AFT President Randi Weingarten on GOP Budget Resolution

For Immediate Release
October 26, 2017

Contact:
Marcus Mrowka
202-531-0689
mmrowka@aft.org
www.aft.org

AFT President Randi Weingarten on GOP Budget Resolution

WASHINGTON—Statement by AFT President Randi Weingarten on the GOP budget resolution passed by the U.S. House of Representatives:

"A majority of House Republicans just doubled down on where they stand on the tax debate—they are loyal to Trump and want massive tax breaks for the rich and big corporations, which their constituents will be stuck paying for.

"The danger is especially notable for middle-class families who are at risk of losing their state and local tax deduction, which will hurt their schools and property values to give more money to Donald Trump and Wall Street executives.

"Families need a tax code that is fair and doesn’t further rig the economy in favor of the wealthy."

Board of Trustees' Awards for Excellence

DATE: October 24, 2017

TO: Presidents

Chief Academic Officers

Jim Grabowska, President, Inter Faculty Organization

Kevin Lindstrom President, Minnesota State College Faculty

Tracy Rahim, President, Minnesota State University Association of Administrative & Service Faculty

FROM: Ron Anderson, Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs

SUBJECT: Board of Trustees’ Awards for Excellence

I’m pleased to send you the attached guidelines for the 2017-18 Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in University Service. It’s a distinct pleasure to be able to acknowledge exceptional college and university teaching as well as exceptional university administrative service in this annual celebration. Award nominations, including the nominees’ portfolios, are due February 1, 2018.

This recognition is the result of the dedicated work of faculty, students, campus and systemwide award committees. Each year, campus committees review nominations and select faculty names to forward to presidents, who in turn designate teaching faculty as Outstanding Educators, and university administrative service faculty as Outstanding Service Faculty Members. Presidents then forward these names to me and to system-level award committees for review. Out of that pool of outstanding faculty, the Board will identify up to four (4) college teaching faculty and up to three (3) university teaching faculty to be named as Educators of the Year. In addition, the Board will name one (1) university administrative service faculty member as the Service Faculty Member of the Year.

At an awards luncheon in April, the Board will honor all Outstanding Educators and Educators of the Year from our colleges and universities, all Outstanding Service Faculty and a Service Faculty Member of the Year. I encourage you, using your own college or university award processes, to send forward your outstanding faculty so that the Board may publicly recognize the extraordinary teaching and service being provided at our colleges and universities and proclaim, on behalf of the entire system, their high esteem for the dedication and accomplishment of Minnesota State faculty.

If you attended the 2017 Celebrating Excellence event last April, I’m sure you felt, as I did, the joyful pride that board members, faculty, students, and campus administrators take in these exceptional teachers and administrative service faculty. Be sure now to reserve the date for this year’s event: April 18, 2018, 10:30 AM to 2:00 PM at the Doubletree Hotel, St. Paul.

Included with this letter are the 2017-18 Guidelines and Forms (PDF) that provides both promotional information and official guidelines. You will find in it an overview for your committee and nominees, plus detailed instructions and necessary forms for compiling the Outstanding Educators and Outstanding Service Faculty Member Portfolios and President’s Recommendation Packets. (The guidelines and forms are also downloadable at http://www.minnstate.edu/system/asa/awards/botawards.) The program is administered by Academic and Student Affairs. Questions may be addressed to the Director for Faculty and Instructional Development, Kimberly Johnson, at 651.201.1443, or botawards@minnstate.edu.

A recommended college and university timeline is described below:

1. October-November 2017: Organize (new or existing) Nomination Committee at each college and university.

2. November 2017: College/university nomination committee solicits nominations from faculty, student body, and administration.

3. By December 2017: College/university nomination committee reviews nominations, selects campus nominees and forwards names to the college/university president.

4. January 2018: College/university president designates campus Outstanding Educator(s) and/or Outstanding Service Faculty Members.

5. January 2018: Outstanding Educators and Outstanding Service Faculty Members prepare portfolios; College/university nomination committee prepares College/University President’s Recommendation Packet(s). Recommendation Packets are then forwarded to president for review.

6. February 1, 2018: Deadline for electronic submission of Outstanding Educator and Outstanding Service Faculty Member recommendations.

7. April 18, 2018: Board of Trustees Awards luncheon.

Member Organizer Opportunity!

Are you ready to build organizing and leadership skills, increase member engagement, and build union power and activism?

Apply to the MSCF/AFT Member Organizer program today. This program is designed to support our member engagement efforts through one-on-one conversations, leadership identification and development, and increased member activism. The program capitalizes on our most valuable resource – our members.

Member organizers are paid temporary positions that will last approximately 29 weeks, from mid-November 2017 to the end of May 2018. Member organizers will:

· Spend 10 hours a week performing activities related to the project, including having one-on-one conversations (in person and over the phone) and holding small-group meetings to talk with faculty about their issues and rights in the workplace.

· Conduct home visits and one-on-one conversations in other locations; listen to and talk with workers; Make assessments and identify social networks and leaders.

· Participate in trainings and team activities.

· Help develop personalized organizing plans based on targeting and training.

· Improve leadership skills in both the workplace and the community.

· Maintain and coordinate database information on employees for organizing purposes.

If you believe you would be a good candidate for this type of work or know of anyone else who would be, please complete the application form found on the MSCF website and return it to me by October 30. Click here for the application.

Our members' ability to draw from personal work and union experience to engage current members and activate potential ones is invaluable. Apply at https://www.mscfmn.org/membership or contact MSCF Secretary Gretchen Long at gretchen.long@edmn.org for more information.

AFT Joins NAACP Lawsuit to Stop Trump's Termination of DACA

For Immediate Release October 23, 2017 Contact: Andrew Crook 607-280-6603 acrook@aft.org www.aft.org AFT’s Full Resources and Experience to Be Deployed Against Trump Administration’s Cynical Attack on Dreamers WASHINGTON—The 1.7 million-member American Federation of Teachers has joined the NAACP’s landmark lawsuit against the Trump administration’s cruel and callous cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Today, the AFT formally joined the suit as a plaintiff, filing an amended complaint in federal court to bring its organizational resources and experience to the fight to defend Dreamers attacked by the administration’s decision to end DACA. DACA permits undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children to work and live free from the threat of deportation. The suit argues that that the termination of the DACA program violates the Constitution and other laws of the United States, and as such calls for an immediate halt to the rescission and requests an order prohibiting the government from using information to identify, detain or deport DACA recipients. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union also joined the case. AFT President Randi Weingarten said: “We are joining this lawsuit because the pain and frustration caused by the Trump administration’s decision to attack DACA recipients in the only country they have ever known cannot be allowed to stand. DACA recipients embody the hope and aspiration that unites this country; they work hard and play by the rules to build a better life. “By terminating DACA, President Trump is exploiting fear, pandering to those who want to scapegoat immigrants and using DACA recipients as a political football. The AFT will use every legal and practical tool at our disposal to ensure Dreamers continue to thrive in the country they proudly call home.” AFT members throughout the country have received work permits through the DACA program and serve the public in healthcare and education. Furthermore, AFT members teach students who have received DACA status. DACA students contribute to the diversity of experience and perspectives in classrooms, engage in valuable research projects, and play key leadership roles in student life. The AFT has a long-standing history of supporting and advocating for the civil rights of our members and the communities they serve. The AFT and the NAACP will be represented by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC in the matter. The NAACP filed its initial suit on Sept. 18. Read the amended complaint here.

Union Leaders on Speech by Nazi Richard Spencer at University of Florida

For Immediate Release October 19, 2017 Contact: Andrew Cook 607-280-6603 acrook@aft.org www.aft.org GAINSVILLE, FL—Joint statement by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and United Faculty of Florida–University of Florida President Steve Kirn condemning today’s speech by white supremacist Richard Spencer at the University of Florida: “If Richard Spencer thought that this would be the alt-right’s Beer Hall Putsch, he underestimated how much Americans despise Nazism. Spencer aimed to hijack the University of Florida, manipulating a peaceful place of learning for the sole purpose of provoking violence. His filth has been rightly rejected by campus leaders and the university administration, by protestors—including our members—and even by the people who attended his talk, whose values did not permit them to remain silent. “As Spencer propagates bigotry and division, counter-protesters and union members are standing up for peace and tolerance. We strongly support free speech and the protections provided by the First Amendment. But the violence stoked by the likes of Spencer—the kind we saw kill Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, and that he attempted to bring about again in Gainesville today—is not speech and, as such, cannot be allowed to spread without challenge.”

AFT on Bill Gates' Speech on His Evolving Education Efforts

For Immediate Release Oct. 19, 2017 Contact: Janet Bass 202-879-4554 jbass@aft.org www.aft.org WASHINGTON—Statement by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on Bill Gates’ speech today to the Council of the Great City Schools, titled “Our Education Efforts are Evolving”: “I am glad that as the nation is shifting from the fixation on testing, test-based teacher evaluations and shuttering rather than fixing public schools and other top-down, punitive measures of the No Child Left Behind era to one of creating safe and welcoming public schools where children can thrive, Bill and Melinda Gates also are evolving in their thinking. It’s encouraging that Bill Gates made clear he will not abandon public education and will learn from the educational progress that has been made in districts that have focused on children’s well-being, powerful learning, collaboration and building teacher capacity. “A new approach that sets its sights on the school, not the corporate boardroom as the center of educational improvement, and providing support to schools as they undertake that work is a step in the right direction. “The focus on locally generated solutions, using thoughtful reflection of what works, is a positive development and a welcome shift from the prescriptive mandates of the last decade and a half. The use of evidence-based interventions to improve student achievement, especially for those most in need, is important. And as I have learned from hundreds of school visits each year, Gates also recognizes that teachers need real curriculum support and professional development to build on the standards. “The challenge now is turning these strategies into sustainable, scalable programs that will reflect the voices of educators, parents, school leaders and community members as we work to transform classrooms, schools and learning.”

AFT and AAUP Presidents on U of Wisc Policy to Restrict Free Speech

For Immediate Release October 12, 2017 Contact: AFT Media Affairs 202-879-4458 AFTPress@aft.org Rudy Fichtenbaum AAUP President 937-620-7430 Statements of AFT President Randi Weingarten and AAUP President Rudy Fichtenbaum on Policy Approved by University of Wisconsin’s Board of Regents to Suspend and Expel Students Who Protest Speeches on Wisconsin Campuses MADISON, WIS.—Last week, the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved a policy to suspend and expel students who protest speeches on University of Wisconsin campuses. Sixteen of the board’s 18 members are appointees of Republican Gov. Scott Walker. This policy change occurs in a sobering context: Demonstrations on college campuses have become an important defense against attempts by right-wing extremists and white supremacists to recruit and expand their campaigns of hate and fear. These groups want to exploit the culture of open debate on college campuses in order to gain access, recruit adherents, create a climate of fear, and claim a university seal of approval on racist ideas. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said: “One wonders why a university with a proud history of academic freedom would take a huge leap backward from this great tradition and sacrosanct American value. Sadly, this policy appears to be a reaction, by right-wing elements appointed to the university’s board of regents by Scott Walker, to campus demonstrations against outside speakers who brazenly present themselves as extreme right-wing conspiracy theorists and Nazis. On campus after campus, brave students also are using their voices to stand up for their values and say ‘not here.’ Now the cronies of Wisconsin’s right-wing governor want to censor and scare Wisconsin’s students. “Democracy requires protecting dissent, not punishing it. These students face the same choice we all face: Either we vigorously oppose the resurgent wave of white supremacy in America, or we concede to it. This policy seeks to prevent students from making that choice for themselves.” American Association of University Professors President Rudy Fichtenbaum said: “Protest is free speech, and the leadership of the University of Wisconsin system should be working to protect that speech, not to stifle it. “Student academic freedom protects the right to challenge what another speaker says, even if that challenge comes in a form some might consider disruptive. Sometimes being disruptive is precisely the response that is called for. In a free and open society, protestors have free speech rights, too. It is deeply alarming that this board of regents wants to make the University of Wisconsin a place where that is no longer true. “Make no mistake, this is not only about shutting down speech that the regents, and their political allies, don’t like. This policy is about challenging the very notion of the university as a space of free and open debate. As such, this policy is part of the larger attack on higher education as a common good—an attack that started with Act 10 in 2011 and has continued through the attacks on shared governance, tenure and due process enacted in 2015 as well as the more recent attacks against UW’s two-year and four-year campuses.”