Author: Nick

27 Apr Illinois TEACHOUT Resolution

Support the April 27^th TEACH OUT for Illinois Higher Education

Adopted by UIC Senate 4/26/17

WHEREAS: The State of Illinois has failed to pass a full higher education budget since fiscal year 2015; and

WHEREAS: Higher education funding and MAP grants have endured both repeated governor veto and failed veto override votes (Chicago Tribune); and

WHEREAS: Proposed budgets further cut higher education (Illinois Office of Management and Budget FY16, FY17, FY18); and

WHEREAS: The State of Illinois has failed to pass and support MAP Grants for our low income students in the current academic year (Illinois Student Assistance Commission); and

WHEREAS: Students are adversely affected by the continued budget impasse by programs being eliminated, classrooms with insufficient supplies, larger class sizes due to the lack of faculty and staff, and cuts in services offered to assist students (University Professionals of Illinois Local 4100); and

WHEREAS: Due to consistent underfunding of public higher education in Illinois, students face the 5^th highest average public university tuition and fees in the country and highest in the Mid-West (College Board); and

WHEREAS: Over 70% of graduating Illinois students have student loan debt which is, on average, $30,000 or more (Lendedu.com); and

WHEREAS: Over 16,000 students last year left the state to attend out-of-state universities p;than pursue their degrees in Illinois (The New York Times); and

WHEREAS: Some students have been forced to delay their education due to these cuts (Springfield Journal Registrar); and

WHEREAS: University employees have been laid-off, furloughed and/or forced to take pay-cuts and/or defer their salary to keep university doors open (NEIU, CSU, EIU, WIU and several Community Colleges including Black Hawk College, Rock Valley College, Elgin Community College, McHenry Community College, Richland College among others); and

WHEREAS: Universities have moved to eliminate programs due to decreasing enrollment and that these program cuts tend to be in the humanities which teach vital critical and creative thinking (CSU, GSU, WIU and pending at EIU and NIU); and

WHEREAS: The State of Illinois has chronically underfunded public higher education including being the only agency cut in nominal dollars when compared to FY2000 (FY2000=$2.15 billion compared to FY15 = $1.99 billion) and when adjusted for inflation, Illinois public higher education has suffered a 41% cut in funding between FY 2000 and FY2015 (Center for Tax and Budget Accountability); and

WHEREAS: The stop-gap appropriation passed by the Illinois General Assembly in June 2016 resulted in an over 78.5% cut in funding when compared to FY 2000 (adjusted for inflation) making it the single largest cut in higher education in the country (Center for Tax and Budget Accountability); and

WHEREAS: Between 2008 and 2015 Illinois has cut per pupil higher education funding by over 54%, the second highest in the country (Center for Budget and Policy Priorities) ; and

WHEREAS: Higher education degrees are vital to long-term personal and state economic growth as well as civic and cultural growth; and

WHEREAS: Our students and our state deserve better;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:  The UIC Faculty Senate support the state-wide TEACH OUT for Illinois Higher Education on April 27 in Springfield where all Illinois universities and colleges bring students and employees to occupy the hallways and rotunda in the Capitol Building to hold classes and demand full MAP and Higher Education Funding; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT: We encourage all supporting organizations and groups join in the state-wide TEACH OUT for Illinois Higher Education.

05 Apr Shared Governance and Academic Freedom Award Winner Announced

UIC United Faculty Awards First Annual

John Shuler Award for Shared Governance and Academic Freedom

to the English Department

 Resolution Adopted by the UICUF Representative Assembly

March 21, 2017

WHEREAS, the Department of English revised its bylaws in May 2015 to include “all tenured and tenure-track Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, and Professors, all non-tenure track Lecturers, Senior Lecturers, and Visiting Lecturers, and all tenured, tenure-track or non-tenure track Clinical Assistant Professors, Clinical Associate Professors, and Clinical Full Professors” in its definition of its faculty, making Non-Tenure Track faculty voting members of the Department and creating permanent positions for all ranks on standing department committees;

AND WHEREAS, under the leadership of former Head Walter Benn Michaels, current Head Lisa Freeman, and members of the Non-Tenure Track and Tenure Track faculty, the Department of English led the effort in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to develop procedures for Non-Tenure Track promotion in accordance with provisions in the Collective Bargaining Agreement;

AND WHEREAS, the Department of English has developed transparent procedures for reviewing and documenting the performance of Non-Tenure Track faculty, including regular teaching observations, department-specific student teaching evaluations, and norms for service and professional development;

AND WHEREAS, the Department of English has a long-standing practice of electing a Steering Committee, which as of May 2015 included Non-Tenure Track faculty members, to oversee the process of ranking faculty members for merit-based raises;

AND WHEREAS, faculty in the Department of English have been leaders in the movement to protect academic freedom and defend public higher education, including organizing a Free Higher Education event in January 2016, publishing on the UIC United Faculty organizing campaign in Jacobin Magazine (Davis & Michaels, 2014), and publishing on the AAUP One Faculty campaign in Academe (Michaels & McFarland, 2015);

IT IS RESOLVED, that the Department of English will be awarded the 2016-2017 UIC United Faculty John Shuler Award for Shared Governance and Academic Freedom.

***

UICUF’s John Shuler Award for Shared Governance and Academic Freedom will be an annual award to a department or college that demonstrates its commitment, through action, to truly democratic shared governance and academic freedom. The union sees the Shuler award as a way to sustain our memory of John and to continue the work he had planned for his future, encouraging our faculty to pursue these goals in his spirit and his honor.

John Shuler was a beloved member of the UICUF community.  Doggedly involved with the union from its beginning, he was a tireless member of our bargaining committee and, at the time of his untimely death in 2016, served as treasurer.  He was also energetically involved with the UIC Senate.  For 23 years, John was a mainstay at the UIC library, responsible for government information/documents.

28 Mar UICUF March for Science

UIC United Faculty endorses and will participate in the Chicago March for Science, a sister march to the Washington, DC, March for Science, planned for April 22, 2017.

The organizing/steering committee of the DC March for Science includes an anthropologist, a physiologist, a health educator, a neuroscientist, an ethnobotanists/indigenous scientist, a science communicator, a pharmacologist, an engineer, and a philosopher of science.

The mission of the March for Science in DC is “to champion robustly funded and publicly communicated science as a pillar of human freedom and prosperity. We unite as a diverse, nonpartisan group to call for science that upholds the common good and for political leaders and policy makers to enact evidence-based policies in the public interest.” https://www.marchforscience.com/

The march has been officially endorsed by several organizations, including AAUP, AAAS, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the NY Academy of Science, various professional organizations, and more. See the full list at http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/02/will-they-or-won-t-they-what-science-groups-are-saying-about-joining-march-science

Sister marches are planned in hundreds of cities across the country and the world, including Chicago. The mission of the Chicago march is “to show support for the scientific community. To safeguard the scientific process, and research funding, when seeking answers to the things that matter.To publicly celebrate science, which helps us make sense of ourselves and our world. To encourage curiosity and exploration, the heart of the scientific approach.” http://sciencemarchchicago.org/

UICUF endorses and will participate in the March for Science to foster an environment conducive to science, because:

• Science is essential for the health of our communities, the safety of our environment, the future of our planet.
• Science values diversity; diversity enriches sciences.
• Science is an international pursuit.
• Science needs to be open and independent.

Adopted by the UICUF Representative Assembly March 1, 2017.

07 Feb Healthcare Message to Members

Dear UIC United Faculty Member,

As you may recall about a year ago we sent a request to President Killeen regarding our concerns about future increases to the cost of our health care. As a result of our advocacy and working in coalition with the UIC Senate, Academic Professional Advisory Council, and Staff Advisory Council leaders, the President formed a taskforce. After doing research and holding three town hall meetings, a report was produced and recently shared with leadership at all three campuses.

You can find the report at this link:

The Executive Board of UIC United Faculty has reviewed it and find that while it is very informative, it does not indicate what the university will do – if anything – should health care costs increase. For details about how your health costs could go up, see this flyer prepared by the IFT

We will be discussing the options outlined in the report and what strategies we might pursue moving forward at our next full membership meeting, March 8, 3:00-5:00pm at Student Center East.

In the meantime, I encourage you to attend the APAC “Budget Outlook” Town Hall, February 9th, 2:00 – 4:00 PM, Thompson Room, Student Center West, 828 West Wolcott Avenue.

Also, we informed you in an email January 24th that the Illinois Senate was working on a Budget Grand Bargain, which included cuts to our pension and a smaller budget for higher education. As of today, the 13 bill package has still not come to a vote. However, it may happen this week, so if you have not yet called your state senator to voice your opinion about this, this is the week to do so.

With the support of IFT staff in Springfield and AFT staff in Washington DC, we are watching with a keen eye all legislation that is being considered and the positions of our elected officials. These are certainly interesting times – all the more reason we need a strong union.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email me or your representative. You can find contact information on the UICUF website, http://uicunitedfaculty.org/.

In solidarity,

Janet Smith
UIC United Faculty President
Local #6456 AFT-IFT, AAUP, AFL-CIO
http://uicunitedfaculty.org/

05 Oct UICUF’s Letter to Chancellor Amiridis Regarding ICR Pullback

Click the link below to Read UICUF’s letter to Chancellor Amiridis regarding the University’s troubling decision to pull back 125 million in indirect cost return (ICR) funds to cover the State’s potential budgetary shortfall.

ICR Letter October 4, 2016

08 May UIUC Non-Tenure Track Ratify Their First Contract!

Great news! Our sister union at University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition, Local 6546, (AFT/IFT/AAUP) has ratified its first contract by an overwhelming majority.

UIC United Faculty congratulates NTFC, as well as Interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson and Interim Provost Edward Feser, for reaching an agreement that will provide the teaching faculty at UIUC with some modicum of economic security and academic freedom. This collective bargaining agreement represents a significant step forward for the teaching mission of UIUC.

The IELRB recognized NTFC in July 2014. They began bargaining their contract in October 2014.

The new, five-year contract will provide full-time non-tenure-system faculty at UIUC with three-month advance notice rights prior to the beginning of the semester, and one year of extra job security for long-term faculty, beyond the duration of their current one-year contract.

NTFC Communications Chair, Dorothee Schneider, says the contract covers the “most high-priority issues for the union, whose members asked for greater employment security, academic freedom protections and participation in faculty governance.”

The contract, for August 16, 2014 – August 15, 2019, includes an option to reopen the provision on compensation next year (for the 2017-18 year). It includes:

* 2014-15: 2.5% Campus Wage program (merit pool) 2015-16: eligibility for CWP;

* 2016-17: eligibility for CWP and CMER (compression, market, equity, retention) programs;

* 2017-18: $43,000 floor, eligibility for CWP and CMER

* 2018-19: $45,000 floor, eligibility for CWP and CMER Bonus: wage reopener (at union’s request);

* 2-year window for departments to alter their bylaws to include NTTs in faculty governance;

* 2-year window for departments to alter their bylaws to create a clear evaluation system;

* A clear, multi-tier grievance system;

* Rolling 1+1 appointments (for 6th year or above; in effect Fall 2017); and

* Clear reappointment policies (notice by May 1).

Note: multi-year contracts will continue through college policies, and will be encouraged.

04 Apr UIC Healthcare Concerns

As reported at our membership meeting last month, we drafted and sent in January a joint letter from the UIC Academic Professional Advisory Committee, UIC Faculty Senate, UIC Staff Advisory Council, and UIC United Faculty to President Killeen regarding our serious concerns about anticipated changes in health care costs. These are also concerns of our Chancellor, who has met with the president and other UI chancellors. The response we got was disappointing, taking a “wait and see” approach. Our joint response in a letter sent two weeks ago was to meet as soon as possible, to prepare and develop potential strategies laid out in our initial letter. We are still waiting for a reply but will follow up and keep you informed.  Correspondence between our Coalition and the University is linked below.

Original Letter: Healthcare-UIC Faculty Staff Concerns 1-22-16

Killeen’s Response: Letter from Killeen rcd 3-7-16

CoalitionFollowup: Follow-up Healthcare letter to President Killeen 3-24-16

Killeen Establishing Task Force Killeen Letter to UICUF 4-26-16

04 Apr UICUF Spring Meeting

We had a great meeting on March 9th with updates on Organizing, Contract Implementation, Healthcare, Union Committees, and Legislation. If you were not able to attend, a PDF of the powerpoint is linked below.

UICUF Spring Meeting

06 Feb Free Higher Ed Event

On Thursday, January 28 UICUF hosted a panel discussion in support of free public higher education. We had about 150 attendees join us at Student Center East.

Chicago Public Access TV recorded the discussion for our friends and allies who were not able to make it.

The Speakers (in order) are

Gianna Chacon, IIRon Student Network Leader and Student at Roosevelt University
Kenneth Warren, U of Chicago Professor of English and author of What Was African American Literature?
Walter Benn Michaels, UIC Professor of English and author of The Beauty of a Social Problem
Adolph Reed, Jr., U of Pennsylvania Professor of Political Science and author of Without Justice for All: The New Liberalism and the Retreat from Racial Equality
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, a student leader in the 300,000-strong student protests in Québec and author of a book about the movement, In Defiance.
Jennifer Ashton,(moderator) UIC Associate Professor of English and Vice President Chief Steward of UIC United Faculty