USM Campus Report 2014
Michele Cheung, Harlan Baker – May 25, 2014
It’s been an eventful year at USM. The two biggest pieces of news involve follow-up on the AYA grievance from last year and the faculty and program cuts this April.
AYA Update:
Last summer, USM arbitrarily, unilaterally and with no notice decided to not give AYA’s. With executive committee consent, I initiated a systemwide grievance on behalf of all the adjuncts. We delivered this grievance at the time of our first contract bargaining session. In the meantime, I got USM to decide to reverse their decision and continue the AYA’s for USM adjuncts. Part of the contract we just signed concerns better implementation of the AYA across the system, putting the grievance in abeyance. It can be reactivated if the UM system fails to perform on it. The contract also named a mid-April date by which adjuncts should receive the offer so they can plan ahead and/or know when they need to inquire about it. So we’re watching and need you to let us know if you have or know anyone who is having AYA issues.
Ironically, we at USM do not know if we’re receiving AYA’s even though it’s after the deadline because no contracts or AYA offers have gone out yet because of the suspension of the huge faculty and program cuts. Confining myself to how these affect adjuncts, as full-timers were let go, many of their courses were offered to adjuncts for next fall. Then with Kalikow’s suspension of the cuts, the same adjuncts had those course offers pulled back, all in a period of less than three weeks. I’m also exploring some rumors I heard that individual adjuncts who independently asked about their AYA’s received verbal assurances of them. I’m in the process of checking with HR about this as of this report.
The Cuts and “Rescindment” of Cuts at USM:
Newspaper coverage of the cuts and response to them were frequently oversimplified, so I’ll summarize the basic events as they affect adjuncts. At the end of March on a Friday, 12 full-time faculty were called in for ten-minute appointments in which they were informed they were being let go. By the next week, chairs were offering some of their courses to adjuncts. Harlan Baker and I decided we needed a meeting for USM adjuncts which we set up for the next week. Jim Seymour joined us. Considering how little notice there was, it was well attended and we saw some new adjunct faces there. A stand-out visitor was Meaghan LaSala from Students for #USMFuture who invited us to speak at the teach-in for the April 11 demonstrations in Portland’s Monument Square.
Harlan Baker accepted and represented PATFA there. We have joined the coalition these students are forming extending across education and other labor organizations in Maine. The publicity the student protests garnered was extensive and positive, and considering Kalikow’s frequent disapproving comments on taking university issues to the media and the subsequent suspension of the cuts, effective. We look forward to working more closely with them.
This is USM’s third year of perceptible cuts, and there’s a graveyard atmosphere in the emptier offices and smaller classes this year. As bad as the news that prompted our meeting was, what we saw at it and in the ensuing weeks all over campus was really enspiriting. Bargaining units that usually don’t mix much are talking to each other and supporting each other.
One effect of faculty and student protest was Kalikow’s announcement that she was rescinding the faculty firings.
The rescindments are really only suspensions, however. The Senate faculty was invited to come up with an alternative plan that would save a large portion of the same $1.6 million out of faculty funding by May 31 – no guarantees that these plans will be accepted in whole or in part. A budget gap of the same magnitude is predicted for next year, so whatever is agreed on for this fall, it will all need to be done again. Nonetheless, I have been going to some of the Faculty Senate meetings where the alternative plans are discussed, and adjuncts have some role in them. At the first such meeting, Students for #USMFuture were there as well as Kalikow and Trustee James Page. Nonetheless, quite a few adjuncts are in a kind of limbo regarding how real or unreal their fall course assignments are.
Other News:
• We have also been sending out more substantive newsletters to the USM adjuncts with good response from the adjuncts here.
• Before the cuts and suspension of the cuts, Harlan Baker attended the monthly audiences Kalikow had been holding for the campus representatives of all the bargaining units. These meetings stopped after the cuts.
• Our two voting faculty senate reps speak up and voting regularly. These spots are hard to fill since it requires quite a time commitment. If you interested, I’d be happy to hear from you. I also attended the Core Curriculum Committee as the voting adjunct representative which in addition to providing a voice for us, puts me in regular contact with faculty and developments I might not otherwise run across.