27 February 2002
The groundwork has been laid for much important activity over the next couple of months. If enough of us lend a helping hand, the results could be impressive.
I: Teach In
The "Save UMass" Coalition has planned a Teach In on Wednesday, March 6th and Thursday, March 7th. On these days we ask faculty to (1) talk to their students about the campus’s budget challenges, (2) urge them to register to vote in their home districts if they live in Massachusetts, (3) write letters to their legislators, and (4) address envelopes to their families so faculty can send letters urging students’ family members to also write to legislators. Save UMass is providing mail-in voter registration forms, lists of legislators by districts, envelopes and stamps, and sample letters.
More than 200 faculty have agreed to participate, and we have the full backing of the Student Government Association. If you have not signed up to take part, please do so. You can contact the MSP office, or you can sign up directly via Dan Clawson, MSP liaison to Save UMass (clawson@sadri.umass.edu).
If you participate, be sure to avoid suggesting or implying that students must participate. This is entirely voluntary. Students themselves should do as much of the work in the classes as possible. Also, no state money of any kind can be used. So we need to raise money for it – as much as $5,000. MSP will make a contribution. If you can make a personal contribution, make out a check to "Ad Hoc Teach-In Committee" and send it to Arlene Avakian, Women’s Studies, 208 Bartlett.
II: Contract
MSP is meanwhile pursuing various avenues to get our stalled contract funded. MSP and other campus labor unions hosted five gubernatorial candidates – Grossman, O’Brien, Reich, Tolman, and Stein - in February and talked with all of them about the importance of contract funding. A sixth, Birmingham, will come in April. We also lobbied, with other unions from the UMass campuses, on Beacon Hill on February 26th. And you should send the MTA postcards out right away.
We plan two other important efforts to fund the contract:
First, as an alternative to the time-consuming trek to Boston, we are organizing visits to the district offices of area representatives who are close to Speaker Finneran, a major stumbling block. Our goal: to induce them to induce him to fund the contracts.
The most important of these is Representative Nancy Flavin. We will arrange visits to Representative Flavin’s office at 1 p.m., March 8th, at the Center on Aging (46 Middle Street) in Hadley; and again at 1 p.m., March 15th, at the South Hadley Fire Station (near Mt. Holyoke).
We need different people for each visit. These visits will be most effective if they include people who live in Representative Flavin’s district, which comprises the towns of Easthampton, Hadley, and South Hadley. Quite a few of you live in one of these towns. We need your to help with this. If you live in Flavin’s district and are willing to go with us at one of these times, please let us know immediately.
We will also visit the district offices of two other legislators: Representative Reed Hillman, who represents Palmer, Ware, and part of Belchertown; and Representative Tom Petrolati, who represents parts of Belchertown and Chicopee as well as Ludlow. Again, if you live in the district of one of these representatives and are willing to be a part of a visiting delegation, please let us know right away. We don’t have to do this by ourselves. Other unions have members in these places, too. But we faculty really need to pull our own weight, too.
Second, for those wishing to lobby around the contract on Beacon Hill itself, we are joining representatives from MTA and other statewide and higher education campus unions, including our counterparts at Boston, Dartmouth, and Lowell, for a Contract Lobby Day on March 12th and 13th. If you can go to the State House on either of these days, please contact us right away.
If these various initiatives do not work, we will undertake other actions to get people’s attention, including something appropriate and eye-catching at the State Democratic Convention on June 1st.
III: UMass Budget
Initiatives are planned on the broader UMass budget front as well. Thanks to the help of MTA, we are sending people to Bridgewater on February 28th to testify at a higher education hearing of the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Also, on April 25th, MTA will help organize a State House Lobby Day on behalf of higher education that will bring officers and members from around the state. Mark this on your calendars. We will need you.
IV: MSP/Faculty Senate Assembly
The Assembly of February 21st, convened by Senate Secretary Ernest May and myself, and attended by over a hundred faculty and librarians, endorsed without dissent a Declaration of Principle drafted by Professor Stephen Clingman (English).
The Declaration is a marvel of eloquence and passion and commitment and rededication. At the behest of the Assembly, we are sending a copy of it, with space for signatures, to every department office, where members may read and sign it. You may also call Diane at the MSP office (7-4121) to have your name added to the signature list. After a week or so we will give it the widest possible circulation.
Ron Story, President
