We hope the break afforded you a much needed and deserved period of relaxation and opportunity to recharge after what can only be described as a stressful Fall semester. As we begin the New Year, there are several updates to share:

First, we want to announce some changes and additions to our team: Professor Richard Newman will serve as the NCCFT Communications Coordinator. We need to reach out to our students and their families as well as to Nassau County’s business and political leaders to effectively communicate the negative impact the current Administration’s policies have had on the quality of education and services delivered by NCC. Please support his efforts. Richard will be reaching out to members for input regarding the Administration’s recent decisions and their impact on our students and us.

In addition, Dr. Stephanie Sapiie will serve as the NCCFT Legislative Liaison,  an expansion of her role on the Political Action Committee. In this capacity Dr. Sapiie will seek to establish a professional relationship with various policymakers and communicate our concerns to the appropriate legislative body, while identifying legislation of consequence to the College.

NCCFT leaders have been busy during the intersession and we want you to know what’s been going on.

Vice-president Frank Frisenda attended the NYSUT HigherEd Council meeting in New York City. During this meeting, the devastating 2% tax cap and its impact on local communities was examined. Nassau Community College’s funding stream will be compromised by this tax cap. The educational component of the Governor’s State of the State address was also analyzed. The Governor has proposed several initiatives that threaten the quality of education and educators’ security: implementation of a new Tier 6 pension system, education funding coupled to teacher evaluations and competitive funding for HigherEd. In addition, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver spoke about the State’s commitment to funding Community Colleges. NYSUT is actively working with the Governor’s office, the Senate and Assembly on all these issues.  Many issues facing campuses across the state were also discussed.

An issue of particular note is the apparent competition for funding that is a creation of the legislators. Here is how the “game” is played: when a K-12 or HigherEd member discusses education funding, the legislator will assert that funding for one group comes at the expense of the other. If confronted with such an assertion we recommend the following talking points:

• Funding for PreK-PhD must be a priority to insure student success, prosperity and security
• Funding for PreK-12 is essential to provide students the services and education needed to succeed in college and to provide teachers the services and support they need to continue to be effective.
• Funding for public higher education is essential to provide the education and services to students who cannot afford private school or the burdens of a lifetime of debt.
• These two institutions are so connected that failure during the Pre-college years assures failure in college. Failure in college almost certainly leads to life-long financial instability, along with other (expensive) serious social consequences that undermine the security of the nation.
• Free public education at all levels is the cornerstone of American democracy.

Vice-presidents James Hoyt and Frank Frisenda attended the BOT meeting on January 11, 2012. It was well attended by faculty and administration. The BOT approved a series of financial requests for: Capital spending, technology enhancements, travel, and contract expenditures. The BOT, with the exception of one personal service contract for the provision of financial services to the College, unanimously approved all requests. The lone “no” vote for that service contract was cast by trustee John Cornachio.

President Debbie DeSanto is currently representing the NCCFT on the CSEA Chancellor Award committees.

Most recently, this past weekend Vice-president Frank Frisenda, Treasurer Elizabeth Wood, newly named Communications Coordinator Richard Newman, and Political Action/Public Relations Co-chair Dawn Smith attended NYSUT’s regional leadership training. Frank and Dawn attended a weekend-long workshop on public relations while Richard and Elizabeth attended the workshop on developing union leaders.

One last thing: We’ve created a Facebook page as part of our effort to reach out to our students and the whole college community. If you have an account, you can find us by just clicking on the Facebook icon on the sidebar to the right.

Spring 2012 is off to a busy start and we will work hard to keep you informed. We wish everyone a productive semester as we work together to meet the challenges we face.

Synergy is a term used to describe efforts which, when joined, produce a result greater than the sum of their contributions. In the case of Nassau Community College, greater does not mean better.

In the face of political and financial problems the likes of which we have not seen at NCC in a very long time, we are experiencing an unfortunate synergy resulting from efforts on the part of the Board of Trustees and members of the administration whose combined lack of experience with NCC’s culture and structure on the one hand, and hostility to academic culture on the other, are producing obstacles that are greater than the sum of their efforts. This unfortunate synergy has created an atmosphere whereby the Administration is dysfunctional, the Board of Trustees is inexperienced, and recently relations between faculty and staff have lost some of the civility and professionalism we consider one of our strengths as a community. As we close the 2011 calendar year, the mood on this campus is angry, depressed and distrustful. It is apparent in recent email exchanges, at the Senate, at Department meetings, at the Board of Trustees meetings and even in the hallways. The Student Government Association has attempted to step in much the way a child of fighting parents tries to mediate their arguments. We, the Executive Committee of the NCCFT are listening and we hear your voices. We know that we need to work toward financial and political stability. If we don’t achieve those things, the entire campus is headed for a train wreck. The NCCFT Executive Committee is meeting with members of the Administration, members of the Board of Trustees, the leaders of our governance committees, and not least of all, our members. We are listening.

One of the fundamental problems is a general lack of agreement between the NCCFT and the Administration regarding the spirit, intent, and application of many articles in our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). For example:

• The administration’s misunderstanding of our contract and longstanding past practice has resulted in our filing a complaint with the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) regarding the conversion from temporary to probationary status for any member appointed to a fifth semester. We have a hearing at PERB on January 19, 2012.
• We are in mediation – still! – regarding the title of LINCC Lecturer, which was placed by PERB into our bargaining unit two years ago!
• We continue to fight incursions into the authority of the Academic Senate and the Departments.
• We have NYSUT’s legal research team looking into several issues including the most recent: faculty free speech rights in public higher education.
• On November 29, 2011, the NCCFT filed a step II grievance, asserting the College was violating Section 11 (Student:Faculty Ratio) of the CBA. The College responded, denies that there was a violation. We have appealed to the Grievance Board (Step III in our grievance process). We will let the Grievance Board make their determination. The Grievance Board consists of an NCCFT representative, an Administrative representative, and a neutral party agreed to by both the NCCFT and the Administration. Currently Faren Siminoff (HIS/POL/GEO and NCCFT Secretary) represents the NCCFT, and Ann Marie Pagnotta (MAT/CSI/ITE) is the neutral party.
• December 15, 2011, the NCCFT filed a Step II grievance, asserting the College was in violation of Section 1-5 of the CBA when they denied the NCCFT access to the allncc email list. This section reads: “The union shall be provided with an office, intra-college phone service, and unrestricted intra-college mail service”.

We will use the energy, spirit, talent and intelligence of the membership to create our own form of synergy. We will need each of you to add your voice and your energy to an effort characterized by civility, reason, passion, and solidarity. Our synergy will result in a better Nassau Community College .

We are too big to fail!

The NCCFT Executive Committee wants to wish each of you a happy, healthy and a peaceful holiday season. We will see you in 2012, with good will to all.