UUP Cortland Chapter

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by Dan Harms, Chapter Vice President for Academics –

We live in a time of uncertainties, with the pandemic, the election, and the horrendous budget situation, but some questions are easier to answer. One of these is how faculty portfolios for personnel actions, the bulk of which are due on February 1, should handle the chaos that befell us last March. We don’t know everything, but we have a good starting point.

On April 30, representatives of SUNY and UUP signed a memorandum of understanding, which Statewide UUP President Fred Kowal sent out on May 8. This document takes precedence over departmental procedures for the time covered. It describes two major changes: the “clock stop” and the handling of evaluative materials for the spring and summer of 2020.

To be clear- this is my take on how this can and should be applied. I am open to discussion or correction on any of these points. It will also take some time to explain.

We have two major changes:

• 1. The continuing appointment timeline has been automatically extended for all tenure-track faculty by adding a year after their last year of tenure-track status, in order to make up for the disruptions to ordinary business posed on campus and across society. A faculty member may choose to opt out of the clock stop by sending a letter to their chair, copied to their dean and provost.

Should a faculty member opt out? The right answer will differ based on the situation. Opportunities for conference presentations, book publications, speaking engagements, etc., may be less likely to come by in some instances and require additional time. I would also encourage people to keep informed about the NYS budget and its impact on our campus. In brief, I think that it’s best to make the decision as close to the campus deadline as possible. Once a faculty member opts out, they can’t opt back in.

What principles should evaluators follow? I think there are two items to bear in mind. A faculty member who opts out and one who does not should be treated equally in the personnel process. Although faculty will be working normally through the “clock stop,” evaluators should not be expecting an additional year’s worth of accomplishments from them, or hold their decision to remain in against them.

• 2. Any person who was teaching in the spring semester of 2020 may choose not to include CTEs, curricular material, or peer evaluations for that semester. In addition, they may list any planned research and creative activities that were to be performed in the spring or summer, noting those that were disrupted due to COVID.

How should a faculty member handle this in their portfolio? Any or all of the above instructional materials may be excluded, but once removed, it may not be added again for subsequent reviews. In any case, a narrative about the challenges COVID created and their impact may be helpful in .

What principles should evaluators follow? Any material of the above instructional material that is omitted should not be included in the judgment, including making decisions based upon its absence.  Some faculty have had greater challenges than others, and evaluators should be aware that not every faculty member will want to share their personal circumstances during the spring and summer.

This is only a starting point, however. These are good questions for us to think about:

Will portfolios be electronic in the spring? This was the case for those who went up for renewal in the fall. Such a transition might raise special challenges, such as faculty who would like to include a book in their portfolio.

How do we keep everyone on the same page? These changes may impact evaluations for years to come, well after our present situation has passed. It’s important that we think about how we want to be reminded, whether via campus announcements or explicit statements in our policies. A single solution might not fit everyone’s needs.

How will the increase in workload in the fall, especially for people teaching Tuesday/Thursday classes that were shortened due to Health Department coverage, be handled? It is hoped that the administration will be responding to this challenge with the same speed and creativity it expects of its faculty in finding a solution to this situation.

I hope that these changes, although it does make the process more uncertain, will allow our faculty the flexibility they need to succeed. Let’s try to find ways to help them.

by Jaclyn Pittsley, President –

To paraphrase Joseph Chamberlain, who is said to have originally made his quip in a letter in 1936, we here at Cortland and across the globe are experiencing life in an interesting age. Though the story is probably apocryphal, Chamberlain would be correct, were he speaking of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Since March, members and our intercontinental brothers and sisters have been rising to the challenge of working and teaching remotely to prevent the spread of this virus, and we continue to do so today. We have been meeting the needs of our state and of our country, from those working at our hospitals, to those working in our information resources areas, to those providing student-facing services, and those teaching using new and temperamental virtual platforms.

Armed with recommendations from the Center for Disease Control, Cortland folks stood together.  We have completed a spring semester fraught with unprecedented hardships, and we have begun a semester full of uncertainty, changing rules, and frightened students and colleagues.

We are watching with heavy hearts and bated breath as Oneonta has experienced a record-setting surge in infection rates and was forced to close their campus. We are also keeping in our thoughts our brothers and sisters at Oswego as they move into a “two-week pause” as infection rates reached their “100 cases in two weeks” threshold. We empathize with their struggles and prepare to support them, should spread of the disease have long-lasting personal, financial, and collective consequences. We hope we here at Cortland are doing enough to avoid a similar challenge. And we grieve: we grieve for the brothers and sisters who have led the charge, put themselves in harm’s way, and devoted their lives to helping the ill. We grieve for lost colleagues, family members, and friends; we cast about searching meaning in the tragedy, and we prepare to continue on in their stead.

UUP supports the work or our Cortland members in many ways, both locally and statewide. UUP has held a series of Open House events and will continue to hold virtual events monthly where members can share their concerns, fears, and frustrations. Please do reach out to your union. In UUP, you will always have a voice and be recognized. UUP has maintained constant and plentiful communication with members of Management at Cortland, in order to represent the interests of our members, as the Return to Work plan was being drafted and implemented.  UUP Cortland leadership has continued its monthly Labor Management meetings all summer, in cooperation with Management, and we have continued to have our monthly Executive Board meetings throughout the summer. UUP continues to ask about the financial footing of our university and the SUNY system. We keep a close watch on our campus and statewide COVID 19 Dashboards. UUP has been in contact weekly with our statewide leadership, sharing concerns and issues at all campuses in an attempt to normalize and strategize our efforts.

At the statewide level, UUP has negotiated a Telecommuting Agreement that is in effect through October, and UUP continues to advocate for its extension until December 31. UUP advocates the wide and flexible interpretation of this document in order to do our absolute best to prevent the spread of COVID 19. UUP has also negotiated a Memorandum of Agreement regarding mandatory surveillance testing of all employees, working with our various hospitals (Cortland is working with SUNY Upstate) to help identify asymptomatic individuals, who can then be quarantined while the virus runs its course, so that others are not infected. This is an important step in keeping members who are working on campus and students who are learning on campus safe.

Every member has been putting in extra time, doing extra work, and acting in a greater capacity; we have all been doing our part to make certain that young people can attend and live at SUNY Cortland, so they can have a college experience this fall that is as similar as possible to a normal college learning experience. I am very proud of our members and of our UUP leadership. Without your long nights, superhuman effort, and estimable character, SUNY Cortland would not be in the cautiously optimistic position we are today.

In their 1992 album, Alice in Chains sing, in their largely acoustic song Got me Wrong, that “Something’s gotta turn out right,” and in this Chapter President’s humble opinion, I believe we can feel positive and hopeful about several things. One, we are still here. Our campus is open today, and our students are in class this morning. And, the longer we are open, the more likely it is we will remain open, even if we have to “pause” at some point. Two, our COVID 19 testing procedures and protocol are underway, and so far, no employee pool has been found to have tested positive. Three, everyone, and I mean every single person, at Cortland has risen and continues to rise to the pandemic challenges of social distancing, teaching, socializing, meeting, doing research, conducting business, comforting others, wearing a mask, answering questions, asking questions, being patient, being kind, being mindful, and being brave.

I believe we are seeing the best of ourselves now, in this interesting age, and that is most certainly right.

Forwarded by Henry Steck, Officer for Retirees –

Dear Colleagues:

UUP has received good news for UUP-represented employees and retirees who are enrolled in the Empire Plan but live in states where they do not currently have access to in-network providers.  The Governor’s Office of Employee Relations has announced that, beginning January 1, 2021, the Empire Plan is expanding its existing “network integration” to provide Empire Plan enrollees living outside of New York State with nation-wide access to participating providers. (Currently the Empire Plan’s “network integration” provides access to participating providers in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington DC, West Virginia, and the greater Chicago area.) This expansion will, for the first time, provide 252 out-of-state UUP-represented employees and thousands of retirees who currently don’t have access to participating providers with access to participating providers in the states where they live. 

This expansion (which benefits out-of-state Empire Plan enrollees regardless of bargaining unit) has occurred as a direct result of our advocacy in the UUP Joint Committee on Health Benefits (JCHB).  Responding to inquiries from adjunct faculty who live in states without network integration, we raised this issue in the JCHB.  In response to our advocacy, the Department of Civil Service agreed to review the issue (something previously resisted and long overdue) and has now determined that providing nation-wide access to in-network providers is justified. 

The network expansion will be announced in the upcoming Department of Civil Service Empire Plan Report and in individual letters to those living outside of the current network.  The expanded list of participating providers will be visible in the online directory after January 1, 2021. UHC will provide specific search results from the online directory, by mail or email, to enrollees who desire printed provider information. Paper directories showing the expanded network will be published starting in August of 2021. 

In Solidarity,

Fred