LCC Faculty Colleagues,

I’m writing to extend my most warm wishes for a wonderful finals week and winter break ahead!

This has been an incredibly busy term, and there are many updates for you all on topics including: LCC budget news, HB2611 Memorandum of Agreement, No layoff / Separation incentive agreement, recruitment and retention of faculty from historically oppressed groups, academic freedom and the role of public higher education in a healthy democracy, shared governance, dates to reserve on your calendar for January, membership celebrations, among others.

LCC Budget Updates

LCC now has a budget surplus in the general fund. As anticipated, after the legislature made a $100M increase in June to the Community College Support Fund for the 2023-2025 biennium, LCC is receiving $1.355M more per year than the amount included in this year’s budget. In addition, enrollment and, thus, tuition revenue are up $450K above the budgeted amount this year so far for Summer and Fall terms with more surplus revenue expected for Winter and Spring.

In addition to the revenue that exceeds the budgeted amount, the Board of Education voted in September to make modest cuts to the general fund budget to create a reserve in the amount of $2.8M. The reserve was created by removing a portion of budgeted vacant positions and minimal reductions to non-personnel items such as M & S (i.e. Materials & Supplies). Thus, there is now a surplus as well as an extra reserve in Fund I, with a combined total of $4.6M. (See visual below.) More information about the positive budget news was presented at the all campus Fall business meeting and also the November 1 Board of Education meeting.

Reminder: Separation Incentive and No Layoff Agreement

The deadline for contracted faculty electing to separate or retire and receive an incentive is January 12, 2024. Read the full Agreement Here.

HB2611 Memorandum of Agreement

As reported at the All Faculty meeting, due to changes in state law achieved by our statewide union the Oregon Education Association, LCCEA and the College signed an agreement that makes permanent some provisions from two previous memoranda that had been contingent upon funding. Provisions that have become permanent include: increased inservice hours for part-time faculty, increased paid days for contracted faculty, expanded eligibility for part-time faculty healthcare, specific funding for Faculty Professional Development, and the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Curriculum development fund. In addition, beginning in Fall 2024 all newly hired contracted faculty will receive a one course release for one term during their first year for the purpose of professional development. (See attachment.)

Retro Pay for Part-time Faculty in BCIT

Thanks to the work of our amazing LCCEA Grievance Chair Christina Howard and Team, all part-time faculty in Business and CIT who taught since Winter 2023 will be receiving retroactive compensation. There were errors in workload calculations for all the part-time faculty in BCIT from Winter 2023 through present. As a result, all the part-time faculty in BCIT were underpaid and will be receiving retro compensation for what they should have been paid. We learned about this issue when a faculty member raised a question, which led to an information request and the discovery that all the PT faculty in the department were affected and had been underpaid. 

Faculty are encouraged to continue to ask questions when something seems amiss. It often turns out that there was a contract violation, and it sometimes affects others.

Celebrating Membership and End of Term with Cupcakes 

Today & Tuesday, 2:30-3:30 in CEN 303, all departments with 100% LCCEA membership are invited to a celebration. Congratulations to Writing/Literature, ABSE, Math, Assessment/Curriculum, Physics, Counseling, Academic Tech, Health Clinic, Performing Arts, PTA, Tutoring, Health, Multicultural Center, GEC, Media Arts, PE, Earth & Environmental Science, ESL, Languages, ALS, HIM, MA, Career Pathways, Chemistry, and Cooperative Ed for PT faculty, FT faculty, or both! And congratulations to contest winners Nursing, ABSE, & Writing for largest membership increases. Hats off to Membership Committee Wendy Simmons, Wendy Rose Aaron, Aryn Bartley, Gerry Meenaghan, and Kevin Steeves for their work and for 100% membership of all new FT faculty this year.

Academic Freedom, Higher Education, and Democracy

Please stay tuned – Your LCCEA officers will be issuing a statement later this week to: unequivocally affirm the values of academic freedom – a bedrock principle for higher education in a healthy democracy; emphasize the intrinsic connection between academic freedom and the role of higher education in promoting civic engagement, an educated citizenry and a vibrant participatory democracy in our communities; recenter the goal of advancing social justice and equity in campus discourse and practices; and unwaveringly protect the role, responsibility, and right of faculty to teach diverse, comprehensive, culturally-accurate history and narratives, including critical race and gender theories and restorative justice concepts as we trace and confront concerning trends on campus that parallel the policies being enacted in states such as Florida and Texas.

Recommended reading – In the meantime, we strongly recommend reading this article, “A Threat to Democracy: Florida’s Agenda to Dismantle Public Higher Education,” which was recently published by the AAUP. (See also: Appendix A below for Faculty Academic Freedom, Professional Freedom and related rights.)

A Timely Workshop

Rutgers chapter of AAUP-AFT is offering a workshop on, “Defending Academic Freedom in a Threatening Climate” on Thursday, December 7 at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time (6:30 p.m. Eastern time) Register here

Recruitment and Retention of Faculty from Historically Oppressed Groups

Please join me in thanking Racial Equity and Social Justice committee members: Wendy Rose Aaron, Jessica Alvarado, Wynona Burks, Susie Cousar, Edrees Nawabi, and Avery Old Coyote on our long-term effort to finalize a collaborative, joint plan with HR on recruitment and retention of faculty from historically oppressed groups. The committee has conducted an analysis of qualitative data from exit interviews with faculty who identify as persons of color and quantitative data (summarized on this memo) from All Faculty Surveys in order to inform recommendations for the joint plan. The results of the most recent All Faculty Survey from 2023 are more concerning. In 2021, 16% of faculty respondents indicated that they have considered seeking a job elsewhere due to bias and discrimination on campus. By Spring 2023, that increased to 18% of all faculty respondents. In addition, 79.9% of faculty respondents in Spring 2023 indicated that addressing bias and discrimination on campus is a highest or high priority. These results, coupled with the incidents on campus such as the recent racist, hate language found in the Center building and the dismantling of the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, have highlighted the critical importance of this work. You can find the committee’s current recommendations here.

Shared Governance

At the October Board of Education work session, the Board of Education hosted numerous guest speakers to discuss LCC’s shared governance system, including former LCC President Mary Spilde, former student leader and Board member Tony McCown, and a representative from NWCCU (our regional accrediting agency). After hearing the speakers and discussing the system, a majority of Board members expressed a desire to not consider making changes to shared governance at this time. For this reason, a resolution that would have reduced the role of shared governance in decision making was not moved forward to a Board meeting agenda for a vote.

Nevertheless, it is surprising that a November 8 memo from President Bulger to all campus requests that councils throughout governance adopt a resolution with many of the same points that the publicly-elected Board of Education, which is the body with a higher level of authority than any college employee, declined to consider for adoption. The again proposed resolutions would effectively transform the shared governance system into one that makes recommendations to the college president. Without modification, the existing shared governance system does already provide that the responsible administrator makes decisions whenever consensus is not reached. The memo includes data from many years ago and some information about the governance redesign process but does not include the action items for governance implementation that were approved in 2021 such as the newly created notice and comment system that seeks to promote transparency and broader input across campus in decision-making. For more complete background information on governance redesign, please see a brief narrative posted for the Board of Education in May 2021, the complete, approved implementation work plan also provided to the Board in May 2021, and a memo outlining this more recent history of governance can be found here. 

Results on this issue from the Spring 2023 All Faculty Survey are as follows. 84.2% support or strongly support maintaining the role of decision making in the governance system with 70.9% indicating strong support. (See graph below and Appendix A below this message.)

Solidarity

Our union cousins of the GTFF, who are also part of the Lane County Education Workers Coalition along with many other unions including LCCEA and LCCEF, have voted to go on strike if they do not reach a reasonable agreement with the University of Oregon. LCCEA stands with the graduate employees of UO in their plight for a fair contract. Despite being at a critical juncture in their bargaining, the officers of the GTFF have also written a letter of support for LCC faculty of color who were targeted for layoff in September and for LCCEA due unfair labor practices by LCC.

Winter and Spring promise to offer many opportunities for faculty solidarity both on campus and off. Standing together we will continue to center our critical instructional and student services mission and promote the quintessential role of a community college in a vibrant democracy. Action Team Co-Chairs Wendy Simmons and Paula Thonney are your contacts for more information.

Together we can create the campus our community deserves. 

It is a great honor and a privilege to stand together with you all.

My best,

Adrienne

Dates for Your Calendar

All Faculty Information and Q & A Sessions – Hosted by Your LCCEA Bargaining Team: Sarah Erickson, Adrienne Mitchell, April Myler, Peggy Oberstaller, and Russell Shitabata, these sessions will review results from the all faculty survey, including key faculty interests and goals that will provide direction for LCCEA advocacy.

Tuesday, January 16, 4:00 p.m. in person, CEN 401 

Friday, January 19, 1:00 p.m. on Zoom 

Winter Term Department Rep Meetings

Tuesday, January 23, 3:00-4:30 p.m. in person 

Friday, January 26, 1:00-2:30 on Zoom (Find your LCCEA committees & department reps here.)

Appendix A: Know Your Faculty Rights

Academic Freedom – faculty are entitled to and responsible for protecting freedom in the classroom in discussion & presentation of subject matter. (Art. 15.2) Academic freedom is a “special concern” of the First Amendment and extends to grading & evaluation of students. Honoring students’ due process rights, without instructor consent, grades may only be changed by a committee composed of a majority of faculty members (Art. 15.1) 

Professional Freedom – Faculty have the right to discuss controversial issues & divergent points of view, including evaluating, criticizing, and advocating their view about policies & programs of the college (Art. 15.3)

Personal life – faculty members’ personal life is not a concern of LCC unless it affects job performance (Art.16.1)

Privacy – faculty members’ mailboxes, offices, email, phones, computers and personal items are protected as private and shall not be entered or viewed except in an emergency (e.g. physical threats to people, property, etc.) (Art. 16.2)

Civic Life – faculty members have a right to speak, write or act as a member of the community free from institutional censorship (Art. 16.3)

Appendix B: Background Information on Shared Governance

May 2021 Governance Redesign Update Summary presented to Bd of Ed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14PQ3OtKXGg2-WVIK4BucZfCNan9qtWUk/view

Governance Redesign Approved Implementation Work Plan (presented to Bd of Ed, May 2021): https://go.boarddocs.com/or/lanecc/Board.nsf/files/C2GTYQ76A9AA/$file/GSC%20Workplan%20for%20GIT%20Recommendations%20%20(1).pdf

Memo summarizing more recent redesign information: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IGUZItg3STK85_ILkum23m-7pr000pXB/view?usp=sharing 

Updated presentation about LCC’s shared governance system: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RpM7rXx92bm_2dy5IuXRLs_KMOAVP7H4/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112256941021635411579&rtpof=true&sd=true