SDSU-COHE

Janaury 26, 2011

Greetings!

 

You are receiving this message as a dues-paying member of COHE at SDSU.  Thanks for reading these messages. I hope I am not imposing on your time excessively.
COHE Meeting with Provost

Thanks to Del Lonowski for arranging a visit from the Provost.  This meeting is scheduled for Friday, February 11, 4:00 p.m. in Wagner Hall 114.    (Tompkins and the Union were not available.)  I'll arrange light refreshments with Aramark.  I think this should be a meeting for dues-paying COHE members only (and select potential members).  Thoughts?

 

Challenges to Department Head PSE Assessments

 At the last meeting, I proposed we aggressively challenge the new "marching orders" that department heads have received "not to grade us so high."  Here are the relevant provisions in the contract.  I see three possible avenues.  We could pursue any one combination of them.

1.       We support as many faculty as possible who want to individually challenge their department head's evaluation of them by using the peer review process.   I suggest those who are not planning to challenge agree to serve on the peer review committee.   The rules and procedures for this committee are not laid out in the contract.  However, those who are challenging should not serve.  To reduce the workload, it should be a large committee, with a chair to assign each of the peer review assignments to a subcommittee of one or two members.

a.       NOTE DEADLINE is five working days after meeting with department head to discuss written evaluation.  This meeting must occur by February 15.

2.       Each faculty who decides to challenge should also grieve the process.  That is, the grievance would state the department head did not use the Standards document, but used some other assessment based on the clear and persistent directions from Academic Affairs that too many faculty are scoring too highly.  This is a simple formulaic grievance.

a.       NOTE DEADLINE is fifteen working days when "the grievant knew or should have known of the action or condition which occasioned the grievance."

3.       COHE should consider filing a group grievance (i.e., class action grievance) based on a similar argument.

a.       NOTE DEADLINE is same as #2 above.

 I suggest immediately after the meeting with the Provost, we broadcast our offer to help all faculty with #1 and #2 above.

 

Thank you for your support and assistance in all of these actions!  I appreciate all you do.

Sincerely,

Gary Aguiar

South Dakota Council of Higher Education