THAT: The Montana Board of Regents of Higher Education approves the tentative agreement with WMC-UM Faculty Association

EXPLANATION: See attached memo to Board of Regents from Sue Hill, Director, Labor Relations and Personnel.

a. July 16, 1999 memo to Board from Sue Hill

b. Summary and Explanation of Changes

MEMORANDUM

TO: Board of Regents

FROM: Sue Hill

DATE: July 16, 1999

RE: Approval of Tentative Settlement Agreement with WMC-UM Faculty Association

The tentative agreement covering the faculty at Western Montana College of The University of Montana covers a three-year period. Under the tentative agreement, faculty will receive a retroactive salary increase of 1% plus approximately .7% for promotions for the academic year that was recently completed. Effective October 1, 1999, and again on October 1, 2000, WMC-UM faculty will receive a 3% salary increase (including the cost of promotions in AY 2000-1). Language changes are summarized in the attachment.

The bargaining unit has ratified the tentative agreement and it is now ready for Regent approval.

xc: President Dennison

Chancellor Hulbert

The agreement covers the period from July 1, 1998 to June 30, 2001 or three academic years, one of which is already concluded.

• A new section entitled academic governance has been added that establishes a faculty senate. The language for the senate was largely borrowed from the UTU CBA. Addition of this section will help to clarify the role of faculty in academic decision making. (Item 5 in TA)
• For Academic Year 1998-99 a retroactive raise of $383 will be awarded to each full-time faculty member covered by the agreement. With promotional raises this amounts to a total average of 1.7% increase for the year. (Item 16 in TA)
• For Academic Year 1999-2000, a market adjustment consisting of a fixed dollar amount by rank and averaging 3% per faculty member will be added to faculty salaries. There are no other faculty raises that will be awarded during the year. (Item 17 in TA)
• For Academic Year 2000-01, a market adjustment consisting of a fixed dollar amount by rank averaging 2% per faculty member will be added to faculty salaries. 1% will be reserved to cover the costs of raises associated with promotions. If unused, part of this 1% will also be distributed in the form of fixed dollar raises by rank. (Item 17 in TA)
• A reference to "sex" was changed to "gender" solely for the purpose of reflecting contemporary usage of the terms. (Item 1 in TA)
• The obligation of faculty to provide accurate course syllabi was clarified. (Item 2 in TA)
• The keeping of confidential evaluation files was clarified to reflect current practices of not having anonymous peer evaluations. (Item 4 in TA)
• Departmental input in the hiring of adjunct faculty members was clarified. (Item 6 in TA)
• The timing of the every-other-year evaluations of tenured faculty was clarified. (Item 7 in TA)
• The setting of professional development plans and the evaluation process for faculty was clarified with the number of mandatory peer evaluations being reduced from two to one. (Item 10 in TA)
• Tenure and promotion review process dates were revised in order to make the process more workable. (Item 11 in TA)
• The approval process of the unit standards for tenure and promotion was changed to require explicitly the approval by the Vice Chancellor A.S.A. and the majority of the Unit Standards Committee members of all unit standards. (Item 13 in TA)
• A new sentence was added to the section dealing with the Task Force on Programmatic change to indicate that such a task force doesn’t need to be formed in those cases where individual faculty are being discharged or non-renewed with the position being retained. (Item 14 in TA)
• New full-load compensation maximums for summer school assignments were established with the increases being consistent with raises implemented during the preceding respective academic years. (Item 18 in TA)
• New salary minimums were established at each rank by increasing the current minimums by 1% for AY 1998-99, 1.5% for AY 1999-2000 and 1.5% for AY 2000-01. (Item 19 in TA)
• Funding was established for sabbaticals for each of the three years of the agreement. Current language requires that at least two sabbaticals per year be awarded except in those cases where there are fewer than two applications but does not specify funding beyond establishing a maximum level of compensation. (Item 20 in TA)

1. Section 3.400. Change "sex" to "gender"

2. Section 3.600 (3) Change "...course description..." to "...course syllabi..."

Add "Faculty members have control over the specific content of all syllabi, so long as they are consistent with published catalog descriptions of course, program requirements, program sequence, and relevant state and national accrediting standards."

3. Section 7.230, paragraph 1 Change "published" to "distributed" and change "or" to ",".

4. Section 7.500, paragraph 4 Change to read "In order to protect the confidentiality of the writers, evaluations by students as provided for in this collective bargaining agreement may be kept in a separate confidential personnel file..."

5. Change current Section 16.000 to Section 17.000

New Section 16.000 Academic Governance

New Section 16.100 Faculty Senate

The MFT, as the elected bargaining agent, retains exclusive right to negotiate and reach agreement all on matters pertaining to salaries, benefits, and terms and conditions of employment. Without waiving this right, the MFT and the Board recognize the desirability of a democratic governance system for Faculty in areas of academic concern. Such a governance system shall be implemented through a democratic process open only to tenure-track members of an academic unit who regularly teach seven (7) or more credit hours per semester herein called the Faculty Senate. The Chancellor, VCASA, and academic deans are ex officio non-voting members of the Faculty Senate. As such they may attend all regular Faculty Senate sessions but may attend executive sessions by invitation only. Matters of academic concern may be initiated by the Faculty, Faculty Senate, VC-ASA or by the Chancellor. The matters which shall be reviewed and recommended by the Faculty Senate, in accordance with regulations of the Board, shall include:

specific curricular changes submitted by the faculties of the various academic units through the appropriate College committee;

general requirements for various degrees and nomination of candidates for graduation;

general requirements for admission and retention of students and guidelines for student recruitment;

development, curtailment, discontinuance, or reorganization of academic programs;

issues that pertain to the academic affairs of the College and matters of critical concern about the welfare and administration of the College;

establishment of committees and other bodies deemed necessary to carry out the responsibilities under this provision.

In accordance with Board policy, faculty representatives shall have the right to address the Board at their meeting in support of the Faculty Senate positions. Nothing in this article shall be interpreted or held to contradict the Management Rights spelled out in Section 11.100 of this agreement; or block the administration from timely action on any matter presented to the Faculty Senate without a recommendation from the faculty Senate. It is understood that the role of the Faculty Senate is to make recommendations to the administration on academic issues. While giving consideration to these recommendations, the administration is not required to adhere to any Faculty Senate recommendation.

6. Section 8.125 Add as new sentence at end of first paragraph: "In order to insure that curricular integrity is not compromised, the Administration whenever practicable before making an adjunct appointment, shall seek input from the department to which the appointment will be made regarding candidates under consideration"

7. Section 9.300 In second sentence, first paragraph change "9.500" to "9.430".

Change third sentence, first paragraph to "Tenured faculty shall be evaluated every other year after the year in which the granted tenure application was submitted."

Change second sentence, third paragraph to "...by..." to "...on or before...".

First sentence, last paragraph remove "to it" from end of sentence.

8. Section 9.310 First sentence add "or weaknesses" after "problems"

9. Section 9.312 Third sentence, first paragraph Change "9.300" to "9.315".

10. Section 9.315 Replace bullet 1 with: "1. Each faculty member shall submit to the VC-ASA a professional development plan, based on the appropriate unit standards, on or before September 15 of each year. The faculty member will assess progress toward the goals listed in the plan(s) in the evaluation portfolio as specified in section 9.300, and may present relevant and concise material in support of having attained these goals to the VC-ASA."

Replace bullet 2 with: "2. At least one peer, agreed upon by the faculty member and the VC-ASA, will evaluate each faculty member each academic year. The VC-ASA or the faculty member may also contact additional faculty members to perform peer reviews and shall inform each other of other peer reviews to be conducted. Peer reviews should be included in each evaluation portfolio.

In bullet 3 after the first sentence add: "Additional classes to be evaluated may be added by either the faculty member or the VC-ASA by mutual consent"

In bullet 4 first sentence change "submission" to "receipt"

11. Section 9.430 Change first paragraph to: "Responsibility for submitting an application for tenure and/or promotion rests with the faculty member. Any faculty member quantitatively eligible for tenure and/or promotion and who wishes to apply for the same shall submit a letter of intent to apply for tenure and/or promotion to the VC-ASA on or before September 15. Eligibility for tenure and/or promotion shall be determined by October 1. The VC-ASA shall forward the letter of intent to apply to the tenure and promotion committee. Tenure and/or promotion applications shall be submitted to the VC-ASA on or before October 15 and shall include at least the following: (1) a statement of the teaching, research and/or creative activity, and professional service performed by the applicant both on and off campus during the probationary period; (2) a vita of the applicant's publications and/or creative works; and (3) any other information the applicant deems relevant to his/her professional development, competence or performance. Portfolio contents may be described more fully in applicable unit standards. If not eligible for tenure and/or promotion, a portfolio for annual or biannual review must be submitted to the VC-ASA by the faculty member on or before October 15."

Second paragraph, change "November" to "January" in both the first and second sentences.

12. Section 9.465, paragraph 2 Replace final two sentences with: "The VC-ASA after seeking input from the affected faculty member and appropriate Association representatives, shall determine if a conflict of interest or bias exists. If a conflict or bias is perceived by the VC-ASA to exist, the appointing authority shall appoint another tenurable faculty member to participate with respect to the relevant matter."

13. Section 9.510 Add the following sentence to the end: "Approval of the unit standards shall be by a simple majority of the faculty members of the Unit Standards Committee and by the further approval of the VC-ASA"

14. Section 10.400 Add the following: This section shall only apply to the elimination or transfer of a tenurable position, not to nonrenewal or discharge of individual faculty.

15. Section 12.100 Replace second sentence with: "The order of receipt of the various salary adjustments found in this agreement is: 1) normal percentage raise found in 12.121 based on the previous year's base salary; 2) the promotion increment: 3) the permanent market adjustment found in 12.122 3) if 1, 2 and 3 do not bring a faculty member to the salary minimum then the salary of the faculty member is brought to the appropriate minimum for the rank found in 12.128 below. The raise for 1998-99 will be effective on August 1, 1998. For AY 1999-00 and 2000-01 the raises will all take effect on October 1 of the respective fiscal year."

16. Section 12.121 Replace the current language with " The normal increase of all full-time equivalent faculty members for the1998-99 Academic year shall be $383 per full time faculty member. In 1999-00 and 2000-01 academic years the normal increase shall be zero.

17. Section 12.122 Permanent Market Adjustment

Replace current language with:

For the purpose of reducing disparity in the salaries between the faculty at Western Montana College of The University of Montana and salaries by rank of comparable institutions the following market adjustments will be made for 1998-99: $0 for all ranks. For 1999-2000: $1643 will be added to the base salary of each Professor; $1350 will be added to the base salary of each Associate Professor; $1265 will be added to the base salary of each Assistant Professor; and $1007 will be added to the base salary of each Instructor. For 2000-2001: $963 will be added to the base salary of each Professor; $793 will be added to the base salary of each Associate Professor; $727 will be added to the base salary of each Assistant Professor; and $584 will be added to the base salary of each Instructor. For 2000-2001 there was $18,379 set aside to cover the estimated costs of promotions in salary increases. If some of this money is not actually used for salary increases due to promotions, then it shall be devoted to market adjustments in the same proportion as the already fixed market adjustments.

18. Section 12.200 Change end of second sentence to read "...shall not exceed a maximum of $7528 for summer 1999, a maximum of $ 7754 for summer 2000 and a maximum of $ 7987 for summer 2001"

19. Change table of salary minimums to the following:

20. Section 13.820.2 Replace first sentence with: The minimum number of funded sabbaticals at 2/3 pay shall be zero in 1998-99; one single-semester sabbatical in 1999-2000; and two academic year sabbaticals in 2000-2001.

21. End of 1998-2001 Tentative Settlement Agreement.

Date ________________

For the Association: For the Administration:

John Hajduk_______________________ Karl Ulrich_____________________

Rick D'Hooge__________________