CFA Response to Ikenberry's Work Group Report

The CFA applauds efforts to streamline administration and procurement costs in order to commit shrinking university resources to core missions of teaching and research. But we also see much to give faculty pause in recent announcements about the report of President Ikenberry’s Administrative Review and Restructuring Work Group and impending plans to implement its recommendations.

• The centralizing of “human capital” strategic plans and monitoring procedures according to new business models engineered from above are of particular concern, especially as they will affect all academic personnel and staff and the vital educational missions they support.

• The focus of IT investment in on-line learning environments while classroom technologies in a number of sectors of the university continue to lag also needs faculty input.

• The coordination of Foundation and alumni fundraising relations with little mention of the importance of key faculty research objectives and departmental connections threatens to strangle communications to potential funding sources of the most important, ground-level activities of teachers and researchers.

• The spectre of new “consulting” firms coming in to advise the process raises further concerns about the voice faculty will have in shaping these important changes; not to mention the extra expenses to be incurred in implementing them.

The Working Group is right that communications programs provide a broad range of services to connect with and inform the many and varied stakeholders of the University…” Put in a more education-friendly form, it is vital that transformations of university procedures actually facilitate the free exchange of ideas among faculty, students, staff, administrators, alumni, fundraisers and the larger communities we serve.

Observing that President Ikenberry has been charged by incoming President Hogan to move forward quickly in implementing the Working Group’s recommendations, the CFA looks forward to substantial faculty input on the implementation process, which seems, from the list of working-group members, to have been lacking in the formation of the Working Group itself. As a voice for faculty communication throughout this process, the CFA stands ready to investigate and address the faculty’s many vital interests. Please join us.

Kathryn Oberdeck
President, Campus Faculty Association
June 25, 2010

Peter Brown on adjuncts

Check out this post by Peter Brown on adjunctification of higher ed and why adjuncts deserve a living wage and job security (among other things -- I'm not doing the article justice).

Great Day in Springfield on April 21st!!

Lobby Day in Springfield is an annual tradition for educators to meet and greet state lawmakers and have their voices heard. But this year Lobby Day was inflected with a real urgency as 15,000 teachers, staffers and school workers converged on Springfield to express their frustration with Illinois’ unprecedented budget crisis and the threat of cuts to education at all levels. CFA members decided to take our fourth and final furlough day on April 21 in solidarity with Illinois Education Association and other U. of I. campus unions, and so we got up early and got on the bus.

Lobby Day was surprisingly fun, in large part because of excellent IEA organization that got us and our banners there comfortably, with plenty of donuts and coffee. We enjoyed a huge march and rally, addresses by state leaders, and visits to lawmakers’ offices inside the stunning Capitol building. We met and congratulated our allies (in the CFA's case, Mike Frerichs) and faced heated if not well-reasoned resistance in discussions with our very pressured opponents. Illinois Education Association members gave everyone lunch with amazing efficiency.

For CFA members who had not participated in lobbying before, this was an eye-opening event. Not only did we speak face-to-face with central Illinois State legislators about the importance of a fair tax increase, but we felt surrounded by and connected to many other kinds of people who work helping, teaching, counseling and supporting Illinois students from preschool to graduate school. We were reminded that as University of Illinois faculty we are part of a much larger structure of public education that is, ideally, a structure of opportunity and personal advancement for everyone in the state. At least that's what I felt. Rather than production workers in a credential factory, or ivory tower technocrats, we‘re connected to educators across the state as we try, in straightened circumstances, to help students learn and grow. While it's true times are hard in Illinois, it's also true that the opportunity for a strong public education, up to and through university, should be expanded not narrowed. I'll be in Springfield next year, and for as long as it takes.

Professor Susan Davis
Department of Communication
CFA Executive Committee Member

Organizing 102: Common Furlough Action Day #3!

Join us on April 6th at the university YMCA for Organizing 102, the next common furlough action day! After the success of Organizing 101 at the February teach-in, we decided another "class" in the series was necessary. There are no pre-requisites in order for you to attend, though!

The event is straightforward, yet crucial to our success. From 12-1 those of us with organizing experience will moderate discussion and train attendees on how to organize. From 1-2:30 we plan to go out and do the organizing: write the emails, set up the meetings, and talk to our colleagues. Doing can be a lot more scary than talking, but we won't have success, and we won't grow, if all we do as a union as talk. Finally from 2:30-3 we will debrief (with cookies, of course). There is a chance we will shorten this event so that it doesn't overlap with an AAUP event on the tenure process.

I look forward to hearing your thinking on the kinds of topics you want to see covered in Organizing 102. Don't work on your furlough day, organize to affect change... and most importantly, bring a friend!

CFA Brown Bags on March 31st

Attend CFA Organization Building Workshops March 31st

What: CFA Workshops addressing organizing among the under-represented in the CFA, namely:

• contingent faculty,
• untenured tenure-track faculty
• women, and
• people of color

When: March 31st 12:00-1:30
7:00-8:30 (same program as 1:00 for those not free during the day)

Where: University YMCA 1001 S. Wright St.

More info contact: Kate kclancy@illinois.edu or Siobhan: sbs@illinois.edu

New on Kritik

I (KBHC, Kate Clancy) am the most recent author in the Kritik blog series "15 Ways to Take Your Furlough." My piece is entitled "Teach your Children Well" and I hope you check it out.

Join Us in Springfield on April 21st for Higher Education Lobbying Day!
Let the legislators hear your voice in support of democratic public higher education.

Free buses will leave Champaign-Urbana at 8 a.m. Contact the CFA Office Co-ordinator for details campusfacultyassoc@gmail.com

Or sign up for a spot on the bus via our on-line petition by visiting http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bustospringfieldapril6/