Minutes for September 14: Organizing Meeting #1
Attendance: TBA
CLAS Organizing Meeting in Response to the Five Year Plan
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Agenda:
I. What is the Five Year Plan?
- A. Lindsey explains the cuts in CLAS and the criteria used to justify said cuts. Criteria used to determine a successful department isn't easy to define from department to department.
II. Grievances named in the Open Letter
- A. Regina explains grievances named in the Open Letter and its organization into 3 major bullets: Irresponsible, Impossible and Unethical.
- B. Regina explains how this plan is "irresponsible" since it will exacerbate current deficiencies in the funding of CLAS. Notes that our statistics (CLAS teaches 48% of student credit hours w/ 42% of faculty and 20% of funding) are derived from UF's
Office of Institutional Research.
a) Question: Couldn't these numbers be misleading since humanities courses are not as expensive as other courses?
b) Answer: No, because the numbers include sciences courses, which can be very expensive. Also, these figures do not take the medical school into account.
c) Joel notes that it is important to point out monetary shortfall through university's own statistics. These numbers show that CLAS is underfunded.
- C. Regina notes that the plan is "impossible" because class sizes will have to go up in contradistinction to the proposal to make UF a Top 10 university.
a) Question: The administration keeps insisting class size won't increase. How do we fight this claim?
b) Answer: We have to force them to defend that claim. They plan to inforce minimum class sizes, so diversity of courses will be decreased. Also, Dean Sullivan said that classes currently capped at 25 could go up to 30.
c) Michael explains that we are extrapolating from the logic of the plan itself.
- D. Regina explains that the plan is "unethical": shared governance was not observed. It is a dangerous precedent.
a) GAU rep: Dean Sullivan has offered to take a meeting with GAU.
b) Todd describes 9/133 UFF meeting: 1. voted to rescind 5 Year Plan and 2. announced Day of Action on 09/27. The meaning is as of yet unclear, but they would like guidance from grads.
- E. Regina and Joel announce committees.
III. Meeting with Dean Sullivan
- A. Angelique met w/ Dean Sullivan. He admitted CLAS was underfunded thus exacerbating the current budget crisis. Deficit keeps growing because he did not want to cut classes. We spent more because we had to.
- B. Provost wanted an explanation of how the budget crisis was going to be before the Board of Trustees meeting. This is why shared governance was not followed. However, the plan will not be implemented as is; it can be changed.
- C. He is happy grads are taking action. He wasnts us to speak up and show that the plan has problems.
- D. He WILL fight for counter offers.
a) Todd argues that statement is a complete turnaround from what Dean Sullivan said when he announced the plan.
- E. Sullivan explained that for the past few years he has focused on strengthening the social sciences and that there needs to be a balance between soc. sci and the hard sciences. He agrees that soci sciences/humanities are important to be a Top 10 university, but you must have balance.
- F. Class size will not be increased; however, the mandate will now be a minimum of 14 students in undergrad and 7 in grad classes. He wants to maintain departmental caps, but that could change.
- G. His goal is to keep prestiguous faculty here. However, the cuts are happening because departments wouldn't make changes they needed to make.
- H. He did not know about the History graduate $ snafu.
- I. We have a Date for meeting with Dean Sullivan and the Associate Dean of the Graduate School: 9/28 from 7-9pm. We need to find a room for this.
IV. Press
- B. We need a press committee--Head is Donovan in Philosophy
V. Organizing Committee
- A. Past Organizing Success
a) Wes discusses protest against PeopleSoft and our success last year. We shamed them into behaving and that is what we must do now.
- B. March from Tigert 9/21 at 2:00 to Reitz Auditorium to support Faculty Senate and hand out pamphlets.
a) Collected $87.99 in donations for paper, pens and ither protest materials.
VI. Elect department leaders for Organizing Committee
VII. Sign the Letter
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