LCC Faculty Colleagues –

On behalf of LCCEA, I am writing about a highly unusual development affecting our campus community.

We share the deep concerns of the LCCEF Classified union leadership about recent management communications with employees in Student Affairs. These include an email from a manager to employees suggesting they send messages to the Board of Education to express “appreciation and support” for President Bulger. According to reports from employees in Student Affairs, these messages were accompanied by in person distribution of a “fact sheet” which includes numerous fallacies and appears to be, in large part, a disinformation campaign particularly targeting faculty, faculty union advocacy, and faculty negotiations.

It is reported that managers followed up to talk with employees whom they supervise to ask if they had sent a message of praise about President Bulger to the Board of Education. If the employees responded that they had not done so, they were asked by their supervisor or a higher level administrator to explain why they had not. This has been described by employees as “pressuring,” “manipulative,” and “coercive.” In addition to placing employees in a tenuous position with such a request made by a supervisor or higher level administrator, the content of the so-called “fact sheet” also appears to create divisiveness between classified and faculty. If you have received these messages, fact sheets, or had similar contacts by a manager, please contact lccea@lanecc.edu or lccfacultyunion@gmail.com (the most secure option when you use non-LCC email).

LCCEA stands firmly and proudly in solidarity with our classified colleagues of the LCCEF. 

Managerial pressuring of employees is never OK. Doing so in a divisive manner that could harm employee relationships and campus climate as a result of seeking to garner support for the college president with the Board of Education, which directly supervises the president as their sole employee, is unprecedented and inappropriate. This significantly and negatively impacts campus conditions, and raises questions of ethics and integrity, if not legal ones.

We have asked for the Board of Education to investigate this matter. Please note that we do not allege that any one particular manager(s) or administrator(s) is responsible for these actions. 

Please join me in standing together with our classified professional colleagues of the LCCEF in mutual support and solidarity.  Together we are stronger. And Together we will help guide our beloved LCC back to stability, normalcy, and vibrancy. 

Our students and community are depending on us.

Sincerely,

Adrienne