Chip off the OLD block?

Sent: Wed 5/6/2009 5:15 PM
Subject: From: Alice Botein-Furrevig
As the Semester winds down...from Ali Botein-Furrevig

Dear Pat: Though a relatively new member of the FAOCC, having served as an adjunct professor here for over 15 years, and as a former director and AVP of Human Resources and Corproate Communications for even more years, I feel obliged to share some observations and concerns. Perhaps because I do not come to academia from a union background, but I strongly believe that what I perceive as the prevailing "They're out to get us" paranoia  founded upon an irrational emotional "us" versus "them" mindset is not only non-productive, but that it is lethal to the success of the association you presumably represent. Of greater concern, it  serves neither the best interests of the institution nor those of the students we serve. In contrast to the FAOCC, why is it that the Adjunct Association has consistently been successful in civil contractual and greivance negotiations? I would say that their impressive outcomes have less to do with strength in numbers than with that association's professional leadership whose goal has always been to achieve optimum results without confrontation with, and repeatedly issuing challenges to, administration. This is the sense I get from listening to collaegues and reading the FAOCC Newsletter. Equally counter-productive, to my mind, are the residual negative effects of rehashing and not moving on from issues that are no longer current; the objective, seemingly, is not encouraging open and civil dialogue to arrive at solutions, but rather perpetuating --dare I say immortalizing--standoffs between administration and faculty. I look forward to discussing this weighted issue in the fall meeting as it concerns all faculty members --even those who have declared support of the FAOCC position. In the words of  the brilliant Dr. Freud (Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, )"Belonging to a group or culture, to a collective identity, gives us comfort."  
With Best Regards, Collegiality, and Wishes for a Happy and Healthy Summer--
Ali
Dr. Ali Botein-Furrevig

Assistant Professor, English and Literature

                                                                                                                                           

Colleagues, sorry   for the computer glitch. One presses the wrong button, and the results are predictable. wsl

From: William Lavundi
Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 3:24 PM
To: Linda Caltagirone
Subject: RE: As the Semester winds down...from Ali Botein-Furrevig

Ms  Caltagirone,

The exchange of  missives or phillipics on the above captioned subject has been registered by this writer with a sense of bemused detachment. Were it not for thefact that professional amateurs—those among us who have never read Papa Freud, let alone understood him—have declared him “ out of favor,” only underscore his lasting  relevance and ever increasing importance. Even when arguing in favor of his irrelevance, his name is repeatedly invoked; his presence is palpable to this day!
 Esteemed Colleague, you appear to be missing the main point of Ali’s memo. Zeroing-in on a quote is not-so-elegant a deflection away from the core issues:long standing denial of the realities affecting the entire membership of the FAOCC, the clinical knee-jerk response to even a whiff of criticism of the stalwart leaders ofthe  Association, the random filing of dozens of grievances vs. the Administration without a single victory at our  end, the dispirited and disillusioned membership atlarge,as evidenced by the very scant attendance at Association meetings, the total absence of an evaluation apparatus of the officers of the Association—all the moreremarkable in light of the dogged and persistent hunt at our end for perceived administrative blunders—the painful absence of any creative and original tack at our end,designed to demonstrate a modicum of leadership—all of these underscore the sad conclusion that we are moribund, without any evidence of any positive esprit decorpse.
These issues will be re-visited in person at our first meeting in the fall. In the meantime, let us see if all of us can arrive at a basis of mutual understanding.Have a pleasant and productive summer, ye all.

 

 

Comments

[Sag]

To ANYONE who is concerned for the future of this college:

PASSIVITY is DEATH. A "what can you do?" attitude allows the supposed "bad guys" to win. However, HONEY is more persuasive then viniger. New Faculty hires are your best chance for impact. Politely but AGGRESSIVELY volunteer for the search committees and follow-up on them (whether you are appointed to them or not). If you accept that the matter is "out of your hands" ... YOU have RUBBER STAMPED the outcome. IF you know of worthy or qualified applicants you should herald their glories to all who might listen and have influence REPEATEDLY. It is the un-watched "Hen House" that is prime target for the foxes. Many adjuncts give up teaching after only a few years because they see the deserved never getting the full-time jobs. To be an adjunct at any institution is a heart-breaking position. It should be the man-date of concerned full-time educators to see that the proven and dedicated part-time faculty members get their fair chance. The "HONEY" is to make certain that the "right people" get sent "upstairs" from committees with PERSUASIVE support materiials that herald the hiring of a QUALIFIED, PROVEN and DEDICATED candidate. IF you send up packets that point out that a candidate is a proven "saint of education" .... MAYBE upstairs will not perform an act of educational blasphemy. YES! Sometimes you do have to go "OVER THE TOP!" I was raised RC and I believe ANY adjunct that has kept teaching with spirit and dedication in the NJ system for longer then a few years should be cannonized. I was taught to believe that the majority of people have working souls and consciences. You just have to be diplomatic in reminding them of their existance. IF there is any hiring going on in any of your departments you should repeatedly follow-up on it and give a sense that you are involved and concerned about the outcome. A summer break should not be a break from your involvement. That is how the fox gets his way in the "hen house." It is SAD to hear a faculty member ask, "was their ever even a search committee for that position? ...did you know anyone on it?" Full-time faculty members should be sweetly (with HONEY) and consitently looking over the shoulders of EVERY search committee on this campus. IF you make certain a REAL TEACHER gets the job you have changed this campus and THE WORLD for the better. Wouldn't you like to see the good guys win for a change?

[The Peanut Gallery]

BHDT: Her grievance was definitely when Wetta was still around and how interesting those two are still cozy. I don't think "Ms. Ali and Mr. Bill are in competition" in any way. His self righteous confrontational letter to Linda C was to validate Ali's accusations and get him into the limelight.

[Been here, done this]

My oh my. After "reading" the missives of Ms. Ali and Mr. Bill I must now take off my waders. Are they in some type of competition (shades of Freud) to discover which of them can write the most hubristic, fatuous prose? One can scarcely wait until that first meeting in the autumn.

[Been here, done this]

Re: Ali's grievance of "many years back as an ajunct which was quickly and quietly resolved in her court" - does this mean that her grievance was not settled during the reign of King Jon? That might explain why it was settled expeditiously and fairly. Doubt that would happen now for either a tenured or non-tenured faculty member.

[Stupefied]

We could replace "Kean" with "Ocean," but Larson didn't even have the sense to suggest that a budget crunch was the reason for OCC’s ridiculous reorganization. In fact, when pressed by the president of the FAOCC, the court jester charading as OCC’s Chief Academic Officer gave a predictably immature and school girl-like reply, “I did explain, Pat. Weren’t you listening?”

[Gahhhh]

Change all of the "Kean"s to "Ocean"s while reading...

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/national_union_head_criticizes.html

[Webmaster]

It is truly amazing that an administrator would waste even a nano-second of his or her time posting on a blog that does not even exist! If the blog does exist, then it is supported by only 6 people (hmmm...1168 hits in the last seven days...), so, again, why waste any effort blogging?

OCC Commentary will be here for the foreseeable future. We must be hitting a nerve or the administrative punk (love that, Suzanne!) would not have bothered posting.

Eat your heart out...

[Suzanne]

I thought this should be pulled up again, since I'm not sure anyone read it after interloper posted it. PLEASE READ!

The Kean Federation of Teachers-joined by American Federation of Teachers want an external forensic audit of the university's finances before the Board of Trustees takes any steps toward a reorganization proposal that would cut classes and programs, substitute academic department chairs with management and eliminate the department of social work, and other changes. The proposal is set to go to the board May 18.

"This careless, ill-conceived reorganization proposal would hurt students and jeopardize the quality of the school's academic programs,'' said KFT President James Castiglione in a written statement. "There are other solutions to dealing with the current budget shortfall, including trimming the bloated administration and tapping reserve funds in the bank. This situation demands an outside investigation into how taxpayer money is being abused by an administration that has grown by 31 percent and exploded university debt from $48 to $350 million in only 6 years.''

[The Peanut Gallery]

Ali might be the new generation reincarnation of her beloved mentor, but since she's been verbally pro-admin for years (though she did have a grievance many years back as an adjunct which was quickly and quiety resolved in her court) openly poopooing every faculty cause and complaint so her letter is at least sincere if not misguided. We all know that Lavundi who is now back is the mouthpiece for administration confronting faculty at every turn. Neither grasshopper nor her master are all too popular in the Dept. these days.