WELCOME & INTRODUCTION OF DIRECTORS
UHPA President Joseph Chernisky welcomed Directors to a new fiscal year. He recognized new and returning Directors Brenda Cartwright (UH-Manoa), Richard Nettell (UH-Manoa), Nandita Sharma (UH-Manoa), James Tiles (UH-Manoa), Rick Randolph (Kauai CC), John Cole (Hawaii CC), and Karla Hayashi (UH-Hilo). He noted that returning Director Robert Paull (UH-Manoa) was presently in Australia.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Directors met in Executive Session to consider the Executive Director’s proposed letter of employment for Kristeen Hanselman. Ms. Hanselman brings over thirty years of professional experience working in public sector negotiations and political affairs. She
served for twelve years as a manager for the National Education
Association charged with overseeing the NEA national higher education
operations. Directors unanimously passed a motion to approve the letter of employment for Kristeen Hanselman effective December 1, 2007. Ms.
Hanselman will be an Associate Executive Director, whose duties include
assisting with contract grievance enforcement, collective bargaining,
developing membership engagement programs, and working on issues
relative to government affairs, beginning with planning for a possible
Hawai‘i State Constitutional Convention. Although Ms.
Hanselman’s formal appointment will not begin until December, she will
begin immediately to work with the UHPA Executive Committee and staff
in preparation for the assumption of her duties.
NEA HIGHER EDUCATION DIRECTOR’S REPORT
NEA Higher Education Director Sally Pestana reported that the NEA Board will be meeting in a week. The link to the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) newsletter has been posted on UHPA’s website.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
- President
Joseph Chernisky described his mission as President, which is “To
preserve and enhance the professional rights and professional
responsibilities of the UHPA membership through organizational,
educational and advocacy strategies for the good of the UH faculty, the
UH System and public higher education in Hawai’i.” To that end, UHPA’s challenge will be to work toward that goal. President Chernisky intends to work at the grassroots level. He indicated that there may be times when the faculty may need to “agitate the pot” in order to be heard. - He reported that the UH President’s Emerging Leader program participants have been selected. UH-Manoa Board Director Brenda Cartwright is one of the faculty members selected. Other faculty include Harriet Y. Abe (UH-Manoa), Kainoa Ariola (UH-Hilo), Ruth O. Bingham (UH-Manoa), Diane Caulfield (Honolulu CC), David N. Chin (UH-Manoa), Kenoalani Dela Cruz (Hawaii CC), Jonathan Goss (UH-Manoa), Mary F. Heller (UH-West Oahu), Richard T. Kasuya (UH-Manoa), Barbara J.B. Leonard (UH-Hilo), Kealalokahi Losch (Kapiolani CC), Laura E. Lyons (UH-Manoa), Jason E. Maddock (UH-Manoa), Patricia McGrath (Kauai CC), Aulii-Ann Ross (Leeward CC), Barbara Ross (Kapiolani CC), and Wendy H.T. Sora (UH-Manoa).
- UHPA
Vice President Adrienne Valdez, who is also the Chair of the
Nominations and Elections Committee, was asked to report on UHPA’s
membership drive. There are over 700 non-members and
Faculty Representatives, at the October 6 Faculty Forum, will be given
an updated list of the faculty members in their Primary Academic Units
(PAUs). The list indicates faculty who are members of UHPA and those who are not. The membership drive will be done in phases. Directors offered suggestions to assist the membership process. - The
Faculty Forum will have a panel discussion on “The Present Threat to
Higher Education Values” and a discussion with members of the All
Campus Council of Faculty Senate Chairs on the “Developing a United
Faculty Response to External Forces: A Proactive Strategy.” Directors
were referred to an article by Erwin Chemerinsky, a Professor of Law
and Political Science at Duke University, who was not hired as UC
Irvine’s founding law school dean because of an Op-Ed article he had
written before he was offered the position as Dean. He indicates that this was a lesson in academic freedom. The
UC Irvine Chancellor’s remarks are also noted that the decision to
rescind the offer was not a matter of academic freedom, but just a
management decision. - The Hawaii State AFL-CIO’s 22nd
Biennial Convention will be held on Friday, October 26, 2007, at the
Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort and Spa, Coral Ballroom IV. In addition to UHPA President Joseph Chernisky, who is on the State AFL-CIO Board, UHPA is allotted five delegates. Directors
Joshua Cooper, Ruth Horie, Richard Nettell, Sally Pestana, and Adrienne
Valdez will represent UHPA at the Biennial Convention. - Former UH-Manoa Director L. Thomas Ramsey is a member on the UH Board of Regents’ Candidate Advisory Council. He informed UHPA leaders that there are twelve seats that will become available on the Board of Regents. The deadline for list of Regent candidates due Governor Lingle is March 1.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Executive Director J. N. Musto introduced Kris Hanselman as the new Associate Executive Director. He
indicated his enthusiasm at being able to bring Ms. Hanselman to UHPA
and felt that she would immediately be of assistance to the faculty and
the leadership of UHPA. After giving some introductory
remarks, Ms. Hanselman expressed her appreciation to the Directors and
looked forward to working with the UHPA staff and UH faculty members.
Executive Director Musto reported on the following.
- Directors
were provided the September 7, 2007 final draft copy of the proposed
new Executive Policy on Security and Protection of Sensitive
Information that was prepared by the Information Technology Services
and the Office of General Counsel. They also received
copies of the proposed Executive Policy E5.211, Policy for Responding
to Allegations of Scientific Research and Scholarly Misconduct, and
Executive Director Musto’s September 6 response to Vice President James
Gaines. - As
reported earlier, UHPA applied for a higher education competitive
membership grant with the National Education Association (NEA), which
would be used to conduct a pilot electronic voting system for UHPA
elections. By earlier action of the Directors, all of the
internal voting for UHPA Faculty Representatives and Board of Directors
during the 2007-2008 academic year will be conducted using electronic
voting. Directors were informed that the $10,000 grant has been approved. On Monday, September 17, an online survey relating to electronic voting will be sent to members. UHPA
will be researching the different voting software programs that are
secure and can best fit what is required to conduct our elections. There
are many faculty members who are not in close proximity to the campuses
and/or the state, and online voting would alleviate the difficulty of
using mail ballots, especially for faculty located in other countries
or isolated areas. - UHPA has been invited to participate in the 2007 Creating Strong Affiliates Conference in Austin, Texas from November 1-4, 2007. Attending
will be Executive Director Musto, UHPA President Joseph Chernisky, UHPA
Vice President Adrienne Valdez, UHPA Secretary & CBC Chair Karla
Hayashi, Web Consultant Peter Kay, and incoming Associate Executive
Director Kristeen Hanselman. - Executive Director Musto reported that he will be attending the NEA Research Advisory Council meeting the week of September 17. The Council reviews different contracts and data base. This
is where he met John Lee, President of JBL and Associates, who did the
salary comparison studies in the last round of negotiations. Dr.
Lee has already been contacted about UHPA’s forthcoming negotiations
and has been asked to update the national salary comparisons that were
conducted prior to the last round of bargaining. - The
Collective Bargaining Committee has been reviewing workload issues,
salary minima and compression, faculty evaluation, intellectual
property rights, and other contract language in preparation for the
commencement of negotiations, perhaps as soon as the spring semester. With
respect to the community college workload issue, the strategic plan
prepared by then Senior Vice President for Community Colleges Joyce
Tsunoda called for a workload of 24 credit hours for community colleges
the same as the BOR policy on Teaching Equivalencies of 24 credit hours
for UH-Manoa, UH-Hilo, and UH-West Oahu. The workload credit for community colleges negotiated by UHPA is at 27. UHPA believes that no one at the UH System should earn less than $50,000. As
time gets closer to April 2008 and the Collective Bargaining Committee
has reviewed all the surveys, more information will be disclosed. - Plans for the modifications of UHPA’s buildings are being finalized. Instead of installing an elevator, it has been decided to install a lift and keep the stairs. The lift is a cost savings of about $70,000.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Treasurer Ming-BaoYue reported that last month marked the end of the fiscal year. To
date, there have been 85 UHPA members who have objected to having $5.00
per month from their statutory dues allocated to the UHPA Political
Action Fund for the fiscal year September 2007– August 2008. Directors passed a motion to receive the financial report for the fiscal period ending August 31, 2007 and to refer that report to the Finance Committee.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
President Chernisky reported that
the Executive Committee considered two action items, which were being
brought to the Board of Directors for confirmation.
- Directors passed with two abstentions a motion to be a Platinum Sponsor for the Aloha United Way’s 5th Annual Labor Charity Golf Tournament on Friday, November 2, 2007 at the Pearl Country Club.
- Directors unanimously passed a motion to confirm the appointments of Karla Hayashi (UH-Hilo) as Chair of the Collective Bargaining Committee, Richard Nettell (UH-Manoa) as Chair of the Legislative/Political Action Committee, Duane Stevens (UH-Manoa) as Chair of the Finance Committee, Michael Mottl (UH-Manoa) as Chair of the Grievance Committee, Adrienne Valdez (UH-West Oahu) as Chair of the Nominations and Elections Committee, Sally Pestana (Kapiolani CC) as Chair of the Personnel Committee, and Joshua Cooper (Maui CC) as Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Special Project.
UHPA CONSTITUTION & BY-LAWS
The Executive Committee has had
ongoing discussions regarding the compliance of UHPA’s Constitution and
By-Laws with the state’s corporate laws. Directors were informed that a draft proposal of a new Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws will be made available in November. Once the Directors have reviewed and approved the proposed changes, they will be submitted to the UHPA membership for adoption.
CONSULTATION RE ACADEMIC CHAIRS
UHPA has received a proposed
revision to Board of Regents Policy 9-1a (3) and (4) and a new proposed
Executive Policy E9.113 relating to Division/Department Chairs. UHPA
has requested consultation with Linda Johnsrud, Vice President for
Academic Planning and Policy, and a meeting has been scheduled for
October 5. The Vice President’s proposal can be found on the UHPA website, where members can make comments.
OTHER CONSULTATION MATTERS
An inquiry was made as to whether or not UHPA had been consulted on the proposed reorganization of UH-Manoa. The proposal was not shared with the faculty but it has been shared with the Deans.
Executive Director Musto assured the
other Directors that no change in the organizational structure of
UH-Manoa, or any other campus, can be approved without first presenting
the proposal to UHPA for formal consultation. When the proposal is sent to UHPA, it will be made available to all faculty members for comment.
NOMINATIONS & ELECTIONS COMMITTEE
Chair Adrienne Valdez reported that
UH-Manoa Director Thomas Jackson has resigned from the UHPA Board of
Directors due to his heavy work schedule and commitments. He
represented the constituency of UH-Manoa Arts and Humanities, the
Library and Information Science Program, Library Services, and Outreach
College. Since the term for his Board position expires in 2009, a special election needs to be conducted. Nominations
forms were mailed to members of that constituency on September 10 and
ballots are scheduled to be mailed out on October 15.
Directors unanimously passed a motion to confirm the appointments of Ka’iana Haile (Hawaii CC) as Faculty Representative for PAU 003, David Behlke (Kapiolani CC) as Faculty Representative for PAU 014, Roberta Martel (Leeward CC) as Faculty Representative for PAU 026, and James McFarland (Kauai CC) as Faculty Representative for PAU 020. Faculty
Reps Haile, Behlke, and McFarland will serve two-year terms to May 31,
2009, while Representative Martel will serve a one-year term to May 31,
2008. It should be noted that Kauai CC Director Rick
Randolph was the Faculty Representative for PAU 020 but resigned since
he now serves on the Board of Directors.
NE‘EPAPA I KE Ō MAU ‘Aha Pūnana Leo
Directors were asked to consider participating in a benefit dinner for ‘Aha Pūnana Leo honoring Ms. Abigail Kawananakoa. Directors passed a motion to
approve the purchase of three Kūkulu seats for the benefit dinner on
Sunday, September 23, 2007 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel, Coral
Ballroom. Directors Ruth Horie, Brenda Cartwright and one more person will represent UHPA.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Vice President Adrienne Valdez
informed Directors that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union
(ILWU) will be having a community rally on Thursday, September 20, from
4:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Pacific Beach Hotel located at 2490 Kalakaua
Avenue, Honolulu. Employees have been working almost two years without a contract and ten years without a raise. The hotel was under a new management last year and is again with new management this year. Pac Beach employees are being threatened with layoffs. UHPA members are being asked to show support by walking with other unions in solidarity.
Local 5 of the Hotel Employees and
Restaurant Workers (HERE) are also having a march on the beachwalk on
Wednesday, September 19. The Outrigger has invested
millions of dollars in the new, non-union Beachwalk development, but
the workers at the Ala Moana Hotel are going through the same problems
as their brothers and sisters at Pac Beach. Management says there’s no money! UHPA members, if you are able, please show your support.
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