MCCC Home | Year Index

In This Issue:

• Jon Butler Honoree
• Two Termination Victories
• DCE Dues

Sue Herman honored at MCCC Annual Meeting   Sue Herman

The Seventh Annual Jon G. Butler Memorial Award for outstanding chapter president was awarded at the MCCC Delegate Assembly on Saturday, April 20, 1991. This award was established in Fall, 1984 in honor of Jon Butler, former chapter president at North Shore Community College, former MCCC Research Coordinator, and outspoken and active proponent of unit members' rights. This year's recipient is Sue Herman, a Professor of English at North Shore Community College. She received a B.A. from Tufts and an M.A. in English from Northeastern University, and has done advanced work at Boston University and UMass/Amherst. While a teaching assistant at Northeastern, Sue first joined the union movement by becoming a member of AAUP. In the early 70's when she was teaching at No. Shore, AAUP came to the college. Sue was president of this chapter when the community college system voted the MTA as its bargaining agent. Except for leaves for family, graduate studies, and a sabbatical, Sue has been involved in the chapter union as long as the union has been in existence. In 1986 Sue became the chapter president of No. Shore. Over the years, she had become close friends with Jon Butler for whom this award is named. When he was killed, Sue was financially unable to make a significant contribution to his scholarship fund and decided serving as chapter president would be her contribution to him. Since he had been chapter president and she had served as his vice president and secretary, Sue felt she had the experience necessary to do a credible job. Upon her election, she faced work-to-rule and an asbestos suit filed against No. Shore by the faculty. Both of these issues were eventually resolved, and Sue remained chapter president. As other chapter presidents know, the job is fraught with frustrations, disappointments, and satisfactions. "The chapter president is the first person the unit member's look to for answers and support." She knows, however, that no one has all the answers, but feels that, "It is important that the membership know that you will do your best on their behalf." In order to do a good job, however, it helps if the chapter president is familiar with the organization and the role the chapter president has in that organization. "Understanding the philosophy of unionism is also important," according to Sue. "Being chapter president has helped me find my values in terms of my loyalty. I have become a very strong advocate of academic freedom and membership rights for my colleagues. This job has also helped me become more tolerant of the uniqueness of the academic environment. Solidarity with my colleagues became the most important value in my role as chapter president, and it far outweighed any reservations about ideological differences." In fact, Sue matriculated into the University of Massachusetts Ed.D program for higher education administrators. "After working so closely with the administration both on the chapter as well as on the statewide level, however, I became convinced that my real place was with the union and not in the administration. This program helped me realize how much my allegiance was to the union and not to the administration which, more often than not, tries to minimize the role of the union." This observation has been constantly reaffirmed with the charade of administrative impartiality at the Step I grievance hearings. "It is difficult for me to understand how our administration can look at something and pretend to be impartial and then come out with a decision that seems to defy collegiality and rationality. The college's hearing officer has to figure out a way to find against the union and for the administration, in most cases." Even with this perspective, Sue said that she and the administration have worked well together over the years, and because of a mutual respect, settled a number of issues. Right now, North Shore is in the midst of confronting the most disconcerting problem for the college-Governor Weld's perusing of public higher education's contracts, colleges, and funding. The Governor's transition teams report cited North Shore as one of the colleges which should be closed. The unit members have mobilized and have been visiting all the representatives and senators from the college's area as well as members of theeducation committee. The concern over the closing is compounded by the college president's attitude of-don't worry, he will handle this problem. The unit members' anxiety has been increased with their representatives' and senators' attitudes. "The newly elected representative, James Henry (R-Beverly) publicly stated that if the State was short of money, then maybe we should bite the bullet and North Shore may have to go. Even our state senator Frederick E. Berry (D-Saugus) said he couldn't say that we would not be closed. Our students are constantly asking if it is safe to register. Even though we have had a stay of execution, the 'trickle-down effect' could do irreparable damage to our Beverly campus. We will continue to lobby, write letters, and call. The students have already spent a day at the State House sitting at a table in Doric Hall handing out literature on North Shore to everyone who entered." After five years as chapter president, Sue will pass the gavel this Spring. She will continue with her union involvement and would like to become more involved at the statewide level. "It has been an extremely rewarding five years, and I hope that the college and I stay around long enough for me to serve as president again some day." Arthur Neuner, a former president and Sue's vice president for four years said, Filling the vacuum that Sue will leave is going to be very difficult. She has been a superb advocate for the entire membership. I was always baffled that she could do everything she did for the union and still maintain her schedule and her sense of humor. There was no one who was a better defender of the unit members, and she could always straighten out the problems. She kept things in perspective and was the voice of reason in the mass of confusion at North Shore. The unit membership will sorely miss Sue not just for her dedication and commitment to protecting our rights, but for her professionalism and strong character."

Just cause standard for termination prevails Fired unit member vindicated and reinstated

After 17 years of service, the administration of Bristol Community College terminated the employment of Paulette Howarth, an Assistant Professor in the Medical Lab Technology Program (MLT). The arbitration lasted four days, and John Van N. Dorr, Ill issued his decision in March, 1991. Though the arbitrator ruled on three issues, the central issue of the arbitration was, Did the college have just cause to terminate the employment of Paulette Howarth?". Background In 1974 Paulette Howarth was hired as the Program Director of the MLT program at Bristol. In her first four years of work, Howarth received excellent evaluations and a promotion to Assistant Professor. In 1978 a new division chair was hired who recommended that Howarth not be reappointed as program director based on a dissatisfaction with Howarth's performance. Another member of the department, Sandra Campos, replaced Howarth as MILT Program Director, and Howarth returned to full-time teaching in May, 1979. She was also reappointed under her first multi-year contract for two years. In February, 1980 division chair Edith Thomas's Composite Evaluation rated Howarth as unsatisfactory based on Thomas's interpretation that the student evaluations reflected a substandard performance and Howarth did meet student expectations. Howarth responded that she had done as well as was possible considering the fact that: she had been assigned her classes only two weeks before they were to start; she had never taught two of the courses; her teaching load included two courses and their labs; she had a third course with two days per week as clinical instruction; and she was responsible for developing the hospital-student transition. In addition to being asked to help Campos with the transition of students into the clinical setting, Howarth was involved in preparing a clinical program handbook, had four students to supervise in four different clinical departments, and had to develop a techniques worksheet and a series of study questions for each student in each department. Howarth also noted 'the performance of her students on national board exams (all passed), including in 1978 (when only two failed)" was a better measure of her performance. The following years showed improvements in course material, classroom observations, and student evaluations which fell in the fair to very good range. When Division Chair Thomas retired in December, 1982, she testified that she had not recommended the termination of Howarth as "it is not appropriate with one unsatisfactory evaluation to terminate employment." In 1984 Howarth's supervisor Hope Burns' 1983 Summary Evaluation continued to reflect the disparity which had developed between the supervisor and the student evaluations-fair to good student evaluations and well prepared classroom presentations. In March, 1985, Burns "strongly recommend[ed] ... reappointment with tenure." Academic Dean Roy disagreed, recommended against tenure, and "Burns acknowledged that she, Burns, was not granted a merit increase that year, partly, President Farley told her, because of the tenure recommendation." In March, 1986 Burns notified the new Academic Dean David Feeney that her 1985 recommendation for tenure was based on a mistaken reading of the Agreement, and she did not recommend tenure for Howarth in 1986. In Fall, 1988 the students from Howarth's Med. Microbiology class filed a complaint through the student grievance process. These same students rated Howarth poor in the student evaluations conducted that semester. Howarth's response was corroborated by Dr. David Warr who also taught these same students in Chemistry and by Mr. Broadbent, a former student who graduated in 1988. All stated that this was one of the weakest classes of MLT students and part of the problem stemmed from the students' attitude of 'Here I am, teach me." Broadbent testified that these students were "mediocre students, at best, had poor study habits .... were quick to place the blame on others for their failures and lack of dedication and commitment." Six of the ten students failed the Microbiology class in Fall, 1988. During the intercession, the students were afforded the opportunity to take a tutorial. The students again took the exam, and again failed. "An intense disagreement then ensured between Howarth and Burns and Campos as to what should be done with the students. Campos and Burns prevailed, and four of them were permitted to continue in the program... Howarth disagreed strongly with this decision, believing that it compromised the integrity of the program." In Spring 1989, Dean David Feeney recommended that Howarth be placed on a terminal contract for 1989-1990 based on continued student dissatisfaction, less than satisfactory performance on student evaluations, and failure to comply with faculty evaluation criteria. Dean Feeney stated he would re-evaluate her status if she satisfactorily met his stated objectives. Included in his list was the requirement that she obtain a 4.0 or greater on seven of the student evaluation questions which he listed. Further conflicts arose between Howarth and her supervisor, Hope Burns, and Howarth was terminated in August, 1990.

"...It is management's role to hire and fire; it is management's responsibility not that of students, to make the ultimate performance assessment."

Just cause not a standard for mediocrity At the arbitration hearing, management argued that 'professional judgment" controlled the standard for deciding termination, and the union argued that "just cause" should be the standard. Arbitrator Dorr stated in his dicta that the "just cause" standard for termination in the fifth year appointment or later is mandatory. "The College is not married to mediocrity by this standard, but it is required to meet a measure more stringent than merely its own good faith belief that it should take the action it chooses to take." Since the College "sought to take action against a faculty member on the basis of student evaluations which clearly rate that instructor as overall better than 'fair', and in some specific areas as consistently relatively weak .... it is incumbent on management to look more closely at the individual's performance . It is management's role to hire and fire; it is management's responsibility, not that of students, to make the ultimate performance assessment." The arbitrator found that the student complaints did not sufficiently warrant termination. The arbitrator ruled that the college did not have just cause to terminate Paulette Howarth's employment, and the College was directed to reinstate the grievant to her former position with full back pay and benefits. Chapter President Joe Murphy stated, "This has been a terribly difficult ordeal both emotionally and financially for Paulette. Because she had a lot of friends and faculty support, it helped her weather this trying experience. The college had made up its mind that it was going to terminate Paulette, and it was willing to get rid of just cause and dismantle the evaluation process to achieve this objective. This is not just a victory for Paulette but for all unit members in the community college system. It reinforces our contractual rights to due process and protects unit members from this kind of administrative arrogance." Problems have now arisen in the implementation of this award. Dean David Feeney has refused to reinstate Howarth to her former position in the Med. Lab Technology Program. Dean Feeney has refused to reassign the grievant to her former office which she had occupied for approximately eight years, and he has relocated Howarth to an office out of the building which she had been in for approximately 17 years. In addition, Dean Feeney insists that Howarth teach courses (3 preps) outside of her work area and courses which she had never taught in her 17 years at the College. Arbitrator Dorr has been summoned by the MCCC for a post-arbitration hearing, and the MCCC will investigate the filing of a prohibited practice charge against Dean Feeney for intimidation, harassment, and retaliation. After receiving the arbitrator's decision, Howarth stated that she, "could never have gotten through this without the support of the faculty and staff at Bristol, especially the chapter president Joe Murphy, Margaret Ryckebusch, Brian Carlos, and Dan McCombs. MTA attorney Eileen Cenci and MCCC Grievance Officer Dennis Fitzgerald provided me with superb legal support. I just regret that the college administration is making my return so difficult."

Fired unit member receives largest stipulated award

In 1985 Donna Levine was hired as Program Director/Coordinator and instructor in the Respiratory Care Program at Massasoit Community College. In every year of Levine's employment, she received flawless summary and component evaluations. Her student evaluations were consistently in the 'very good" range, and the division chair's evaluations were consistently positive. Levine had not received any recommendations for improvement in classroom performance and was not aware of any student complaints. She was awarded a promotion in 1989. Also, during Levine's tenure as program director/coordinator, the National Board for Respiratory Care Certification Exam Score Report indicated that her students improved from a below average of 31 percent passing when she came to Massasoit to 100 percent passing in her last year of employment. In the sixth week of the Fall, 1989 semester, as a result of student complaints during the second week of classes and a complaint from another unit member in her program, the grievant was reprimanded, suspended, and dismissed. The president's statement of charges accused the grievant of unsatisfactory performance, unprofessional conduct, and insubordination. The Association and its attorney conducted an investigation in preparation for the arbitration by reviewing the grievant's personnel file, interviewing student witnesses from every class prior to Fall, 1989, reviewing the bases and validity of the student complaints and the complaint from a colleague, interviewing former unit members in the Respiratory Care Program, and analyzing the legality of the president's statement of charges. Because of this investigation, the Association was confident that there was no just cause for the reprimand, suspension, and dismissal of Levine. The Association was extremely confident of an award on her behalf. This confidence increased when the Board's witness list of six individuals indicated that the president of the college and the ringleader of the students who complained would not testify. Two days prior to the arbitration hearing, the college and the union agreed to a settlement of $61,864. This settlement offer was accepted in the form of a Stipulated Award (award signed by the arbitrator) and is the largest grievance settlement executed by the MCCC since its inception.

DCE dues year clarification MCCC/MTA/NEA members No dues MTA/NEA members 3 credits or more $37 Less than 3 credits $18.50 NEA members 3 credits or more $109 Less than 3 credits $54.50 Non MCCC, MTA, NEA members 3 credits and over $155 Less than 3 credits $100.50

The first year of the DCE contract year will end at the close of the Spring, 1991 semester. Beginning with the first summer session, regardless of start-up date, the second DCE unit year will begin. Consequently, everyone teaching in the first summer session will receive the DCE membership form, either for renewal or new enrollment. Once the form has been completed and dues have been received, the membership year will go through the Spring, 1992 semester. Please make note of the following points: 1. All unit members who teach in the summer sessions beginning with the first summer session at each campus, must either renew or become a new member by paying the appropriate dues level. 2. Included with the DCE teaching contract from the college should be an enrollment form for the unit member to complete and forward to the MCCC. If a unit member wants payroll dues deduction, he or she must return enrollment or renewal material to the MCCC Treasurer Tom Parsons no later than the end of the first week of classes. Payroll deduction is only available for first session day and first session evening. All other summer session unit members must make a cash payment. 3. Once the unit member has paid his or her dues, then he or she is a member in good standing of the MCCC/MTA/NEA through the Spring, 1992 semester. If a unit member, however, initially pays the dues structure for less than a 3 credit load and subsequently works more than the three credits, then he or she will need to pay the incremental difference. 4. All unit members should include their social security number when filling out the enrollment form. If any member does not receive a membership enrollment form from the college by the first week of the first summer session, then he or she should contact the MCCC Treasurer Tom Parsons (617) 235-3606. Most unit members should receive this information from the college at least three weeks prior to the beginning of the first summer session.

Nota bene

There are additional slots for delegates to the MTA Annual Meeting in Boston on May 10 and 11. If any unit member from the full-time or DCE unit is interested in attending, you must contact MCCC President James Rice at Quinsigamond Community College (508) 853-2300. The MCCC provides a stipend and also will pay for a hotel room if you live within 25 miles of Boston.

Know Your Contract

Apr. 15	Dean announces title changes
Apr. 24	Faculty submit preferred class schedule for Fall, 1991
Apr. 26	Faculty notified of tentative courses for Fall, 1991
May 1	President recommends tenure or one-year appointments to trustees
May 8	Faculty submit Student Advisement and College Service forms
May 21	President notifies unit members of tenure or one-year appointment

N.B. Dates may vary depending on first day of classes. Also, most of these dates are "last date" standards.
In many instances, the action can he accomplished before the date indicated.