Fay Wright, Stony Brook HSC—“I believe in more jobs, I?believe in better jobs and I believe in unions. The time has come for people to come together to make a united stand, to make a statement that we need more jobs and public education.”
Deb Nilsen, Farmingdale—“It’s incredible to see this sea of people and know that you’re just one tiny person, but that you can make a difference. I hope this serves as a wake-up call to people that collective action can work to get people back to work and to support public education.”
UUP Secretary Eileen Landy, Old Westbury—“This is a marvelous, exciting event. It’s soul-stirring. I’m thrilled this many people turned out. I’m proud UUP?is a part of this.”
Dilip Nath, Brooklyn HSC—“I’m here because we need jobs—jobs that don’t get shipped overseas. We need better jobs, support for public education and economic justice for ourselves, for our families, and for future generations.”
Idalia Torres, Fredonia—“So many people are out of work; it’s destroying families. My husband was away from home for six months looking for work. It’s personal for me. I had to be here.”
Carol Braund, Upstate—“I believe UUP has an obligation to uphold the premise of this rally. Education is what we do; health care is what we do. This is our chance to join others to get group support for what we do.”
UUP is quickly moving through the first phase of the negotiations process—collecting input from members.
Members of the Negotiations Team began a whirlwind tour of chapters in September, during which they asked UUPers to share their thoughts regarding their terms and conditions of employment. The union will use the information gathered to craft a set of proposals for bargaining with the state. As The Voice went to press, Team members visited more than half of the 33 UUP chapters around the state.
The Negotiations Team, the Negotiations Committee and the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee are seeking member input in a number of ways, including an online member suggestion form at www.uupinfo.org/negotiations/index.html, a membership survey, a hearing at the 2010 Fall Delegate Assembly, and in face-to-face meetings with members.
“UUP is committed to giving every member ample opportunity to let their union know what they’d like to see in their contract,” said UUP President Phil Smith, who is constitutionally responsible for negotiations. “Members of the Negotiations Team are visiting all of our chapters to make it easier for members to speak their minds.”
“It is important for members to know that their comments and concerns will form the basis of what’s in our package of proposals when we sit down to negotiate with the state,” added UUP Chief Negotiator Jamie Dangler of Cortland. “In addition to telling us what you think in face-to-face meetings, we strongly encourage members to fill out the survey and online suggestion form.”
Smith will be sending letters to members explaining how to access the online survey.
Negotiations Team members traveled to North Country and Western New York chapters, and are wrapping up visits to Central and Southern New York, Nassau and Suffolk counties, the Mid-Hudson region, and Metropolitan-area chapters.
During the Fall DA in Buffalo, nearly 100 delegates were on hand to question members of the Team about terms and conditions of employment.
Among the topics raised by delegates—as well as by hundreds of members during campus visits—were health benefits, compensation and working conditions. Members also posed questions about specific topics of negotiations.
“Throughout the regions and across campus types, UUP academics and professionals are sharing similar stories about what’s really going on at SUNY,” said Associate Chief Negotiator Mike Smiles of Farmingdale. “And we’re listening.”
The UUP Negotiations Committee’s constitutional charge is to prepare proposals for negotiations and to submit the tentative agreement to the member ship for ratification. Negotiations Committee members are listed below by chapter and are identified as either Academics or Professionals:
The constitutional charge of the union’s Ad Hoc Advisory Committee is to work with the Negotiations Committee to gather member input from their respective chapters for consideration as potential proposals for UUP to present to the state.
Members of the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee, made up of one professional employee and one academic employee at each UUP chapter, include:
Albany—Ivan Steen (A) and Philippe Abraham (P)
Alfred—Roger Drumm (A) and Tricia Herritt (P)
Binghamton—TBD (A) and Beth Kilmarx (P)
Brockport—TBD
Brooklyn HSC—Virginia Anderson (A) and Fred Houston (P)
Buffalo Center—TBD (A) and Dave Ballard (P)
Buffalo HSC—Tom Melendy (A) and Fred Covelli (P)
Buffalo State—Jean Richardson (A) and Dean Reinhart (P)
Canton—Ray Krisciunas (A) and Dave Hartle (P)
Cobleskill—William Tusang (A) and Joe McCarthy (P)
Cortland—Ross Borden (A) and Jennifer Drake (P)
Delhi—Terry Hamblin (A) and Scott Carlson (P)
Empire State—John Lawless (A) and David Puskas (P)
ESF—TBD
Farmingdale—Bob Reganse (A) and Solomon Ayo (P)
Fredonia—Bridget Russell (A) and Christopher Taverna (P)
Geneseo—Meg Stolee (A) and Joe Dolce (P)
Maritime—Dennis F. Cooney (A) and Roland Aragon (P)
Morrisville—Tom Hogle (A) and Raul Huerta (P)
New Paltz—Mary Alice Citera (A) and Linda Smith (P)
NYSTI—TBD
Old Westbury—Steve Samuel (A) and Rafat Sada (P)
Oneonta—Rob Compton (A) and Norm Payne (P)
Optometry—TBD (A) and Kim Oliver (P)
Oswego—TBD
Plattsburgh—Wendy Gordon (A) and Al Mihalek (P)
Potsdam—Karen Johnson-Weiner (A) and John Cote (P)
Purchase—Karima Robinson (A) and Eric Wildrick (P)
Stony Brook—Dan Kinney (A) and Charlie McAteer (P)
Stony Brook HSC—Bruce Zitkus (A) and Carol Gizzi (P)
System Administration—TBD (A) and Carrie Pause (P)
Upstate—Richard Veenstra (A) and Carl Pettengill (P)
Delegates condemned the retrenchment of Nylink employees, voted to honor a defender of SUNY, and reflected on the failed Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act (PHEEIA) during the 2010 Fall Delegate Assembly.
Also, President Phil Smith appealed to delegates to energize their chapters to help elect candidates endorsed by New York State United Teachers in the November election.
More than 200 delegates attended the DA, held last month in Buffalo. Much of the DA’s business was condensed so delegates could participate in the One Nation march Oct. 2 in Washington, D.C.
Smith urged delegates to get their chapters involved in local phone banks and other election events. It is imperative to elect lawmakers who understand the importance of higher education in New York and properly funding and maintaining the integrity of SUNY, he said.
“This will be a tough year,” Smith said. “We all have to become active. We need you to get out there and get your folks involved.”
Delegates voted to register strong disapproval for the Nylink retrench-ments and expressed support for those employees and other System Adminis-tration workers who were furloughed.
Smith said there was no need for retrenchments at Nylink, or possible retrenchments at Brooklyn’s Downstate Medical Center, where 39 unionized employees received non-renewal notices in September. SUNY should use some of its nearly $600 million in reserves to alleviate those situations. Chancellor Nancy Zimpher has promised to use $147 million in reserves to make up for SUNY state aid budget cuts; SUNY had not done so as The Voice went to press.
Smith put little stock in a “framework” of a deal for PHEEIA announced by Senate Democrats when the state’s 2010-11 budget was passed Aug. 3.
The proposal, left out of the budget after strong opposition by UUP and key lawmakers like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, would have essentially corporatized SUNY by allowing campuses to raise tuition and enter into contracts and leases without state oversight, if enacted.
“The framework is made out of tooth picks, if there is a framework,” he said.
Still, Smith predicted that the nebulous proposal will be back in some form.
“We plan to move ahead opposing parts of the plan we don’t like,” he said.
Delegates also approved a special order to honor Silver (D-Manhattan) with the Eugene P. Link Award for Outstanding Service. The Assembly speaker stood against PHEEIA despite extreme pressure from SUNY administration and Gov. David Paterson to include it in the spending plan.
“We didn’t know what a special friend he was until he spoke out for us this year,” said Nuala McGann Drescher of Buffalo State, who offered the measure. “We have a champion here.”
No date was set for Silver’s award ceremony, although the resolution dictated it must be held by April 2011.
During the fast-paced DA, delegates participated in back-to-back committee meetings, during which they tackled such topics as women’s rights, part-time and contingent affairs, equity and diversity, affirmative action, technology, and health care.
Delegates also:
• Honored Vicki Janik of Farming-dale and Larry Wittner of Albany as recipients of the Nina Mitchell Award for Distinguished Service.
• Honored Stephen Street of Buffalo State and Elena Eritta of Farmingdale as recipients of the Fayez Samuel Award for Courageous Service by Part-time Academic and Professional Faculty.
• Honored Henry Geerken of Cobleskill and Dave Peckham of Upstate Medical University as recipients of the Outstanding Active Retiree Award.
• Awarded three SUNY students—Christine Kirkpatrick and Stan McKay of Geneseo, and Katherine Raymond of Oswego—with UUP College Scholarships.
• Donated $757 in a special collection to benefit Buffalo area food banks.
Delegates took action on several resolutions during the 2010 Fall Delegate Assembly.
The delegates:
• Approved a resolution of congratulations on the settlement of a 16-week strike at the Mott’s plant in Williamson, N.Y. The successful strike ended Sept. 13.
• Approved a resolution to call on SUNY campuses to participate in the state’s new “Green Procurement and Agency Sustainability Program” to reduce and phase out the use and purchase of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic building materials and school office supplies by SUNY campuses.
• Approved a resolution in support of SUNY System Administration employees, including retrenched Nylink employees, management/confidential employees who were furloughed, and “all colleagues hit by these job actions, regardless of their unit, designation or collective bargaining agent.”
• OK’d a special order to award Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver with the Eugene P. Link Award for Outstanding Service, noting his firm stance in opposing the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act.
Highlights and resolutions from the Fall DA can be found on the UUP website at www.uupinfo.org.
The national observance of a “Day of Action to Defend Public Education” started a week early at the University at Albany with a forum examining the many threats to public education.
The UUP Albany Chapter was one of several co-sponsors of the forum, along with the Peace and Justice Committee of the Capital District Area Labor Federation; HERE Local 471; the New York Public Interest Research Group; and the Solidarity Committee of the Capital District.
Campuses around the country, including UAlbany, held rallies Oct. 7 to mark the national day of action. A coalition of labor, social justice and student groups organized the observances. For more on this, go to www.defendeducation.org.
Albany Chapter executive board members Bret Benjamin and Jim Collins moderated the forum, which described the growing pressures on public education to justify its existence based on market values.
Panelists included Fernando Leiva, a UAlbany faculty member in the department of Latino, Caribbean and U.S. Latino studies; Cathy Corbo, a NYSUT member and president of the Albany Public School Teachers Association; and Latin American studies graduate student Jackie Hayes.
The forum took place four days before UAlbany announced devastating cutbacks, including the potential loss of 160 full-time positions and the elimination of majors in the classics, French, Italian, Russian and theater.
The discussion at the “Day of Action” forum included the push within SUNY for the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act, which the Legislature turned aside. The act would have allowed campuses to set their own tuition, set differential tuition among programs, and expand their public/private partnerships.
UUP opposed the act, on the grounds that it would have removed the Legislature’s historic oversight of SUNY and encourage potentially risky business ventures on campuses. The union remains watchful in case lawmakers or SUNY administrators try to revive the idea.
Leiva described the innovation act as an example of the “neoliberal” movement in higher education, which embraces a results-driven corporate model.
“When we talk about what’s happening to the SUNY system, we need to put it in the broader spectrum,” Leiva told his audience. Under the corporate model, he said, “education becomes a commodity, not a public good or a university right. We’ll see the demise of the university community as a community of scholars.”
Once Oneonta UUP member Betty Tirado heard about the trip, she knew she had to go.
It didn’t matter that she didn’t know anyone who was making the three-week trek to El Girasol, a Peruvian orphanage that’s home to more than three dozen “street children,” most of whom begged and lived on the streets of Cusco before finding their way to the sanctuary.
It didn’t matter that she had to cover the $3,500 to pay for the trip, set up by fellow UUPer Karen Joest, an Oneonta professor who was touched by the orphans’ plight and arranged the trip as a summer field course so her students could earn college credit while they learned about life.
All Tirado knew was that she had to go.
“I wanted to do something for someone other than myself, or my family, or locally,” said Tirado, a soft-spoken college accountant who has worked at Oneonta since 1982. “Karen came into the office one day getting travel arrangements straightened out and I talked to her about the trip. I asked her if community members could go. She must have thought I was kidding.”
“Betty wanted to learn about the culture and help those kids,” said Joest, who teaches child and family studies. “She worked harder than anyone; she kicked butt. She was like a mom figure to all of us.”
Joest’s Peru trip is one of three “Serve and Learn” programs and projects offered at Oneonta. The Peru program is the newest of the three; the others are outreach projects in India and Ghana, run by UUPers Ashok Malhotra and Kathleen O’Mara, respectively.
Tirado, Joest and 14 Oneonta students spent most of June in Peru, working with Generations Humanitarian, a Utah-based organization dedicated to helping street children throughout the world. Joest, who had heard of El Girasol from a student who read author Richard Paul Evans’ bestseller The Sunflower, chose Peru because she had been there before and thought it would be an eye-opener for her students.
Joest knows all about having to rely on the goodness of others to survive. She grew up in “abject poverty” in an Indiana inner-city project, the daughter of a farmer who lost his farm in a fire and was forced to move because he couldn’t afford to rebuild.
“Agencies gave us clothing and stuff and we always tried to give back as much as we could because people gave to us,” said Joest, president of Habitat for Humanity of Otsego County. “One of the things my father always pushed was how important it is to give back to the community.”
She also realized how desperately the children and the orphanage needed help.
“These are kids with horrific pasts, working in the sex slave trade, and victims of work exploitation and family abandonment, violence and abuse,” she said. “Watching our students connecting and developing relationships with these kids was amazing.”
While the language barrier was difficult to overcome—the Peruvian kids and adults spoke Spanish and the Oneonta team spoke English—sometimes no words were needed to communicate.
“Everyone cares for each other, there’s a real family atmosphere there,” said Tirado, the mother of three grown children. “It was such an experience for me. There’s nothing I can compare it to.”
Joest, Tirado and the students also helped extend the orphanage’s garden, where food is grown to feed the children. They tilled 15 feet of land, which doesn’t sound too tough until you consider they had no modern tools to do the work.
“We used a wooden plow and two oxen to plow the field and plant crops,” said Joest. “To us, 15 feet of corn crops is nothing. But to them, it can feed three or four more kids. So we moved rocks and did whatever we could.”
Joest said she’s planning another summer studies trip to El Girasol next year. As with the last trip, next year’s trek is open to anyone who wants to come along, Joest said.
Tirado was certain that she’d be going back to Peru—at some point. But it will be for a lot longer than the three weeks she spent there in June. Having more time will allow her to be able to give back even more, she said.
On the SUNY Potsdam campus, she is a medical anthropologist who is constantly researching and writing the preeminent texts on the social construction of disease and illness. She is a certified sex therapist who teaches courses on human sexuality and keeps her door open to students in need of counseling. And she is the campus AIDS education coordinator who works with individuals before and after they are tested for HIV.
To Whelehan, there is a natural progression for a medical anthro-pologist to become interested in sex therapy—especially when assigned human sexuality courses—and equally as easy to see how sexuality would lead to educating students about AIDS. That’s life on campus.
But it was a chance encounter in her personal life that initially got her interested in AIDS advocacy. Her dealings with an artist diagnosed with AIDS—long before the medical community identified the HIV virus—made it clear that there is a growing need to educate the larger community about the disease.
Her various jobs have fed her desire to help others, and to be accessible to people in crisis.
Whelehan works with the Global Health Council and AIDS Community Services, for which she has coordinated community-based events such as guest lectures by AIDS-infected individuals, candlelight memorials for AIDS victims, and various events for World AIDS Day.
Getting students to share her commitment seemed the natural thing to do.
Together they participate in the “Toothbrushes for Malawi” program through the University of North Carolina’s School of Dentistry at Chapel Hill. It is estimated that 30 percent of the population of the sub-Saharan African country is infected with AIDS. Sharing a toothbrush is one way for HIV to be transmitted.
“I grew up with the idea that knowledge is to be given away,” Whelehan said. “I am training the students to go out and share what they’ve learned. It has a ripple effect.”
Whelehan dons yet another hat as a volunteer for Reachout, St. Lawrence County’s only crisis hotline and referral service. In addition to calls about possible AIDS infection, she has answered questions dealing with suicide, marital issues and physical abuse, among others.
“Reachout is an ongoing role; it’s back and forth,” said Whelehan, who admits she gets as much as she gives from helping others.
Each year, hundreds of UUPers publish books and articles, and are recognized for accomplishments on campus and in their communities. The Voice is pleased to recognize three members in this issue.
• Two Plattsburgh UUPers recently achieved the rank of distinguished professor and distinguished service professor, respectively. Alexis Levitin, right, and Edward Miller, center, were recognized by the SUNY Board of Trustees as being among the University’s most brilliant scholars and teachers.
Levitin gained international acclaim for translating the music of Portuguese poetry into English. Those trans-lations have appeared in 33 anthologies and more than 200 literary magazines, and have resulted in 30 books.
Miller has developed and taught a wide range of chemistry courses, directed numerous research experiences and taught Freshman Experience seminars. He has created opportunities for students as founding adviser of the college’s Chemistry Club. He earned an American Institute of Chemists Award from St. Joseph’s University, and has received several grants and fellowships.
• SUNY Maritime humanities professor Eric Fallen’s play “Perfect Weather” was one of only 40 plays chosen from among nearly 900 submissions and selected as one of the 2010 Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival’s Final Forty Playwrights.
Fallen—whose plays have been produced in New York, Baltimore and Toronto—holds an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College and is a contributing playwright at Naked Angels, a non-profit theater company in New York City.
— Karen L. Mattison
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