Update from USFFA Weekly Email

Weekly Update

October 13, 2020

Policy Board meeting -- shared governance issues: 

The Administration has responded to USFFA’s proposal on shared governance, and discussion of what some called an “upsetting” letter from Interim Provost Tyrone Cannon was part of the focus of the Policy Board meeting Oct. 7.

Cannon said that the Administration will not accept USFFA as the faculty’s representative in shared governance and wants to create another body, not linked to the union, to give faculty input on governance issues.

The provosts’ view seems to be that USFFA’s role is only with respect to bargaining, grievances, and working conditions, not governance issues, board members said.

Several members noted that the conversation around shared governance at USF is upsetting; the administration is doing lots of hair splitting and mixed messages. It feels like administration wants to disempower faculty in curriculum, budget, other crucial issues where faculty normally are part of the conversations. Can we demand respect for the role of faculty in our institution?

The board also discussed whether the Policy Board could be split into a “union” side and a “shared governance” side. That would be difficult, and board members agreed there needs to be a much broader discussion around shared governance.

Rebecca Mason presented the report of the Solidarity Committee:

USFFA engaged in discussions with other unionized employees on campus over Covid-related issues, and this has turned into USF Workers United, a labor coalition made up of reps from seven major unions on campus, and some non-unionized employees. In response to issues raised by USF Workers United SF Board of Supervisors passed a resolution supporting labor at USF (see last week’s Blast). 

USF Workers United wrote a letter calling on USF administration to reinstate full-time positions for Residence Directors in dorms, who were reduced to part-time in mid-September.

Mason offered a motion: The USFFA stands in solidarity with the SHaRE Residence Directors. We urge Julie Orio and Torry Brouillard-Bruce to prioritize the health and well-being of the Residence Directors and the students they care for by reinstating the RDs to full time, thereby ensuring that they do not lose their health insurance in the midst of a pandemic. The USFFA calls on the University to use financial reserves and/or draw on its line of credit in order to protect the lives and livelihoods of the people who make the University of San Francisco a safe and welcoming place for our students to live and study.


The motion passed.


Update: In response to the concerns that USFFA and many others expressed, the administration has now reinstated Residence Directors as full time employees. 


The Policy Board also agreed that the Chat function would be restored to Zoom for the General Membership Committee meeting, following collegiality guidelines to be drafted by an ad hoc committee.

 

President’s Report: 

  1. Fall Contingency Plan Agreement – We met with the administration to discuss the status of the University’s total revenue shortfall. In attendance were Janet Yang, faculty representative to UBAC and the BOT Finance Committee; Naupaka Zimmerman, 2020 Negotiating Team member; Jeff Hamrick, David Philpott, and myself.  As you know, over the summer we had intense discussions with the Administration as to how to deal with the crises due to the COVID-19 epidemic and how it affects the financial well-being of the University, the changes in our working conditions and our overall health as a university. We agreed to a lot of sacrifices for the good of our institution and each agreed upon sacrifices that would be contingent on different shortfall levels of Total Net Revenue. For the purposes of the agreement, the Total Net Revenue is the Total Revenue that the University brings in from all sources (primarily tuition, but also room and board, events fees, etc) minus Financial Aid that the university awards to students minus any Tuition Exceptions (think of this kind of like another form of financial aid).  

 

At the meeting, Jeff Hamrick reported that we are at a shortfall level for the purposes of the July admin-USFFA agreement of roughly $50 million dollars. This amount is the total net revenue shortfall minus any shortfall from the law school and minus the pass-through amount for food services, which is contracted through an agreement with Bon Appetit. We have already contributed to the shortfall with the tiered paycuts, no sabbaticals, no raises, and no new FY21 FDF disbursement. The $50M puts us past the trigger for reduced retirement contributions ($47M). In addition, if the shortfall rises to $57M, we are obligated to additional cuts. However, pointing out that we have to still get past spring 2021 census — and there will likely be some attrition and deferrals — the administration has cautiously signaled that they are not interested in seeking any more contributions from USFFA members per our agreement, through the end of this AY. They are more concerned about next year’s budget which involves pay increases and restoration of salaries per our pre-existing CBA and the July agreement. We plan to meet again with the administration on this matter in two weeks. 

2. Office Space Issue – Back in August, it was brought to our attention that numerous faculty needed to have access to their office space to adequately carry out their teaching, research and service responsibilities. At the 9/2 Policy Board meeting, we passed a motion to put together a task force to follow up on this issue. Since then I have met a few times with Kathy Nasstrom who brought the motion to Policy Board, as well as two members of the task force (Marjolein Oele and Geoffrey Ashton). I have initiated talks with the administration about this matter. Where they stand right now is they believe they have made adequate office space available to our members that have requested it, however they are willing to work with us. They have shared with me a list of the office space and classroom space reservations made by faculty so that I can determine current usage levels. I also have the data the USFFA collected from the 52 people who have indicated such need. From these sources, I can better understand how many need their office space and to what extent. Over the next few weeks, I will be following up with those individuals one-by-one. My intent is to work with the administration to identify a resolution for each person who has indicated a need for personal private office space.

3. Board Of Trustees meetings – The BOT meetings occurred during the week of September 21. There are 8 of us serving as representatives to the BOT: Janet Yang (CAS) - Finance Committee, Zach Burns (SOM) – Student Affairs, Jackie Taylor (CAS) - Academic Affairs Committee, Xornam Apedoe (SOE)- Facilities , Hana Bottger (CAS) and Vijay Mehrotra (SOM) - Development Committee, and Anna Kwong (SONHP) and I serve as the faculty representatives to the full BOT. The BOT faculty representatives will be meeting on 10/8 to debrief on our observations thus far and topics discussed in the meetings. We will also discuss ways that we can better serve as liaisons between the BOT and our members. I intend to present a full report of the BOT committees and the full Board at our next Policy Board meeting on October 21.