AFT 1493 - The Advocate newsletter

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The Advocate, newsletter of the San Mateo Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1493, is available in .pdf format-- by clicking on the links for the specific issues below. Links to supplemental information related to specific articles in an issue are listed under the link for that issue. (To read .pdf files, see the bottom of this page for details on downloading Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

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The Advocate - 33.3 – December 2009 (2.2 MB)

In this issue:

- Community college faculty and students begin organizing against budget cuts
- District offers zero, wants to roll back faculty rights

- Administrators’ pay rose 11 - 16% in last two years, faculty lag far behind

- Resource Allocation Model appears to favor District Office

- CSM community organizes vigil to “save education”

- Skyline “Concerned Faculty” challenge budget cut strategy

- Part Time Faculty Group joins AFT

- Your personal information on Websmart may be vulnerable

The Advocate - 33.2 – November 2009 (1.2 MB)

In this issue:

- President’s Letter: Budget situation is worse than a Halloween horror movie
- Is there a better way to reduce the budget? – Consider structural reorganization & centralization
- District part-time faculty group proposes new social contract
- Know your rights in evaluation procedures

- Letter: Community colleges’ transfer function needs support
- A part-timer’s view on the state budget and our colleges
- Retirees’ group planning two end-of-year events

- We need to fight for California’s future

The Advocate - 33.1 – October 2009 (2 MB)

In this issue:

- AFT opens contract negotiations with District: COLA and parity needed in tough economic times
- Key goal for negotiations: binding arbitration
- President’s Letter: What are reasonable goals for faculty in an economic crisis?
- AFT to hold budget forums at all three colleges

- No Trust Committee; no revising of faculty evaluation procedures

The Advocate - 32.6 – May 2009 (2 MB)

In this issue:

- Board overrules arbitrator’s decision! – breaks 25-year promise and exposes essential need for binding arbitration
- Who cares about binding arbitration? – Why the Board’s decision impacts all faculty
- President’s Letter: Working on better AFT-faculty communications
- Fighting words at 2009 CFT Convention
- Finding a “lesson” at the CFT Convention
- Many valuable ways the Union and Academic Senate collaborate
- Results of the AFT 1493 Communication Survey: Faculty give thumbs up to The Advocate and E-News, say AFT 1493 website needs work
- CFT opposes all May 19 election propositions except 1B
- Faculty input needed for new contract negotiations

The Advocate - 32.5 – March-April 2009 (1.3 MB)

In this issue:

- Arbitrator reinstates probationary faculty member with back pay
- The committee to revise the faculty evaluation process has still not been OK’ed by the District
- Compressed Calendar Task Force update
- President’s Letter: Comparing rights of faculty in California with the rest of the nation
- Flex days, flex time: faculty’s rights and responsibilities
- Cal-PASS: High school, college and university faculty share issues in common disciplines
- Conference focuses on how to defend public workers and social services amidst the economic crisis in California
- Trustee responds to Advocate letter on administrators’ pay

The Advocate - 32.4 - February 2009 (755 KB)

In this issue:

- Faculty rights to free political speech must be protected
- Retirement incentives not as popular among faculty as for administrators & classified staff
- Come out!
- How will reductions in full-time faculty affect the rest of us?
- Lezlee Ware is new Cañada College Chapter Co-Chair
- CFT and state Academic Senate oppose requiring the use of SLOs in faculty evaluations

Documents on SLOs and Accreditation

Accreditation Standard III.A.1.c of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC.) mandates that student learning outcomes (SLOs) be a component of faculty evaluation. This standard has recently been challenged by the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges in a resolution at the Fall 2008 Plenary and by the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) in an exchange of letters between the CFT and the ACCJC. Read the full text of the Senate resolution and the CFT and ACCJC letters here.

The Advocate - 32.3 - December 2008 (900 KB)

In this issue:

- Concerns raised about faculty’s and students’ rights to free political expression on campus

- District email on “Posting of Information”

- Legal basis for faculty’s right to free political expression

- President’s Letter: The effects of a strong labor movement

- CFT and AFT scholarships available
- District retirees to meet on December 12

The Advocate - 32.2 - November 2008 (1 MB)
In this issue:

- CFT calls on ACCJC to amend accreditation mandate linking SLOs to faculty evaluation

- Faculty ratify new contract language

- Faculty support adding new flex days to 2009-2010 academic calendar

- Online instructors discuss concerns about teaching online

- Compressed calendar task force moves forward

- CFT recommendations for state ballot propositions

The Advocate - 32.1 - September 2008 (1.7 MB)
In this issue:

- AFT & District reach tentative settlement on “re-openers”

- New AFT 1493 President is your “representative”

- New AFT 1493 grievance officers ready to deal with faculty problems

- Katie Schertle takes over as Cañada College Chapter Chair

- AFT throws big retirement party for John Kirk

- “Who are the workers?” – a poem by Katharine Harer

Issues of The Advocate are available in .pdf format which requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader program. If you do not already have this program on your computer, you can download it for free from Adobe at:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

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last updated: 12-3-09
If you have any questions or comments or would like to submit a letter or article, please email: kaplan@smccd.edu