COMMITTEE ON LABOR
MINUTES
MARCH 20, 2000
GUESTS: WCC: DR. JOSEPH HANKIN (PRESIDENT), DR. JOHN FLYNN
OTHERS: ETTERE, DODDS (BOL); INGRID BENT (CE OFFICE)
The meeting was called to order at 3:09 p.m.
Chair Mosiello introduced Dr. Joseph Hankin and Dr. John Flynn from the Westchester Community College to discuss Distance Learning and the conflict that has arisen with the Federation of Teachers (WCCFT).
Dr. Hankin stated that 89 % of American colleges now offer some type of distance education. Westchester Community College (WCC) has offered televised courses for over ten years. The College started offering on-line courses a few years ago and encouraged other faculty members to develop such courses independently. There is no difference in tuition costs. WCC recently offered the faculty the opportunity to voluntarily opt into teaching on-line courses. They provided many incentives such as an additional $2000 for each semester, $500 to install a modem (if needed) at home, the use of a laptop and desktop computer and an enrollment minimum of one student. The Administration feels this is an attractive package and if it weren’t for the WCCFT discouraging the faculty from applying, more than likely they would have received dozens of applications. Today is the application deadline. The WCCFT claims these incentives have to be negotiated. Dr. Hankin stated that the College has always introduced new programs and incentives on campus without the need to bargain. He believes if the College has to begin negotiating with the WCCFT every time they want to do introduce a new program they would not be successful in bringing these programs to fruition. Dr. Hankin stated that if the WCCFT felt they had a case they would stop threatening to go to PERB and actually file the claim. PERB has a list of employment conditions that they say have to be bargained and this proposal does not specifically fall into any of those categories. Dr. Flynn distributed the memorandum introducing this new proposal and gave the faculty 45 days to respond with comments or suggestions. The WCCFT did not respond other than telling the
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Administration that they have to sit down and bargain these incentives. Some faculty members made some suggestions and the Administration backed off on a number of particulars such as class size and the intellectual property provision. Suffolk and Monroe Community Colleges have class size restrictions. A very small percentage of colleges have dealt with distance learning in a contractual way. Dr. Hankin is not aware of any other college, besides Suffolk, that has negotiated distance learning specifically. The WCCFT claims they have been asking to discuss this issue for the past 4 years. Dr. Hankin stated that they too had wanted to discuss it but it was not at the top of either party’s agenda. Contract negotiations should begin this fall and he is sure they will be discussing some aspects of distance education.
Dr. Flynn shared his experiences in managing distance education courses. He stated that many students get overwhelmed with these types of courses and some may do very well. Distance Learning is not for everyone, you have to be a self-starter and extremely well disciplined. Dr. Flynn loses one-third of his students because they can not keep up and drop out. Security and privacy issues need to be “ironed out”. Dr. Flynn stated that the College does not have much of a faculty turnover; they have many senior members with an average of 20 years of service who are accustomed to classroom teaching. The need for providing and teaching the faculty how to manage Distance Education courses is important for the College to stay competitive.
Dr. Flynn meets with the WCCFT on the first Tuesday of every month for two hours. Dr. Hankin makes himself available if needed.
Dr. Hankin informed the Members that the College had always provided the WCCFT with 500 copies of their contract. This year both parties agreed that they would split the cost of the extra 800 copies requested yet the WCCFT still criticized the College for not cooperating.
Legislator Wishnie asked Dr. Hankin to briefly discuss security at the College in light of the recent shooting. Dr. Hankin has asked for an audit of the College’s security procedures to see if there anything the college could
be doing to improve things. Mr. Fred Boyer handles these concerns and is
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currently out of town. Dr. Hankin plans on meeting with Mr. Boyer when he returns.
There was a brief discussion on the status of some WCC Board of Trustees appointments.
MINUTES:
Legislator Oros made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 3:45 p.m. and was seconded by Legislator Ryan.