NFA Executive Board Meeting
Minutes for October 5, 2007

Present: Jennifer Nelson, Brenda Talley, Gayle Thomas, Evelyn Doody, Candace Kant, Shari Lyman, Joanne Vuillemot, Kathy Baker.

Meeting was called to order at 9:10 am.

Jennifer discussed the "CSN Richard Carpenter Watch" and CSNNFA blogs and emails she has been receiving. Many of them were negative perceptions of NFA. We are getting a lot of heat for things we haven’t done.

It was reiterated that at the last executive board meeting we discussed having meetings with guest speakers so we could focus on special issues of interest. Such meetings might reduce the negative perception that is out there.

There was some discussion of one member and others who are currently under investigation by the college. They have been chapter 6’ed – Chapter 6 of the Board of Regents handbook details all the means by which a tenured faculty member can be fired.

Gayle strongly suggested that NFA needs to put together a Chapter 6 Workshop. There was general assent to her idea. Some discussion followed regarding faculty’s legal rights. Candace mentioned Tick Segerbloom as a good attorney familiar with college employment practices. Brenda brought up discussion about printing a copy of Al Balboni’s statement regarding Chapter 6 rights and procedures. Perhaps it could be made into an NFA letterhead page and disseminated to all faculty – compliments of NFA.

There was some discussion of faculty members who had been given assistance with their problems but had ultimately taken action independent of NFA recommendations or guidance. Each has had an unsatisfactory resolution to their employment problem but although they went against NFA recommendations they now criticize the NFA.

Jennifer stated that clarification needs to be made regarding TENURE. “Tenure is not a right, only the opportunity to apply for tenure is provided.”

Candace talked about the need to get the word out that “The NFA is a membership organization NOT a service organization. We are only as strong as our membership.”

It was suggested that Jennifer and other NFA exec. Members who meet with/for faculty should keep track of the time they spend on their cases. It was agreed that the general faculty population has no idea how much time is spent by NFA officers on their behalf.

The suggestion was made: could we have a section on our blog titled: “what our president is doing.” We could also make a list of items: what we can and can’t do – and where.

Discussion followed regarding the hiring process at CSN. Perhaps NFA should do an independent investigation of HR. Candace suggested finding 3 members who would participate in such an investigation. Once we had our information we would follow the chain of command sharing our findings accordingly. We would start with the college President. Brenda asked if we could alert the members that we will launch an investigation into hiring practices and HR irregularities.

Jennifer asked if we couldn’t get a member to work on the website who has good web design skills.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:45 am.

Respectfully Submitted,
Kathy Baker