6 February 2002

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE - TIME FOR ACTION

We need your help on two important items.

Action Item # 1: Contract Funding

Our contract remains unfunded, but we have developed a plan to try to dislodge it from Speaker Finneran’s office, which is the current bottle neck.

In mid-February, the Massachusetts Teachers Association will initiate another mass postcard campaign similar to the one late last year that helped dislodge all the unfunded contracts from the Governor’s Office. MTA will send postcards to all its Massachusetts members – 100,000 -- and ask them to sign the tear-off part of the mailings and send it to their local representative and to the Speaker. At the same time, the leaders of MTA, the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers, and other statewide unions will meet with House leaders to urge funding.

We all know that the state is experiencing an ominous revenue shortfall this spring. But there does seem to be a will in the legislature to fund the pending UMass contracts rather than break faith with the collective bargaining process. The combination of the postcard campaign and high-level lobbying helped in late 2001. We think it will also help now.

One more word: Funding this contract will not break the back of the campus, even in Fiscal Year 2003, which will be the toughest year. For the following year and years afterward, the cost of the contract will be added to the University’s overall funding request.

And if you still have qualms, think about this. The decline of faculty positions is going to increase the overall faculty and librarian workload by 5-10%. So this contract isn’t really a raise at all. It’s tantamount to paying overtime!

Action Item # 2: Voter Registration and Letter-writing Campaign

We need to reverse our budget decline and increase the state appropriation to the University. One way to do this is to help our students and their families contact their hometown representative on behalf of a better budget.

We are therefore working with the Student Government Association and the Graduate Employees Organization to encourage students to do two things: (1) register to vote in their hometown; (2) write letters to their representative and encourage their families to write, too.

So we’re asking faculty whether they would be willing to distribute mail-in voter registration materials in class for students to use to register back home. If you are willing to do this, please contact the MSP office right away and we’ll get registration forms to you.

This would be especially appropriate for large Gen Ed classes or other large lecture courses. It should only take 10 minutes or so. It’s perfectly legal, by the way, since it simply encourages civic participation, always a Good Thing, and is not coercive. Students can do it if they want to.

We are in a crisis, just like our students. This is a joint effort to reverse the tide. So if you’re willing to help, contact us immediately.

Phase Two of this campaign will be to encourage students to write or ask their families to write about improving the campus budget. That will come two-three weeks after the voter registration effort. We’ll provide suggested letters and representatives’ names and addresses.

Other Topics:

1. There will be a Special All-Faculty Assembly, convened by myself and Senate Secretary Ernest May, on Thursday, February 21, at 3:00 in the Student Union Ballroom. The purpose of the Assembly is to share information about what’s happening on the campus in these troubled times, what’s being done about it, and what more might be done. If you want to share ideas and insights with colleagues, please plan to attend this Assembly.
2. An ad hoc group has emerged to work against the damage to the university child care center, the language lab, the security detail, and the career center, among other things. MSP has elected a Special Vice President, Dan Clawson of Sociology, to work with this group and serve as MSP liaison.
3. We are planning State House lobbying this spring and are also working on setting up meetings with the editorial boards of local papers, local chambers of commerce, and other Valley groups to talk about our situation and concerns. (Believe it or not, MSP has actually joined the Amherst Chamber of Commerce!).
4. We co-hosted visits to campus by five gubernatorial candidates: Grossman, Reich, O’Brien, Tolman, Stein. Swift and Birmingham declined to come. The meetings went well. The five visitors have a better sense of our concerns now than they did before, and maybe that will eventually show up.
5. Numerous faculty ran for delegate to the Democratic convention, and while not everyone got elected, they did have a chance to talk about what’s really happening here. Again, maybe it will eventually show up in the campaigns.