Minutes
Connecticut State University AAUP Council
Thursday, September 17, 2009
CCSU-Memorial Hall, Nutmeg Room
7:00pm
Present: B. Cavarkapa, S. Clerc, A. Dawson, M. Ganon, J. Hikel, J. Jones, J. Kavanagh,
M. Levin, V. Metaxas, J. Mueller, G. Murphy, V. Nair, H. Shakun, R. Siporin,
E. Tapia, D. Walsh
Other’s Present: E. Benson, L. Cunningham, B. Gallo, S. Greatorex, G. Holder-Winfield,
M. Malinowski, C. Schiff-Greatorex, D. Sims
1.
Call to order
2.
Announcements
It is the responsibility of Council members to keep members at their respective campuses
informed.
3.
Approval of the minutes of May 27, 2009
Moved and seconded.
The minutes were approved with 5 abstentions.
4.
Legislative Report – Betty Gallo
The Higher Education budget was cut to the 2009 budget level. In this budget, the State
will demand that higher education units take money from their own reserve budgets.
About 1 million dollars this year and 3 million dollars next year from CSU reserve funds.
The Governor is already considering rescissions in this new budget.
5.
Treasurer’s Report – Harlan Shakun
a. 2008-09 Audit Report
Distributed audit materials for Council consideration.
b. 2009-10 CSU-AAUP Proposed Budget presented.
6.
Resolution #9-09-20
RESOLVED, That the CSU-AAUP Council approves the proposed CSU-AAUP budget
for the fiscal year 2009-2010.
Moved and seconded
The resolution passed unanimously.
7.
Resolution #9-09-21
RESOLVED, That the CSU-AAUP Council sends up to 25 people to the 28th Annual
Connecticut Lobbying Conference on Tuesday, October 20, 2009,
9:00am-5:00pm, at the Lyceum Resource and Conference Center,
Hartford, Connecticut, at an estimated cost of $175.00 per person (5 or
more).
Moved and seconded.
The resolution passed unanimously.
8.
Resolution #09-09-22
RESOLVED, That the CSU-AAUP Council authorizes purchasing a 1/2 page ad in the
program book for the October 6, 2009 Annual Awards Dinner of the
Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) at a cost of
$230.00.
Moved and seconded.
The resolution passed unanimously.
9.
CSU-AAUP President’s Report
a. Update on Concession Agreement
SEBAC has control over health care and retirement issues. And members need to
know that the furlough days were also negotiated by SEBAC.
b. Interaction with CSU administration
The Administration is currently caught up in the budget crisis. We do not know what
the CSU budget is going be.
Special Appointments at CSU for Fall 2009
CCSU 43, with 22 returning for total of 65
ECSU 16, with 10 returning for total of 26
SCSU 20, with 13 returning for total of 33
WCSU 23, with 3 returning for total of 26
CSU-AAUP has been told that there will be a total of 8 tenure track positions across
the four campuses.
d. ARP Issue
A total of 77% of our members are in the ARP plan. There are approximately 12,300
employees statewide, including other higher education units that have employees in
the ARP plan. Resolving the inequity issues associated with the ARP is a multiyear
process. CSU-AAUP is committed to resolving this issue. There are a total of seven
unions involved in this. SEBAC had extensive conversations this past summer and
voted to file a SEBAC related grievance based on the “steering” issue (employees
were directed into the ARP without being informed about the Sate Employees
Retirement Plan). Representatives from the various unions met with State retirement
officials on 9/16/09. Jim Russell (ECSU) gave a presentation as did Tom Woodruff.
Woodruff presented some annuity illustrations. Our legislators need to be educated
about the issue if there is ever going to be any hope of getting legislation to change
the statuses that would allow the proposed changes in ARP. If the State did resolve
the issue and allowed ARP members to switch to some type of State retirement plan,
the IRS would have approve it.
SEBAC may put out a survey to all ARP plan members. SEBAC higher education
leadership will meet to discuss this again.
10.
Chapter President’s Reports
a. CCSU – Received a request from Human Resources to extend a special appointment
for one additional semester.
Resolution #9-09-23
RESOLVED That the CSU-AAUP Council rejects any requests by any individual CSU
campus or the CSU Administration to extend the contractual time limits
associated with special appointments.
Moved and seconded.
The resolution passed with 1 abstention.
A member has made a request for an additional $5000 to cover litigation costs in pursuit
of a civil action against CCSU.
Resolution #9-09-24
RESOLVED, That the Council, after careful consideration of the uniqueness of this case,
agrees to provide $5000.00 to help support the litigation costs of [faculty
member] in pursuit of a civil action against CCSU. It is understood that
this money is to only be used if a civil action is taken and is to be repaid in
full if the action is successful.
Moved and seconded.
The resolution passed, 10 yes 5 no and 2 abstentions
An incident involving a coach and a foreign student occurred some time ago at Central.
Under some “arguable” circumstances, the coach gave the student some milk and animal
blood. This action has recently come to the attention of the public during a press
conference.
b. ECSU – Two grievances were filed last year. One involved a violation of part-time
course payment fee. There are a total of 5 cases and they are now going to
arbitration. There is also a grievance on the fact that a member was an
endowed chair and CSU Professor as well. The grievance was lost based on
timeliness, not merit. The CSU Board of Trustees passed a resolution that
someone cannot hold both positions at the same time. Nothing in our
contract says this.
Resolution #9-09-25
RESOLVED, That the Council protests the recent BOT resolution that bars a faculty
member from being hired as an endowed chair while simultaneously
holding the position of CSU Professor.
Moved and seconded.
The resolution was passed unanimously.
Resolution #9-09-26
RESOLVED, That any member of CSU-AAUP who is called to active duty in the
United States armed forces and consequently cannot remain on the payroll
of the University and who wishes to extend membership in CSU-AAUP in
accordance with Article III of the CSU-AAUP constitution shall have his
or her membership paid by CSU-AAUP
Moved and seconded.
The resolution passed unanimously.
c. SCSU – Reported on number of retirees
d. WCSU - Quiet
11.
CSU-AAUP Workload Committee Report – V. Metaxas
The Committee is planning to have campus meetings. The agenda will be sent out to all
council members.
12.
Staff Reports – See ARP Issue above
13.
New Business
14.
Old Business
15.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:55pm
Respectfully submitted,
Martin Levin
CSU-AAUP Secretary