Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Watson and city college teachers

At the student session I asked a student to question Watson about the dismissal of non-tenured teachers who participated in the strike. Watson quarreled with the wording "non-tenured teachers" but admitted that got rid of emeritus faculty who were teaching and temporary faculty.

Later he talked about how he had resolved the strike issues by working out a contract with the union chief. Don't miss what he said. He said that the key to the process was to exclude teachers from any negotiations, to do it all behind close doors with the union boss. Is that our idea of "shared governance"?

The truth is that our union too has some problems with democratic inclusion.

3 comments:

  1. This is so great. I think this is a turning point in CSU's history - finally faculty and students passionate about something (and not scared of it).

    I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live

    (MLK)

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  2. Wow! This sounds familiar, like deja vu: the BOT don't include the Advisory Search Committee in the process of selecting candidates; only notify the Advisory Committee on their decision of 2 lousy finalist. So, how is this a surprise? Dr. Watson is only following the lead of his peers on the BOT. It's just an example on what our campus community going to get from these two candidates. It's not the candidates fault that Chicago State have people on the BOT that lack leadership and vision. If I were either of the candidates short-sightness is acceptable on this campus. So what, the BOT can't see the forest because of the trees. So what, the candidates can't see that our campus community seeks a change. The same change and vision we sought when we elected President Barrack Obama as our new leader of the United States.

    This campus community seeks a vision that knows there's greener pastures on the other side when you don't let the trees block your path through the forest. We seek a vision where the sun is actually shining even though a cloud was lingering over our heads during a time of desperation. Drs. Watson and Adams, and the BOT must recognize that we aren't going to go away because this past election gave us a voice and that same voice have a right to be heard!

    So, give us our apples a day because we want to keep these doctors away. We have a voice! The Governor's Office must know there's smoke to put the fire out. We must be heard in order to be seen. We must be united to see this change to come over our campus.

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  3. Hi faculty and staff. I would like for you guys to join the student blog. Today our student trustee decided to comment on the events that are going on at CSU. To my dismay he said his vote only counts as one and even if the other 5 members of the BOT vote yes his vote wouldn't matter. I don't understand how you can represent the students and say your vote doesn't matter if you vote no. Your vote counts for 6,500 students that go to CSU. 6,500 students voices are louder than 5 crony's on the board!!!!

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