Update from USFFA Weekly Email
Weekly Update
November 18, 2020
General Membership Meeting Update
The general membership heard a dramatic presentation from the Forensic Accounting task force last week, and passed a resolution demanding an end to any threats of further cuts or layoffs.
The report discussed the false narratives that have come out of the administration – that faculty and librarian pay cuts or layoffs are the only solution to the COVID-era budget crisis, that avoiding cuts will force students to pay higher tuition, and the individual faculty and librarians should give up their jobs or pay in the name of saving the university.
In fact, over the past few years, our accountant found, the amount of money spent on administration and non-academic priorities has risen, as spending on faculty and librarians has dropped. The administration has banked past surpluses from refusals to fill faculty lines and put that money into reserves and the endowment.
At this point, our accountant reports, the university has $460 million in unrestricted net assets, $94 million in liquid assets (money that can be easily accessed) and $7.8 million in budget reserves.
And, of course, the working conditions of the faculty and librarians are the learning conditions of the students.
The membership passed the following resolution:
WHEREAS our independent forensic accountant report demonstrates that USF has ample liquid quasi-endowment and reserves;
WHEREAS non-academic unit budgets have seen enormous increases over the last 5 years;
WHEREAS faculty and librarian positions and compensation have experienced significant reduction prior to and during COVID;
WHEREAS faculty and librarian working conditions are students’ learning conditions;
WHEREAS we believe in the care of the whole person, especially in times of health and financial crisis;
BE IT RESOLVED THAT if librarians, tenure-track, or term faculty are threatened with termination, furloughs, or layoffs by the USF administration due to Covid-19-related shortfalls, the USFFA will initiate the procedure for taking a vote of no confidence in President Fitzgerald.
Policy Board meeting Wednesday Nov. 18
All are welcome to join the PB meeting TODAY Wednesday Nov. 18 for more discussion. It starts at 3:30
We invited Provost Cannon to join us for this meeting, but you have probably seen the email from Provost Cannon indicating that he will not be joining us (and mentioning the resolution above from the General Meeting). President Sonja Martin Poole is formulating a response to the provost’s message.
Policy Board’s Zoom resolution
At the Policy Board meeting Nov. 4, members discussed concerns that Zoom has blocked or cancelled some academic events at college and universities because the company didn’t approve of some speakers. The board passed the following resolution, sponsored by Dorothy Kidd:
Be it resolved that the USF Faculty Association Policy Board expresses its concern regarding academic freedom in relation to Zoom Video Communications Inc. cancelling recent academic events at university and college campuses based on their participants. The USFFA calls on President Fitzgerald and Provost Cannon to request a response from Zoom, that includes their rationale, the regulations they are following, and their approach to guaranteeing academic freedom. Additionally, we request information from ITS about possible online teaching and meeting alternatives to Zoom in which academic freedom will be respected.
USF Mission and Values Statement
Kimberly Rae Connor, Professor/School of Management and Faculty Chair for Mission Integration/Lane Center, sends the following letter:
Dear Colleagues,
I’m following up on the recent email you received from the University Council for Jesuit Mission regarding their efforts to revise the USF Mission Vision and Values. Among the affinity groups the Council is reaching out to is the USFFA. Nearly every USFFA member is also aligned with other affinity groups that are being formed and we encourage you to participate in those, or even more than one, should the opportunity exist. But if you wish to reflect on and contribute to the development of a new Mission Statement from a point of view shared by a collective of union members, please use this link to sign up for one of two discernment sessions: December 2nd and December 4th.
The groups are limited to 12 colleagues but if enough USFFA members show interest in additional sessions, I will create them. Once we have created the groups, I’ll send participants a Zoom link. Thanks for taking the time to consider this opportunity for communal discernment.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13LtFwQfSFh3d3vKPwmRtcPDhmCaFGnxnE4-EkeyrFys/edit
Fare forward.
If you haven’t filled out the Strategic Planning Survey, please take ten minutes to do it. This will help guide the priorities of the new strategic planning group, which is already meeting and working on a new plan.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekL0QNAwX32ENugRlJEgmMIh7SJQ03P5INatnuPYmyAzHgCg/viewform
You can follow the process here:
https://myusf.usfca.edu/president/strategic-priorities.
And you can sign up for strategic planning listening sessions between now and 12/4