Mike Gambone Responds to President Cevallos's Email to Faculty

Dr. Cevallos,

We appreciate your letter and the evolution that it reflects.

We are ready to meet and address the problems cited in our bill of particulars. It is unfortunate that the snow storm last Friday prevented our monthly breakfast with you and the University Senate leadership. Although I have to attend a meeting of all APSCUF chapter presidents today and tomorrow, the local leadership will be available from Monday onwards.

What will restore faith is substance. If the administration is willing to address each of the items the faculty cited in concrete terms and with distinct deadlines, we will make progress.

We can begin this process as early as Monday.

Until then, the vote of no confidence will proceed.

We will contact your office for an appointment and look forward to our first meeting.

Dr. Michael D. Gambone

Professor of History

APSCUF-KU

VOTE--March 3-5, Beekey 118, 9-4pm

Board of Governors Vote

Colleagues,

Last week, we learned that the PASSHE Board of Governors wanted to meet with the APSCUF-KU leadership to discuss the vote of no confidence. According to Pat Heilman, such a meeting was unprecedented. It marked an opportunity to discuss faculty concerns in a candid and professional manner. As late as Monday, we were very hopeful about a potential resolution to the many problems we face here at Kutztown.

Unfortunately, the meeting never happened.

Yesterday, during a conference call, the PASSHE Board of Governors unanimously passed a resolution that:

“President F. Javier Cevallos continues to demonstrate strong leadership in his development of Kutztown University, its faculty and academic programs to ensure student success…”

Pat Heilman, who was present at the meeting, provided a full text of the resolution. It is attached. A portion of the resolution is also included on the PASSHE website.

Like the Board of Trustees, the Board of Governors has closed ranks. Rather than acknowledge the systemic problems that we have raised, they have chosen to attribute them to a small group of dissidents within the union leadership.

The votes at Representative Council two weeks ago belie that notion. We are not isolated, nor are we small in numbers. We do not lack support.

Last week, Kutztown students started a Facebook site called “Kutztown University Needs to Change” to address their own particular concerns. As of this writing, it has 1,129 members. A student town hall meeting is planned for next Monday so that faculty and students can talk.

We are not isolated. We do not lack support.

Why?

Clever manipulation? A campaign of “shock and awe,” as my one colleagues has suggested?

Or, is it the simple proposition that people understand the need to face facts and fix things? That or the vacuum offered by management from top to bottom.

Think about it.

And vote.

Mike Gambone

APSCUF-KU

Vote of No Confidence Procedures and Information

APSCUF-KU President, Mike Gambone's 2/20/08 email to faculty:

Colleagues,

The vote of no confidence will be held from 3-5 March 2008. Hours for voting will be from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day. The polling place will be the APSCUF-KU office in 117 Beekey.

All faculty, both union members and fair share members, are eligible to vote.

We will need faculty to serve one-hour shifts to oversee the vote in the Beekey office. Please contact Karen Epting immediately if you wish to volunteer. In order to address the issue of a fair voting process, I would encourage faculty who are opposed to this measure to participate as poll watchers.

Faculty who are on leaves of absence, on sabbatical, or off campus will be sent absentee ballots. They may either return these directly to the APSCUF-KU office or, at their own discretion, vote via email to the APSCUF-KU office.

Faculty whose schedules do not permit them to vote during designated times will be provided absentee ballots upon request.

A meeting for faculty to discuss the vote will be held on Wednesday, 27 February in the Alumni Auditorium (MSU 183) from 3:00 to 5:00.

Mike Gambone

APSCUF-KU Rep. Council Authorizes Vote of No Confidence

APSCUF-KU President Mike Gambone sent the following email to faculty this morning:

Colleagues,

Yesterday, the APSCUF-KU Representative Council addressed two motions relevant to our current discussion on the quality of education, working conditions, and governance at Kutztown University.

The motion to authorize a vote of no confidence passed. The final vote was:

45 yeas
15 nays
4 abstentions

A motion for a vote of no confidence in the APSCUF-KU Executive Committee failed. The final vote was:

49 nays
7 yeas
2 abstentions

The vote of no confidence will be held during the first week of March. Specific details will be made available next week. We will also be asking for volunteers to man the polling place. I will be contacting the University Senate and AFSCME to solicit their help in counting ballots.

We will also be scheduling additional public meetings to discuss the substance of the bill of particulars. Specific times and locations will be forthcoming as soon as they are available.

In the meantime, APSCUF-KU invites the president and the board of trustees to recognize and constructively resolve the many problems affecting our campus.

Mike Gambone
APSCUF-KU

APSCUF-KU Representative Council Has Spoken

By a vote of 45 to 15 (with 4 abstentions) APSCUF-KU Representative Council has authorized a vote of no confidence in President Cevallos.

Over the next two weeks APSCUF-KU will hold several faculty meetings to discuss the bill of particulars in even more detail. Links to the bill of particulars and other supporting documents can be found on the right-hand sidebar and the APSCUF-KU web site.

Further details about the voting dates and upcoming meetings will be posted here as soon as they become available.

Why We Need a Vote

Many faculty have asked me about the purpose of the vote. In emails and in person, they want to know what end may come of all this. I can offer two thoughts and a list of specific recommendations in response.

Recognize Our Problems

We have a host of systemic problems here at Kutztown University. The claims are not “fiction” as the administration would have local media believe. Classes are too large. Office space is too limited. We know these problems are real. We see them every day.

Our process is broken. In Meet & Discuss, in the array of committees that inhabit our campus, in the endless meetings that we hold, the process does not work. We must recognize this as well.

Stonewalling is not recognition. Avoiding responsibility is not recognition. If the president, the trustees, and the PASSHE are not willing to take responsibility, it is up to the faculty to do so. A vote will recognize that we have a problem at KU.

Provide Solutions

A vote is a clear statement that we want concrete solutions to the many problems affecting Kutztown University. It is a statement that we will not be satisfied with another ad hoc committee or outside consultant. It is a statement to the powers that be on campus, to PASSHE, to the many outside entities watching Kutztown that what matters most are tangible commitments and not just words.

The attached list is a collection of solutions posited by the faculty. I have asked the representatives to contribute more. This list will grow in the future.

The APSCUF-KU Executive Committee began a debate. It left to the faculty the responsibility to authorize a vote.

On 14 February 2008, the faculty will be asked to provide permission to vote. It will be a hard decision. However, as I said when I started my term in office, sometimes the hardest decisions are the best ones to make.

Let the faculty vote