By John Hamlin
UEA President Elect

I have an idea: To increase our graduation rates and make sure students are as productive as possible; let’s require all students to take 20 credits a semester.  I know, some already do, so why not bring the rest up to that level?   We can then provide a mechanism by which a students can buy down the course load if they can demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that they are already working too much in some other aspect of their professional student life.

(3/14/2014) On Wednesday, February 19, Assemblymember Rob Bonta (Oakland) introduced AB 1942, the Fair Accreditation Practices for Community Colleges Act, before an appreciative audience of faculty and students in Sacramento. The bill, co-sponsored by CFT and the City Attorney of San Francisco, will allow community colleges to choose their own accrediting entity; currently the rogue Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges holds a monopoly on accreditation of the state’s community colleges.

(2/24/14) After years of resistance by District management, the Board of Trustees finally compelled the Chancellor to agree to increasing the hiring of FT Faculty now to start in Fall 2014 from 12 to 20 positions.  Management continued to exaggerate the cost of additional positions, and tried to sway them with concerns about spending down the reserves, but the Board was unwavering and approved the additional positions unanimously.  We don't yet know how many positions will be hired at each college.  

Click here for a copy of our contract we negotiated in November 2014.

Many people have received letters of ‘non-compliance’ from Care Management Solutions.  It is important to note that the list of ‘non-compliant’ HEP members is not up-to-date and CMS is working to update the high volume of notifications of compliance. 

Editor's note: On Monday, Feb. 17, University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler visited the UMD campus to hold a series of open meetings on the university's current budget situation. UMD History professor Scott Laderman wrote the following open letter to Kaler in response to that visit.

February 20, 2014

Eric W. Kaler, President
University of Minnesota

Dear President Kaler,

(2/20/14) CFE Members and Coast District Faculty attended the Board of Trustees Study Session  on Feb. 12, 2014 which focused on hiring full time faculty. CFE President Dean Mancina presented a report to the BOT and statements were presented by CFE Executive Board Members, Marilyn Kennedy and Eduardo Arismendi-Pardi. All three are available in the links below:

CFE's Report to the BOT: http://cfe.ca.aft.org/files/cfe_report_bot_faculty_hiring_session.pdf

Check out the Legislative Hotline for election updates, and you can see more on Texas AFT endorsed candidates here ...

(2/13/14) On Feb. 12, 2014 Trust Advisor Graham Hawley was CFE's first guest speaker from the Wednesday Lunch Series. He has offered to extend the deep discount of $400 to CFE Faculty that want a Revocable Living Trust. The fee will be $750, regularly $1,150.

To contact Graham, please call (714) 637-9840 or visit www.unitedestateplanning.com.

For more information please visit: http://cfe.ca.aft.org/files/advantages_of_a_living_trust_2014.pdf