12/9/22 Chapter Meeting Minutes
Present: Anton Daughters, Jennifer Jesse, David Robinson, Don Krause, Elizabeth Wiles, Mark Hatala, Meg Edwards, Stephanie Russell, Roberta Donahue, Carlo Annelli, Stacy Davis, Andrew Kauffmann, Yuna Ferguson, Heidi Cook
Board of Governors’ Handbook Ch. 6 updates
In the last Board of Governors’ meeting on 12/3/22, the board members voted to support (to an extent) AAUP’s proposal to give NTT faculty specific dates for being notified about their non-reappointment. NTT faculty in their first year have to be notified by March 1, NTT faculty in their second year and beyond have to be notified by December 15.
The Provost confirmed that this will take immediate effect, but the language used in the email “Those term faculty not being renewed for the 2023 – 2024 academic year will be notified on or prior to December 15” seems unclear to some of us. We will see if the recent decision about dates will negatively impact contract renewals.
It may be to our advantage to attend the Board of Governors meeting regularly to learn about decisions relevant to faculty/staff.
Continuing to work towards improvements for NTT faculty
One possibility is to ask the university for multi-year contracts. Some other COPLAC institutions offer this to their NTT faculty who have worked at the university for some time. The PPC may focus on these goals to improve working conditions for NTT faculty, including allowing NTT faculty the opportunity to be promoted.
Housing Kraft-Heinz factory workers in Centennial Hall
Dorm rooms in Centennial Hall may be rented out to workers (possibly from outside the US) in Kraft-Heinz factory workers. It’s unclear how housing workers in a campus dormitory reflect our university’s mission. A student has been investigating this and have not been able to get clear information. It seems that there’s currently a negotiation going on, but we may not learn about it until a deal is finalized. There’s also talk that the workers may take a course at Truman. It’s been difficult to substantiate this information. This issue seems controversial among students; some students seem upset about this potential change on campus. Centennial Hall is a more affordable option for students, so this decision may prevent options for students.
The Kraft-Heinz factory is likely experiencing difficulty hiring workers. Truman would benefit financially from something like this.
It is thought that SAs may be assigned to this dorm, which may be odd, given that the workers may be considerably older and may not be required to adhere to campus life rules.
There seem to be parents who are concerned about the possibility of this. Some other parents don’t seem to be as concerned.
There are concerns about bad labor practice. Are the workers being treated fairly? Is the university contributing to the exploitation of these workers?
One action step is to call for transparency on this matter. Whom to contact to gain traction on this? There was a request put in for more information through the Sunshine Law (documents and email), but the university has not provided any information. One option is for AAUP to send out a letter to administrators from our AAUP email account. Perhaps the Kirksville Daily Express could also be involved in requesting information.
Parental leave discussion and the standing committee for PPC
Kathy Otero and Chad Montgomery are the chairs of PPC. We may contact them about forming the standing committee for PPC to improve parental leave.
Organizing
University of Kansas is currently organizing, but not Mizzou. We are overhearing people talk about the possibility of unions. It was proposed that for some of our meetings, we can meet in person to build camaraderie.
Enrollment is down; we also talked about our concerns with university enrollment and potential funding cuts from the state. The drop in enrollment took place with the current administration; this decreases confidence in their ability to improve enrollment.
Taking action:
- Drafting a letter to admin about the KH factory workers
- Send out a letter to faculty about the notification date decision
- Come back to our general AAUP meeting at the beginning of the semester after talking with our department colleagues about their support for the university organizing? Follow up with AAUP national for support.
- This could lead to a large in person meeting in spring semester.
Happy Hour: Tuesday, 12/13 6pm Maxwell’s