet my apartment during the summer and live with my mother – at 43. I have put off having a family because of this. The situation is obscene.” ~ Mary O’Hara, The Guardian Higher Education: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/nov/17/universitylecturers-uk-us-casual-posts-food-stamps

Solidarity is something we do, not just something we say “As our strike preparations pick up pace, we must work to express our solidarity as loudly and often as

possible, and work together to solve logistical and technical problems that would be new to many of us if we have to strike.” ~ Seth Kahn, APSCUF-WCU: https://goo.gl/DXYSn8

Educational Quality in Jeopardy in Pennsylvania – Why a Strike Might Happen We live now in a nation where universities are under attack. Education is becoming increasingly undervalued. Yet history clearly demonstrates that societies that make education a priority, promotes greater innovation and economic growth, empowers people with knowledge as an antidote against oppression, and gives us the ability to flex our minds and adapt in an ever changing and increasingly technological world. The most current attack on universities in this nation is in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). ~ Swarn Gill, Cal U: https://cloakunfurled.com/2016/10/03/educational-quality-in-jeopardy-in-pennsylvania-why-astrike-might-happen/

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Why state university faculty members are prepared to strike, Eric Johnson

APSCUF-KU Newsletter

October 2016

As has been widely reported in local media, the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (the union representing public higher education faculty) has announced a possible strike to begin on Oct. 19.

There is still a chance of a resolution and that no strike will occur, but if things continue along their current trajectory a walkout will start that day. Until then everything will proceed as usual at our public universities.

If there is a strike, I will join it and will not be reporting to my classes. I realize that my decision to participate in a possible strike will be very disruptive to my students' studies at Kutztown University. They have paid a lot in tuition, and some are on the verge of graduating.

I want to make it clear that I am not doing this for self-interested reasons like pay and health care. While these have deteriorated over the years as they have for many American workers, my real motivation is the quality of what my students receive in their education.

The chancellor's office of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education has stated its case in a series of press releases and communications sent to students. It has put tremendous effort into making it seem like faculty members only want more money or are unwilling to help the state save expenses on health care.

But the real point of contention is what the chancellor's office has vaguely described as "other important operational changes that would allow our universities to be more nimble and flexible." The office is proposing more than 240 of these "operational changes," and a sampling of some of the most problematic ones makes it clear why it is being less than forthcoming to students and the public: •Have students teach college courses.

•Assign faculty members to teach outside their fields of knowledge (in other words, a biology class can be taught by an English professor).

•Have 40 percent or more of classes taught by a rotating pool of temps, who will not have office hours and who will be unable to help students with letters of recommendation, internships, lab work, publications, conferences, independent studies or any other type of mentoring.

•Replace in-person teaching with massive online courses, even for students living on campus.

The chancellor's office has claimed that these changes are necessary to "keep tuition affordable." This rhetoric obscures the fact that rising tuition costs have nothing to do with faculty costs, which have risen negligibly compared to university spending as a whole.

The fact of the matter is that the Legislature in Harrisburg has been cutting funding to higher education for many years. Pennsylvania currently ranks 48th in state support of higher education.

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APSCUF-KU Newsletter

October 2016

The fiscal situation that the chancellor's office claims is making these "important operational changes" necessary has nothing to do with the current state of the economy. It is a matter of deliberate policy decisions made over many years. It is in the power of the chancellor's office to do something to keep tuition affordable. It has chosen not to.

Our students have long shouldered the burden of the state's funding cuts in the form of rising tuition costs, the cancellation of entire majors and other reductions to educational programs and services over the years.

These new proposed changes will only erode the value of what people are paying for and are not likely to result in tuition costs going down. As disruptive as a strike would be, it would be far less harmful to our students than the changes the chancellor's office would like to impose.

It is time for our leaders to think of education at every level as an investment to be cultivated, rather than an inconvenient expense to be cut. Until then, I will continue to work toward the day when faculty and students can both get back to doing what we should be doing at a university Eric Johnson History, Kutztown University https://goo.gl/U6lK35

Photo courtesy of Dr. Kevin Mahoney 17

APSCUF-KU Newsletter

October 2016

The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in. ~ James Baldwin 18

APSCUF-KU Newsletter

October 2016

APSCUF Member Publications Submit your publications.

APSCUF invites its members to share complimentary copies of published works for inclusion in the APSCUF member library at the state office. If you have books, articles and/or recordings (performed or directed by APSCUF members), please submit them to: APSCUF 319 N. Front Street Harrisburg, PA 17101 You will receive a letter of appreciation to acknowledge your gift. We hope to continue to grow this library of faculty works to acknowledge the academic excellence of APSCUF faculty.

Current program year is July 1, 2015 - May 31, 2016. You must obtain 70 total points for reduced premiums beginning July 1, 2016. If you are hired on or after April 1, 2016 you will automatically be placed in the participating rate and do not need to obtain the point until the next plan year.

Please visit the APSCUF Member’s Forum for discount codes to special services!

Go to http://apscuf.org/images/PDFs/member_forms/Member_Services_Bklt_2015.pdf to download a PDF file outlining the benefits of your APSCUF membership.

Full dues paying members must register for access into the Members Forum section on the APSCUF website. Registration is easy. Go to www.apscuf.org, click on Members Forum on the upper right side of the page, click on register and follow the directions. Your membership will be verified by the site administrator and you will receive a confirmation/verification email letting you know your registration has been accepted.

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APSCUF-KU Newsletter

October 2016

KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY Kutztown University APSCUF Full Members 17% Discount ProgramProgram 17% Employee Discount Enrollment Instructions with AT&T Enrollment Instructions with AT&T Existing AT&T Customers – Instructions on enrolling in the discount program: Go to att.com/wireless/Kutztown Click the blue Enroll now button in the middle of the screen Enter email address and AT&T cell phone # Validate the Last 4 of Account Holder’s SS# and billing zip code You will receive a confirmation email stating that you’re enrolled, and that’s it!

To Start New Service with AT&T - choose one of the following: Visit an AT&T Retail Store; provide them the Discount code (FAN) # 2434981 and bring an acceptable form of ID such as a Payroll Stub or an Employee Badge. To find a store in your area go to: http://www.wireless.att.com/find-a-store or schedule an appointment at http://www.att.com/storeappointment Go to your AT&T Employee Discount website at att.com/wireless/Kutztown to validate eligibility, start new service, add a line of service, or upgrade your phone Call 888-444-4410 option 2 to order service by phone. Reference FAN # 2434981

Please go to apscuf.org Member’s Forum for discount code.

Important numbers for Customer Care and Premier Site Support Wireless Customer Care call 1-800-331-0500 (24/7) or 611 from your AT&T device Questions about discounts, enrollment process or eligibility contact Business Customer Care 888-444-4410 opt 2 opt 0

© 2013 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T and the AT&T logo are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property.

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APSCUF-KU Newsletter

October 2016

With a new month, brings new great promotions for your employees to take advantage of with AT&T! As a reminder, KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY APSCUF full members are eligible for a 17% discount on their personal services with AT&T, and can register for the discount by visiting www.att.com/wireless/kutztown.

This month we have partnered with Samsung on a free 48” Smart TV with purchase of Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge (see flyer below for all details…).

Please let me know if you would like a printable 1 page PDF to post and share.

Below are all of our current promotions that APSCUF full members of KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY can take advantage of… · FREE 48” Samsung HD TV with GS7/GS7 edge on Next and adding new DIRECTV or U-Verse service (Existing DTV/U-Verse must add new activation only) · AT&T unlimited data, talk and text on up to 10 lines for customers who has AT&T Wireless and either DIRECTV or U-verse TV · iPhone BOGO (Buy one, get one FREE) with iPhone 6S & 6S Plus smartphones (2nd line must be new activation) · Up to $650 in credits for customers porting from Verizon, T-Mobile or Sprint, trading in a smartphone, and purchasing a smartphone on Next for new line of service · $49.99 LG G Pad X 10.1” with purchase of LG G5 or V10 smartphone on Next · $99.99 iPad mini 2 with purchase of an iPhone on Next · $99.99 LG Urbane with purchase of a LG G5 or V10 smartphone on Next · $399.99 Microsoft Surface 3 with purchase of any smartphone on Next · $0.99 LG G Pad F 8” or $0.99 ASUS MeMO 7” with a 2 year contract

Please go to apscuf.org Member’s Forum for discount code.

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APSCUF-KU Newsletter

October 2016

Please go to apscuf.org Member’s Forum for discount code.

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APSCUF-KU Newsletter

October 2016

Please go to apscuf.org Member’s Forum for discount

Please go to apscuf.org Member’s Forum for discount code.

Please go to apscuf.org Member’s Forum for discount code.

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