Hi everyone,
I hope you are all safe and well and adjusting to the “new normal.” We are thinking of you!
In the last week the greatest concern has been the situation with the library. We tried all week to convince the president to close the library and send the librarians home, to no avail. Pray for your brothers and sisters on the front lines there, that they stay healthy and safe. I applaud them for their courage and their faithfulness, and all the work they have done to help us make their case.
In other news, you will recall that all the departments lost their budgets because of a supposed “budget crisis.” Before Curtailment, Kennie, Tera, and I met with the President and asked for a year-to-date budget report so we could figure out what was going on. We gave him a sample from the days of Regina (former VP of Finance), which was about 3 pages long. Last week I got an email from Dr. Haynes to come pick up the report. As you can see from the attached photo, it is roughly a ream or so of paper, with one line of data on each page! We have NYSUT working on the figures and as soon as we have something conclusive to share we will let you know.
We also are waiting on the College’s response to the MOU that we shared with you last week. We are attempting to memorialize the promises Dr. Drumm made to us at the beginning of this crisis, and to protect our people. I contacted the president yesterday to see if it was ready to sign, and he said his people were still reviewing it to see where we are.
We are exploring the best ways to have group meetings, and at that point we will reinstitute all the SBFA working groups, starting with Rep Council. Be sure to check the SBFA website for updates and other critical information you may have missed.
Tera and I have offered our services to the SUNY Broome Emergency Operations Center. We will let you know if anything comes of that.
Meantime, keep track of all the (extra) work you are doing. This will help us deal with whatever comes up when the crisis is over, and in our next round of negotiations.
We do have some good news: several new people have asked to join the SBFA! We are working on how to handle the signups electronically, and in the meantime, welcome!
Thank you for the words of support, suggestions, and observations. Keep them coming! And be sure to let your Reps and us know if you need anything.
Stay strong, stay safe, and we will be in touch again soon!
In friendship and solidarity,
Suzanne
Suzanne V. Shepard, Ph.D.
President, SUNY Broome Faculty Association
SUNY Broome Community College 