General assembly also gets update on common curriculum,听votes on two resolutions
Representatives from an aspiring collective bargaining association for all Colorado higher education employees asked the Boulder Faculty Assembly鈥檚 members Thursday to sign a letter to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis seeking support for legislation 鈥済ranting all public workers in Colorado the right to organize into unions of our own choosing and to collectively bargain in the public interest.鈥�
The group鈥攔epresenting the United Campus Workers of Colorado (UCWC)鈥攚as invited by the BFA鈥檚 Faculty Affairs Committee to speak at the general assembly鈥檚 monthly meeting, at which two of UCWC鈥檚 faculty members and a UCWC organizer gave a 25-minute presentation asking for faculty support for the letter that calls for, among a host of measures, 鈥渟afeguarding the right to strike, the ability to bargain on a wide scope of issues beyond wages and benefits, and protections for worker organizing.鈥�
鈥淭his is an unprecedented opportunity to bring collective bargaining rights, not just for faculty workers, not just graduate students, but for all public sector workers,鈥� said presenter Burton St. John, professor of advertising, public relations and media design in CU Boulder鈥檚 College of Media, Communication and Information.
Co-presenter Ambikah Kamath, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, said UCWC鈥檚 efforts would not simply be directed at higher wages, but would seek a wide scope of bargaining that would include 鈥渋ssues related to working conditions鈥攖hings such as teaching workloads, classroom conditions and protection from harassment.鈥�
The linchpin to securing these, Kamath said, was 鈥渢he right to strike.鈥�
鈥淎 right to threaten to withhold our labor鈥攖hat is what gives us collective power,鈥� she said.
BFA Chair Tiffany Beechy asked the trio what unionization would mean for the varied interests of faculty across the CU system鈥攆aculty whose 鈥渟alaries, promotions and raises are very different across the campuses.鈥�
鈥淗ow do you envision campus-level autonomy vs. coordinated efforts among the four [campuses]?鈥� Beechy asked.
UCWC organizer Hailey Huget said the legislation the group was lobbying would mean 鈥渨orkers in a similar job classification can organize into bargaining units of their choosing,鈥� and that it鈥檚 up to the faculty to decide:听鈥淎re we at CU Boulder aligned with those at UCCS such that we want to be joined as a bargaining unit.鈥�
Ravinder Singh听of molecular, cellular and developmental biology asked how unionization might impact shared governance, and if there were 鈥渁ny downside to this compared to what we have been doing here (in the BFA)?鈥�
Beechy, asked by one of the UCWC presenters to describe BFA鈥檚 goals in shared governance, said, 鈥淔aculty governance pokes, demands and asks questions,鈥� and that in contrast, 鈥淭he formal rituals of consulting faculty are pro forma only.鈥�
鈥淲e have to push past that feeling鈥攕hared governance can devolve into that, and we hope for it to be more substantial.鈥�
Kamath, while not directly addressing Singh鈥檚 question on how unionization might impact shared governance, said听collective bargaining would 鈥渃hange our shared governance as we know it by making it stronger,鈥澨齜ut did not say how that might come about.
A coalition of colleges and universities鈥攊ncluding the CU system, Colorado State University, the Colorado School of Mines, Colorado Mesa University, the state鈥檚 community college system and others鈥攈ave cited the threat to long-standing shared governance organizations as among the reasons they oppose collective bargaining for higher education employees.
Unions, the coalition maintains, would replace shared governance entities with an adversarial union or group of unions that don鈥檛 know the culture, context and particularities of how higher education operates in the way that shared governance organizations do.
The coalition also cites increased administrative costs鈥攖he CU system is preparing its specific financial analysis for administrative costs, which are estimated to be in the millions, to submit for a fiscal note鈥攖hat will be needed to create the infrastructure to implement collective bargaining legislation. This figure does not include the costs associated with enforced changes to salaries, benefits and leave, which they say could cost millions more.
Update on common curriculum
Following the collective bargaining presentation, the BFA heard an update from Senior Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Planning and Assessment Katherine Eggert and Dean and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Daryl Maeda on current efforts to create a common curriculum for CU Boulder.
In a 15-minute presentation, the two outlined the steps the Common Curriculum Planning Committee is taking to create a common curriculum鈥攃alled for in the 2018 Academic Futures initiative, and mandated by CU Boulder鈥檚 2020 accreditation process and by Chancellor Phil DiStefano.
The two outlined the process by which data and input from faculty white papers, models from other institutions, and 鈥�81 meetings with [CU Boulder] academic departments and other units鈥� had coalesced into a set of what Maeda termed ideas for 鈥渓earning objectives鈥� that were 鈥渉eard over and over again.鈥�
Eggert said the efforts of the common curriculum committee so far have arrived at a key question that asks, 鈥淲hat is the purpose and distinctive nature of a CU Boulder education?鈥� with a preliminary answer that posits a curriculum that helps students forge 鈥渟ustainable futures鈥� built on a keen understanding of 鈥渟elf, society听and world.鈥�
The committee, Eggert said, has focused on the curriculum鈥檚 purpose as focusing on students developing three habits of mind鈥攄iscovery, reflection听and engagement; and three skills鈥攊nformation literacy, communication, and critical thinking.
鈥淎ll of these are not imagined as sequential, but rather as taught, learned and absorbed through the curriculum,鈥� Eggert said.
The common curriculum鈥檚 learning objectives will be realized through curricular pathways of the colleges, schools and undergraduate degree programs at CU Boulder, Eggert said, along with incorporating first-year programs that reinforce skills of 鈥渟tudy, citizenship and self-care.鈥�
Eggert said immediate next steps include finalizing and approving the learning objectives and outcomes, the initial draft of which will publish next week with public forums and options for email input to follow.
Other BFA action
The BFA voted on two resolutions:
- It approved by a vote of 33 in favor, four opposed and three abstentions, a set of previously recommended guidelines for incorporating DEI in annual faculty merit evaluations.
- It approved by a vote of 34 in favor, two opposed and four abstentions, a resolution that calls on the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA)鈥攖he retirement fund for many CU faculty and staff鈥攖o divest its holdings 鈥渇rom the climate crisis and reinvest in climate justice鈥� by developing a more 鈥渞obust鈥� selection of funds without holdings in fossil fuels and deforestation companies.
The BFA also introduced two new notices of motion to be voted on at the general assembly鈥檚 April 28 meeting:
- A resolution from the BFA鈥檚 committees on Budget & Planning and on Climate Science & Education that calls for the CU system to work with 鈥渇aculty governance bodies at the system and campus levels to develop a socially responsible strategy to divest from fossil fuels and to reinvest in a just energy transition, as quickly as financially prudent but no later than 2027.鈥�
- A resolution from the BFA鈥檚 Libraries Committee that makes revisions to the charge and name of the BFA鈥檚 Libraries Committee. The resolution proposes the new name 鈥淟ibraries and Scholarly Communication鈥� for the committee.听It calls on the committee to advance the views of faculty members 鈥渃oncerning the role of the University Libraries in the acquisition, storage听and provision of scholarly materials and issues related to scholarly communication, education materials听and open scholarship.鈥�
