12 Nov Member Meeting Next Wednesday, 11-18-20 @3pm
- Membership Meeting: Members can join our Fall Member Meeting next Wednesday, 11/18/20, from 3-4pm. If you’re not a member, email us at UICUnitedFaculty@gmail.com to join!
- Meeting Agenda: We will discuss ongoing pandemic impacts on our work, including your thoughts on teaching, research and service this semester, an update on Impact Bargaining from our Bargaining Team, and efforts moving forward for spring semester.
- Spring Calendar Survey: The Provost’s office is considering alterations to the spring calendar in response to the pandemic. We will be issuing a brief survey on faculty preferences for possible calendar changes next week.
Dear UICUF Members,
We now have a link for you to join our remote member meeting next week. The meeting will be next Wednesday, 11/18/20, from 3-4pm, and all members are encouraged to join us and contribute. At the meeting, we will be broadly discussing how ongoing remote work and the COVID pandemic have affected our work, and members are invited to give your input. We’ll also have a discussion around ongoing impact bargaining, led by our Bargaining Team. As many of you know, bargaining has been ongoing since the pandemic began, and has yielded some important concessions, but with critical caveats, including timelines for many policies set to end soon. Lastly, we will discuss moving forward toward the spring semester, and ideas floated by the provost to alter the academic calendar in an effort to better address the realities of the COVID crisis.
This meeting will be immediately followed by an open meeting of the UICUF Representative Assembly, the legislative body that governs our union alongside our Executive Board. Members are encouraged to stay with us for this session as we discuss current issues and future membership organizing.
Spring Calendar Survey
Many public institutions, including our fellow U of I campuses, have recently moved to alter their spring academic calendars in response to the ongoing pandemic. The Provost’s office appears to be considering similar measures, including the possibility of starting later, offering mental health days throughout the semester, cancelling spring break, and other options to address both potential spread of the virus and the dangers of burnout from long-term remote instruction.
We want to share your input with the provost on the options we’re aware of, so that UIC can make the most informed decisions possible. We will be emailing you a survey early next week, and soliciting comments at the member meeting, so please consider sharing your thoughts!
