Inter Faculty Organization

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Faculty Update

February  2005

In This Issue:

Minnesota’s Vision for Higher Education and the Reality-the Widening Chasm

by Nancy J. Black, IFO President

In January 2005, the Citizens League presented its Report on Higher Education in Minnesota to the Minnesota Senate and Minnesota State Colleges Universities’ (MnSCU) Board of Trustees.  This report paints a bold new vision for higher education in Minnesota, including: 

• the best educated workforce in the world:  access and achievement for all;
• world-class excellence and innovation in research; and,
• national leadership in the transfer of knowledge and advanced skills from higher education to Minnesota’s people, communities and workplaces.

We applaud the Citizens League’s vision. 

At the same time the Inter Faculty Organization (IFO) is compelled to speak out about the startling disconnection that has developed between the words and visions of Minnesota leaders and the reality of this state’s financial commitment to higher education. 

On December 17, 2004 the Chronicle of Higher Education ranked the 50 states in a graph according to their increase in state appropriations to higher education.   Minnesota ranked 47^th from the top; we actually had a decrease.  What the graph does not show is that in addition to a decrease in state appropriations, we had a substantial increase in student enrollment, further diluting higher education resources.  

Last year Postsecondary Education Opportunity, a newsletter published by Tom Mortenson of the University of Iowa, reported state spending on higher education per $1000 of personal income in each state from 1962 to present.   Most states have declined in recent decades, but Minnesota’s decline was one of the sharpest declines in the nation.   From 1978 when Minnesota was spending $15.08 per $1000 of personal income on higher education, we have declined to just $7.39/$1000 in FY 2005.  

This statistic is a measurement of effort.  What it clearly illustrates is that our parents’ generation made twice the effort to support higher education as our generation today.   We should not be proud. 

Governing Magazine, a magazine for state and local government officials, ranked states according to their per capita spending on higher education.   Minnesota spent $531 per capita, right behind Alabama, which spent $534, and Mississippi, which spent $549 per capita.   We are not at the bottom yet - but we should not be proud. 

Minnesota once ranked near the top of the nation in higher education funding, but in past decades we have coasted on that reputation.   Instead of additional funding for higher education we have produced new paradigms and visions.   A vision is an important first step to improvement, but without funding to back it up, a vision is just words on paper. 

There are some who say we can’t afford to improve money for higher education, because there are too many competing demands on public resources.   There is a difference between can’t and won’t.   Our parents' generation pulled the nation out of a depression, fought World War II and the Korean War, and then faced the daunting task of educating the baby boom.    They didn’t say we can’t or we won’t—they sacrificed and taxed themselves at a rate far higher than today, and they fulfilled their vision of giving their children opportunities they never had.  Will we be able to say the same to the next generation of Minnesotans?  Will we be proud of our efforts? 

We are facing yet another tough legislative session.   The billion dollar cut to the state income rates passed in 1999 and the billion dollar cut to property taxes in 2000 continue to produce chronic state budget shortfalls and calls by conservatives to slash state government (which includes higher education).  We are not alone in our funding problems—K-12 education funding has also declined, state agencies have been decimated by budget cuts and layoffs, and they are cutting healthcare benefits for the poorest Minnesotans.   

Higher education investment would continue to decline in real terms under Governor Pawlenty’s proposed budget.   While the governor claims he is proposing a $107 million increase in state funding to MnSCU, he cut $130 million for enrollment growth that MnSCU had coming under the state funding formula, and again this biennium, the Governor is just pretending that inflation doesn’t exist (a 2% per year inflation increase would cost $63 million).  The Governor proposes to fund new trinkets in higher education—like centers of excellence and a new university in Rochester—while neglecting the on-going core operations of our higher education systems. 

It requires more than visions and rhetoric for the state to be a higher education leader—it requires money.   Money that comes from taxes.   Yet Governor Pawlenty refuses to consider any tax increases—not even raising the tobacco tax to the same level as Wisconsin’s rate.   Even though polls show Minnesotans are willing to pay more taxes, the Governor continues to resist.  The Governor says opposing taxes is one of his “core values”. The leaders of our parent’s generation raised taxes because they wanted their children to have better educational opportunities than they had—that was one of their “core values”.   Our generation should not be proud of our own efforts. 

During the next several months the IFO will be lobbying hard for the resources we need, and we will also be supporting the tax increases necessary to improve higher education funding.  It will not be an easy battle, but it is a battle worth having.   You will be receiving e-mails asking you to contact key legislators at critical points in the process.

When asked, please write.  Considering what is at stake, it is not too much to ask of faculty members.
 

IFO Prepares To Negotiate the 2005-07 Contract

by Rod Henry, IFO Chief Negotiator 

Hello - I'm Rod Henry, and I was chosen as chief negotiator at the January IFO Board meeting.  I teach Business Administration courses at Bemidji State University and have been part of the last two contract negotiations.  I have also served as grievance chair, local FA president, and other positions locally as well as serving on state-wide task forces such as Salary Equity. 

This round of negotiations will not be an easy one, given that we face yet another "designer" state deficit, hostility from some parts of state government, and some attitudes from members of the MnSCU Board that seem to be more interested in cost-cutting than giving us the resources to recruit, retain, and motivate our faculty.  This is why you will be receiving a mailing from us soon asking that you volunteer to help us with the negotiations' effort through a series of visible actions.   If we do not make it clear to people outside of our organization that we believe that these short-term cost-cutting efforts will lead to the long-term problems for our faculty and universities, we will be in a difficult bargaining position. Again, if you want the best possible contract, you have to be willing to participate in actions with your colleagues - so please read our letter and mail back your response on the enclosed post card. 

On February 11th, the IFO faculty team will meet to begin the contract negotiations process.  We will be reviewing past contract negotiations, delegate assembly resolutions, "glitches" or technical issues that may have arisen from past contract language, and setting a schedule for meeting with the MnSCU negotiators.  I am frequently asked why we haven't negotiated our contract by this time - and the answer is that MnSCU has traditionally been reluctant to deal with us until negotiations with other bargaining units and the current legislative session have been concluded.  IFO members have already been working on IFO-MnSCU task forces dealing with salary competitiveness and the cost of changing the proportion of our workload assigned to teaching, and their work will be brought into the process after review by our Board. 

I'll conclude by asking you, once again, to think about the ways you will be willing to participate in our actions to support negotiations.   My belief is that unified, positive, and visible actions early in the process will preclude the need for more dramatic actions later on.   

P.S.  Watch your mail at home for the negotiations/action mailing.
 

What is Minnesota Online?

by Patricia L. Rogers, Ph.D., Bemidji State University, Minnesota Online Council Chair

Emerging from the eLearning Task Force, a committee originally constituted to explore the growing development in distance and online learning across the state, the Minnesota Online Council became the recommending body for Minnesota Online, a collaborative framework for serving the online learners of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (see http://minnesotaonline.org).

Minnesota Online is rapidly becoming an organizing point for ease of access to higher education for MnSCU learners, whether they are online learners or on campus. What started as a means of streamlining (and funding) distance learning in MnSCU, very quickly became the driver for online registration, financial aid, and course availability solutions across the system.  

Getting the word out about Minnesota Online and what it is and is not, has been a challenge. As Chair of the Minnesota Online Council, I have been working hard to place an internal communications component in any marketing plan. That plan has been approved and will move forward very quickly. Part of my own plan as an IFO member is to create a direct reporting channel online from Council IFO faculty (there are three of us) to the IFO Board of Directors. I will propose that each of the unions represented create a similar model for keeping members informed.  

The inclusion of distance and online learning in all MnSCU institutions will continue to grow in this state (all campuses have at least some courses online while others have about 40% of their students in completely online programs!). The implication for students is a positive new avenue to access higher learning when and where they need it. The implications for faculty and staff should be in our conversations at both union and institutional levels, always keeping what is best for our learners in mind.  

In other words, if you have not yet heard of Minnesota Online, just wait!  Meanwhile, do explore the website http://minnesotaonline.org 

P. S.  In his recent budget message, Governor Pawlenty proposed $14 million in new funding for Minnesota Online.
 

Faculty Workload: Creative Solutions for Improving our Lives

An opinion piece by Jeff Kolnick, Ph.D., Southwest Minnesota State University 

I suspect that all of us would become better professionals if we taught fewer classes. By working together as a union we can, perhaps, achieve this without an increased cost to the system. I recently served on an IFO/MnSCU task force designed to figure out the cost associated with lowering the standard teaching load from 24 credits a year to 21 or 18. My impression of the meeting was that MnSCU is extremely reluctant to reduce our credit load and will work hard to block such a proposal from succeeding. An alternative way to reduce teaching load would be to create a 4 credit backbone at each of our institutions thus reducing the standard load for most faculty from 4 classes a semester to 3. This would necessitate that we leave the credit requirement for graduation the same, thus reducing the number of classes we need to teach each semester and that our students need to take in order to graduate. Since we will still be teaching a standard load of 24 credits and meeting the same number of hours with our students, MnSCU incurs no cost. There is a system-level snag associated with such a change that relates to the Transfer Curriculum’s call for a 3 credit backbone at the lower division level.  

This type of change will require that we begin discussing as a union the pedagogical differences between offering degrees with fewer classes BUT WITH GREATER DEPTH.  Currently at St. John's/St. Benedict, St. Olaf, and Augustana a full class load needed to graduate in 4 years is typically made up of four 4 credit classes per semester.  Already one of our own institutions, Metropolitan State University has a 4 credit backbone, though they remain tied to a 3 credit transfer curriculum. Such a conversation, along with state wide level talks concerning the Transfer Curriculum would, in this member’s opinion, lead to a more rapid reduction in the number of courses we teach than waiting for MnSCU to agree to a reduction in credit hours at the negotiating table. Of course, one strategy does not preclude continuing to work on the other front.
 

IFO Participates in Anti-Racism Workshop

by Tiffany Nelson, IFO Para-legal 

On January 27^th, members of the IFO Board and IFO Staff, and the Multicultural Issues and Feminist Issues Committees participated in an all day workshop focused on defining racism and dismantling institutional racism on our campuses.  IFO Equity Advocate, Pat Arseneault, organized the event.

In order to move our institutions toward the goal of becoming fully inclusive, anti-racist institutions, much of the discussion focused on practical anti-racist measures, like the C.A.R.E. (Community Anti-Racism Education) initiative at St. Cloud State University and the TOCAR (Training Our Campuses Against Racism) initiative at Minnesota State University Moorhead.  Both C.A.R.E. and TOCAR are funded in part by the Otto Bremer Foundation and have common goals of enhancing the climate of campus and surrounding communities, promoting equal opportunity in order to dismantle institutional racism, and building long-lasting, multicultural, anti-racist institutions.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the anti-racism workshop.  A special thanks to the Tri-Council Coordinating Commission for conducting such an effective and informative workshop.  Thanks also to the leadership team members of C.A.R.E. and TOCAR for sharing their own campus anti-racism initiatives as an example of what is being done to dismantle racism on our campuses.
 

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