Special Edition BOG Rally

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APSCUF-KU Newsletter BOG Rally Edition 13 October

Frank Brogan’s Very Bad Day It was an unmitigated disaster. First of all, he spent the first 7 - 10 minutes lecturing the audience about who he is, his background, who the Board of Governors are, and then he turned to explaining collective bargaining, all the while ignoring all of the many student questions that flooded the comment

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Collaborating with other to better our lives as humans.

Valerie Trollinger

feed. He was condescending the entire time, called students our "clients and consumers," insisted again and again that averting a strike is "not in my control," and then proceeded to talk about how great Florida is and how great it is that those teachers don't have collective bargaining. He failed to provide any details or specific answers to students' questions and they saw right through him.

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The Importance of faculty and their research.

The extreme number of angry emojis flying across the screen as he reiterated his talking points told part of the story for the vast majority of students and

Carly Gaba

parents who tuned in. The other part of the story is in the questions and comments from students.

I know that we are worried our students aren't getting our message that we

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care about the quality of their degrees and that we will fight for ourselves and for them. But they have heard us. More of them understand than we realize.

Below is a sampling of questions and comments from PASSHE students during Brogan's live event. I didn't see too many anti-faculty comments in this session - most were neutral or concerned about credits, graduation, and our responsibilities toward students.

This doesn't solve our problem of settling a fair contract with a system that seems bound and determined to break up our union, but our students are watching and it seems clear that most of them support our efforts. Take some solace in that, even as the knot of worry in your own stomach grows every day we inch toward our strike date.

Read and take some comfort from this:

"You need to get your system more funding. That is the problem"

"You need to get your system more funding. That is the problem" "Why are we lowering our quality of education while tuition continues to rise?"

"You are the highest paid employee in the state of PA, even more than the

Gov. Tom Wolf. How can you represent students using attaining an education through state schools for an affordable and quality education. We demand a quality of education. Not putting more money in your pocket. The amount of misinformation given to students is unbelievable."

"How do you plan to finish the semester without any faculty?"

"If they would have agreed to binding arbitration like the teachers requested, we'd be done" "We do not want graduate students teaching us, We do not want online classes, We do not want departments only on one campus."

"Y'all act like you care about students & yet you're having this during classes for most people" ""I deal in fact" okay it's fact that you won't take a paycut and refused binding arbitration, so it's fact that you don't care about students' education."

"Can you please be a little bit more condescending!!!!"

"Speaking of respect for faculty members why did you refuse to defend faculty when a state legislator said faculty only work 17 hours per week????"

"Why can't we cut administrative salaries to help???"

"And there shouldn't be one! Be fair to APSCUF!" (in response to Brogan's comment that APSCUF has never been on strike) "The single biggest driver of rising tuitions for public colleges has been declining state funding for higher education."

For PA:

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--In 2014, we had the 9th highest tuition out of 50 states.

--Tuition increased 45% from 2000-2014.

--93% of that increase is attributable to cuts in state support according to the analysis" "Immense respect...then why has the state not taken ANY deals the faculty have offered? Why did they waste time in meetings instead of negotiating?" "thats BS the pay raise was offer at 0, 0 1, 1% for the 4 year

"it can be averted---what sort of concessions are you making in your package Chancellor ? Why should our sons and daughters go to class when there is no teaching going on ?"

"Students spoke pretty loud and clear here. Maybe it's time to listen."

"I have lost all faith is PASSHE." " I hate his "used car salesman" pitch"

contract"

"Thanks for this joke of a session"

"Why are you trying to make teachers now teach 5 classes and

In solidarity,

Amanda

not get really anything for doing that?"

"How can you claim that you respect our faculty when just last week, you referred to them as "teaching machines" just last week in negotiations?"

"The best interest of students is to have fully tenured professors on faculty being paid well for their level of expertise. Having teaching assistants is a way to keep from paying fully tenured faculty."

"But you're cutting temporary faculty pay. Why?" "Over 90% said they would strike!!! That's not granular that's massive!!!"

"It's not going to take hours. You sir are not helpful " "Your answers are not helpful."

"Professors have defined my education. They directly mold our future. Invest in the most important part of college student careers!!!"

"How about you stop playing these games that are directly affecting our future. We aren't going to college and paying tens of thousands so legislation can degrade our education."

"I like how they're more prepared for a hurricane than a strike."

"Saying you have a plan and then not telling us what it is, does not inspire confidence..."

"This is such a joke. There was nothing we learned here that means anything"

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BOG Rally Special Edition 13 October 2016

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Collaborating with others to better our lives as humans. ~ Valerie Trollinger Statement for PASSHE BOG and others Recently, the Philadelphia Orchestra was on strike. After negotiations failed for them, over a long period of time, the musicians in the orchestra, who are members of the American Federation of Musicians Union went on strike just before the season’s opening concert. The main reason for the strike, according to documentation available, is that the musicians quite rightly believed they were not paid at a level commensurate with their expertise and skills that would make them less competitive in hiring future musicians. The Philadelphia Orchestra is considered one of the “Big Five” orchestras in the United States, and enjoys a solid international reputation as being one of the most outstanding ensembles in the world. The base salary as of October 3, 2016, is $137,000.00 per year. The concert master (first chair violinist) earns significantly more, likely about $500,000.00 or more per year. The music director, Yannik Nezet- Seguin, earns a yearly salary in the millions.

One will make the argument that these are elite musicians, worth every cent they earn if not more. I agree. I was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, performing as a regular substitute in the bassoon section, from the middle 1980’s until the late 1990’s. Our recent PASSHE labor issues have caused me to think on what we share with the jobs of elite, world class musicians. Surprisingly, we have many similarities and few differences, which I hope the board will consider.

The musicians argued that they should earn the higher salaries because of the stress of their positions and the level of performance they are required to meet. Many outside the professional performance field do not realize that being required to be PERFECT every moment that one is on the job can be excruciatingly stressful. Additionally and not unlike elite athletes, musicians deal with physical bodily damage that can result from this need for perfection (the reason I also work in the Performing Arts Medicine discipline as an adjunct faculty member of the Drexel University College of Medicine). Other requirements that help one attain this perfection are (1) excellent and often expensive training (2) expensive professional instruments (3) and a devotion to being perfect in musical performance. Needless to say, devoting one’s life to the perfect performance of music is often a lonely pursuit, requiring one to pay serious, one may say almost selfish, homage to a demanding mistress, Music.

And what of the perfect performance, what does it do? Does it cure cancer? Does it make a significant, life-changing effect on audience members? Does it help educate children?

Does it help audience members decide on their best career path? Does the orchestra deal with emergency texts from their audience members in the middle of the night because they were rushed to the hospital? To all of this, the answer is mostly NO. The orchestra provides meaningful entertainment for those who can afford to go to the concerts (and I cannot afford tickets, unless a colleague in the orchestra snags me a free one), and once the performance is done, the audience and the musicians part ways.

Yet, no one has ever entertained the idea that these musicians are not worth the high 4

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salaries.

I chose to leave a promising career as a member in a major symphony orchestra ( I also substituted in the Cleveland Orchestra, another Big Five ensemble) because for me, playing the same music, enduring the predictability of rehearsals and performances, and the lack of any creative or intellectual stimulation was found wanting in purpose. I did not feel that I was making a significant contribution to the improvement of humanity by practicing hours a day, individually and in the 2.5 hour rehearsals, making reeds for my instrument, and forcing myself to the level of perfection required as a symphonic musician. Not surprisingly, many in the professional orchestra field experience the same concerns, and it was highlighted in a study that surveyed members of 78 International orchestras concerning job satisfaction. The findings indicated that orchestral musicians in professional orchestras rated their own job satisfaction as 5.4 (on a scale of 1 – 10), slightly below job satisfaction of prison guards ( see “Life and Work in Symphony Orchestras” : Allmendinger, J., Hackman, R., & Lehman, E. The Musical Quarterly, 80(2), 1996, pages 194219). Unfortunately, the dissatisfaction has only increased since then, and the areas assessed were the ones I mentioned previously that resulted in my decision to leave that business.

But what does this have to do with our own contract concerns? Plenty. Since joining the PASSHE system as a professor, I have seen in my colleagues the same devotion to highlevel education of our students. While as a musician I spent many hours a day working on my craft in privacy, as a professor in the PASSHE system I spend not only my 17 hours or more time in classes, lessons, rehearsals and office hours, I spend even more hours preparing for classes, updating and adjusting lesson plans, meeting with students, grading and helping students revise their work, supervising student teachers all over eastern PA, engaging in research, and participating in governance, with my last Moore report indicating that I spend about 65 hours or more per week focusing on my students, their education, the growth of knowledge, and collaborating with others to better our lives as humans. My students keep me up and night and wake me up in the morning, since I make sure I am accessible to them 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, even when I was on sabbatical and teaching half-way across the world. Like all my colleagues fighting for a fair contract, I am devoted to our students and their education, even if I do not earn anywhere near what I may have earned as a professional, full-time orchestral musician in a major symphony orchestra. The major difference between the symphonic musicians and the professors is that most professors truly love their jobs.

One can make the argument that the musicians are elite, they possess a particular talent, they work hard, and for that they should be monetarily rewarded, and that professors do not fall under this distinction. I disagree. Every professor I know exhibits many of the qualities of the elite musicians I still work with: they are dedicated, knowledgeable, experts in their fields, overwhelmingly burdened with work and talented in delivering instruction and working with our students. What makes the professor’s jobs harder is that while the musicians are devoted to one outcome, perfect musical performance, professors are devoted to many outcomes – every single student one has ever taught (numbering for many of us in multiple thousands) in addition to the scholar’s desire to improve human existence. In my opinion, I work much harder as a college professor than I ever did when I was a full-time performer. I chose to do this for less financial reward as well.

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However, the argument here is not about finances. The PASSHE professors are a proud equivalent to any elite famous performing artist I have ever worked with. Like the Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians, the faculty is fighting to preserve the same integrity and quality that our students deserve. While as a whole we work in a harmonious ensemble as much as possible, much like a musical ensemble, we all bring our strongest characteristics and skills to our academic ensemble. Breaking it will destroy the harmony we have all developed and throw the system into discord, resulting in disharmonious and dare I say, cacophonous, educational experiences for our students.

I am honored that I am a part of the PASSHE “symphony” orchestra. Like my teaching colleagues I am devoted to our wonderful students and in helping them find and explore the lives they want to lead. Professors work as hard for the benefit of their students at the same level as any music director of any major, world-class symphony orchestra. In terms of what I have written here, I know my colleagues in the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra stand in solidarity with the PASSHE faculty. Please support the faculty desire to commit to a contract that is fair and equitable.

Respectfully, Valerie L. Trollinger, Associate Professor of Music, Kutztown university of PA, & Associate Professor (Adjunct), Drexel University College of Medicine

The Importance of Faculty and Their Research ~ Carly Gaba, ‘17 Our faculties have an important role in perfecting the nations future. Teaching the next generation of employees, creating our society as a whole. Without our creative, dedicated leaders, the potential society noted above would not be possible.

Faculty members being highly involved in teaching engages students in the undergraduate experience, which results in greater student learning. Kuh (2001) and Pascarella (2001) posited that a quality undergraduate education was one that engaged students in proven good educational practices. Recent studies (e.g., Trank & Rynes, 2003, p. 191) argue that higher education is progressing on a “path away from professionalism.”

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The need for faculty leadership defines roles of the university community, which helps create a harmonious whole. But what will happen if our faculty goes on strike due to no fair contract? The harmonious structure we have worked so hard to form and maintain will begin to crumble.

Students will not be able to receive the education they deserve.

Chancellor Brogan wants to remove research for adjunct faculty, making their “work load less,” but this decision isn’t a smart one. Faculty research is important to students, and here’s why.

Faculties that participate in research have a better chance of helping students through their research. “Teaching motivation is indicated to arise from a genuine care of student pro-gression and the satisfaction gained from student interactions and course delivery” (Alpay and Verschoor, 2014, p. 373). Faculty working conditions are student-learning conditions.

Most senior students have to write a research paper for the Senior Capstone. Encouraging this kind of work and amplifying its impact is one way that our faculty can expand the knowledge of students, using their past experience as a guide.

But it’s not just the faculty who help encourage the students. According to Alpay and Verschoor (2014), there are benefits in the use of undergraduate students to provide faculty with a productive research topic. Thus, refining my argument that both faculty and students need each others support.

Our institutions can support contingent faculty by allowing them professional development opportunities, defined as those opportunities to stay current in the field or improve as a teacher and scholar (Meloncon, England & Ilyasova, 2016). As they improve as a teacher, student-learning experiences will improve which will overall improve the next generations to enter the work field.

Carly Gaba, Communications Studies, ‘17

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BOG Rally Special Edition 13 October 2016