The Mankato Update

The Mankato Update, September Edition, 9/18/08

IFO Faculty Association—Minnesota State University, Mankato

Contents:

President’s Column	Minnesota Biennial Budget	Payroll Glitches	Adjunct Benefits
Vehicle Guidelines	Employee Code of Conduct	Article 22	Summer Terms
Nine-Month Faculty

Contacts

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Last week was a busy one in St. Paul and Roseville. The IFO Executive Committee (consisting of IFO President Rod Henry and the seven state university FA presidents, along with IFO staff and the Academic Affairs Coordinators) met on Thursday afternoon and evening. On Friday morning, we had our first state Meet & Confer with the Chancellor and MnSCU staff. On Friday afternoon and evening and Saturday, most of us also joined other colleagues at the Roseville Radisson for Campus Assistance Training, conducted mainly by Pat Arsenault, the IFO Grievance and Equity Officer, and Connie Howard, IFO’s General Counsel. Some of the topics that we touched on over those three days are discussed below, but early on Rod Henry assured me that I did not have to keep on saying, “Mankato is different.”

“We know that Mankato is different!” Rod said, a phrase that became a good-natured running joke during the Campus Assistance Training sessions.

The truth is that Mankato has more in common with its six sibling universities than not, but it is also true that over the decades we have evolved programs, policies and procedures that mostly work pretty well for us. Much of MSU Mankato’s distinct character is a result of the cooperation and leadership of various administrators over the years. Some of it came about despite the actions of some administrators, bureaucrats and legislators. But none of it would have been possible without the intelligence, energy and commitment of Mankato’s faculty. Again and again, when other campuses and administrators start thinking about new initiatives in educational programs, course delivery, policies and procedures, and community connections, they discover that we are already there.

Of course, we always have to keep moving ahead of the swelling curve of change in higher education. There is always the danger that someone in some office somewhere will think that the world would be a better place if MSU Mankato, and its faculty and students, looked and acted like everyone else. But I believe that Mankato’s faculty will continue to rise to anticipate these challenges, to mark out our own path first, and to demonstrate that higher education works best when its draws on the resources of its academic departments and their faculty members. As a statewide union of faculty members, the IFO works for the good of all, but I believe that I will never have to apologize for continuing to say, “Mankato is different!”

MINNESOTA BIENNIAL BUDGET

As you know, the new Minnesota state legislature that will convene in January will spend most of its time in consideration of the next biennial budget. As you probably also know, the state is facing a budget shortfall, and Mankato has already been cutting its own budget in all colleges and divisions by 1.5%. MnSCU has requested over $141 million for 2009-2011, but that is still lower than the $147 million requested by the University of Minnesota, which has a smaller student headcount than the MnSCU system. The good news is that MnSCU’s budget proposal recognizes the need to remain competitive in faculty salaries and not to fall back from the advances made in the last IFO contract.

For more about the budget, see Rod Henry’s discussion in the current IFO Update: http://www.ifo.org/Update/september08.html. Once the legislative session begins, please watch for breaking news from the IFO’s legislative liaison, Russ Stanton. What happens in the legislature will have a direct impact on the timeliness and content of the 2009-2011 IFO-MnSCU contract.

PAYROLL GLITCHES AND DEDUCTION STATEMENTS

The state IFO was just informed by MnSCU last week that the system had failed to deduct the first round of IFO dues and fair share payments in the first Fall paychecks. The most likely solution will be that the schedule of dues/fair share payments will be pushed back by one pay period, ending one period later than previously scheduled. However, the Mankato FA office has also learned of some individual errors on the first Fall paychecks. These have usually been quickly corrected, but given the fact that MnSCU and the state Department of Finance and Employee Relations (DOFER) instituted a new payroll system this summer that presented problems in its setup, be certain to go online and double-check your pay statements. If you have questions or see problems, let Human Resources and/or the Faculty Association know about them!

One bit of clarity in a confusing world is that your statements should now indicate whether your dues deduction is for IFO membership or for Fair Share faculty status. All faculty—whether IFO members or Fair Share—receive the same rights, benefits and protections of the contract, but you do have to choose to be an IFO member. Only IFO members may participate in IFO matters (elections, contract approval, etc.) or in shared governance committees on the college or university level. If you are uncertain about your membership status, contact the Faculty Association office (2479 or donna.blom@mnsu.edu).

ADJUNCT BENEFITS

Both the IFO and administration are paying much more attention to see that adjunct faculty are also informed about their rights and benefits under the contract. All newly-hired adjuncts should receive a copy of the IFO-MnSCU contract on CD-ROM. Adjuncts should also be made aware of the benefits to which they are entitled, such as tuition waivers for courses taken at state universities. (There is one exception under state law—faculty who teach only three credits or less in an academic year not considered to be IFO-unit faculty and are not covered by the contract as such. If you have questions about your own adjunct designation, contract the FA office (donna.blom@mnsu.edu).

STATE VEHICLE DRIVER GUIDELINES

Again, thanks to all faculty members who brought their questions and concerns about the new state vehicle driver guidelines to the Faculty Association and Administration, and thanks again to Vice President Straka, Dave Cowan, and Helen Walters for helping to bring some sense to these issues for the time being.

There is much more to understand and resolve about these guidelines, however. Right now, only student drivers are required to submit their license information for background checks. Staff will have to begin checks in January and faculty members in June, so be prepared for that event. We also need to understand details and the potential impact of new restrictions on towing and other vehicle use, and we do not have solid information about new large vehicle training requirements.

At state Meet and Confer last Friday, we had a spirited interchange with Sieglinde Bier, MnSCU’s Facilities Director, raising the kinds of questions that faculty at Mankato and elsewhere have been asking about student drivers. Chris Dale, from MnSCU’s Labor Relations office, remarked, “We’re just asking for some common sense!” We pointed out that the policies were not so much about student safety as about legal protection from liability. We did not state the obvious fact that the law and “common sense” are not necessarily synonymous!

We did point out, however, that the revelation of these guidelines followed a pattern that we have seen with emergency response preparations (pandemic training, campus violence, Continuation of Operations Procedures, etc.) and other policies and procedures that have been developed at various levels of the system with little faculty input. Faculty members are on the front line of such issues, and we are directly concerned about the safety and welfare of our students. Failure to bring faculty into these discussions in a meaningful way early on continues to force us to be reactive. Early engagement by MnSCU staff with state university faculty could result in the development of much better policies and procedures. Stay tuned for further developments!

EMPLOYEE CODE OF CONDUCT:

Mankato’s Human Resources office recently sent all faculty an email notice about MnSCU’s newly revised Employee Code of Conduct (Procedure 1C.0.1: http://www.mnscu.edu/board/procedure/1c0p1.html). Most of the content is not new, but this procedure does draw together various issues relating to employee conduct and ethics. Be sure to take a look at the procedure and the Frequently Asked Questions link at http://www.hr.mnscu.edu/guide_interpretations/PER/Emp_Code_of_Conduct_Q_and_A.pdf.

Some of the issues covered in Procedure 1C.0.1 include

Conflicts of interest, including consensual romantic relationships between faculty members and their students
Compensation, benefits or gifts from other sources, including sales of book desk copies given to faculty by publishers
Use of state property, including state-issued cell phones (and PDA’s)

If you have any questions about this code of conduct or specific items, please contact the Faculty Association office (389-2479 or donna.blom@mnsu.edu)

ARTICLE 22 ISSUES:

Faculty, departments and deans are all heavily involved in the submission and review of faculty Professional Development Plans and Reports. It is useful to remember that these PDPs and PDRs document your plans and accomplishments for your own professional development and in anticipation of eventual promotion and/or tenure. Even though the process is time-consuming for administrators as well as faculty, its effectiveness is testified to by last year’s 95% rate of approval of tenure applications noted by Provost Olson in his Fall Convocation address. If you or your department has any questions about the Article 22 process or the Evaluation Criteria listed in Appendix G of the contract, please contact your Unit Representative or the Faculty Association office.

SUMMER TERMS

As departments are already starting to prepare their summer schedules, it may be useful to remember these points

· The 2007-2009 contract has redefined “summer term” as anything falling between the end of Spring and the beginning of Fall semester. This gives departments more scheduling flexibility, but keep in mind the needs of your student populations as well as the need to accommodate the Minnesota Vikings Training Camp in August and to give maintenance workers the opportunity to clean, repair and prepare the campus for Fall semester.

· Once the summer schedule is ready to go up online (usually by March 15), it is university policy that classes will not be cancelled due to low enrollment unless the faculty member agrees to cancellation or reassignment.

· We have pointed out to Administration that the contract does not have a blanket requirement that department chairs teach during their summer duty days. Many chairs will probably still choose to teach in order to meet programmatic and student needs or to generate additional credits for their department and college. Chairs can ask for IFO representation when they discuss their duty day schedule with their deans.

NINE-MONTH FACULTY

As called for in the 2007-2009 IFO-MnSCU contract, all new faculty appointed from this summer on will be designated as “nine-month faculty,” meaning that (theoretically) they can be assigned to teach during any continuous nine-month period. Current faculty can opt into that designation, but they will have to keep that position for at least two years, and it is not guaranteed that they can return to current “regular” faculty status. Departments and search committees should make certain that any candidates for full-time positions that you interview this year are aware of this contract provision.

The provision also requires that each campus form a task force made up equally of faculty and administrators to study the potential impact of these appointments. A call for volunteers for our own campus task force will go out soon. The state IFO is already developing a list of questions and potential problems posed by this new designation. One major hurdle that complicates any action taking place soon is that many activities and deadlines mentioned in the contract refer to their taking place during the “academic year,” which is defined as Fall and Spring semesters. It may be impossible for these clauses to apply to faculty who are teaching in any different nine-month period. For now, though, it is best for departments and faculty members to be cautious about going outside the traditional academic year with “nine-month faculty.”