Sept 2006 - MVCC PA

THE AWARD- WINNING NEWSLETTER
M OHAWK VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION
“UNITED FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION”
College Pays $42, 255 for Outside Negotiator
As a result of two Freedom of
Information requests, the Professional
Association has
learned that the Syracuse law
firm Hancock, Estabrook had
been paid $42,255.03 as of September
18 for legal services,
including retaining attorney
John Corcoran to act as chief
spokesperson for the MVCC
Board of Trustees in negotiations
with the College’s faculty
and professional staff.
Documents provided to PA
President Ellis Gage Searles on
August 1 and September 27
show billings for services in
increments ranging 15 minutes
to 12 hours. The hourly rate,
Contents
Cost of College lawyer 1
VOTE-COPE 2
President’s Desk 3
Members address Board 5
Podcasting in the news 8
Picketing pictures 9
CNY Labor Council 10
endorsements
Benefits Fund news 11
NYSUT member benefits 12
NYSUT honoree 13
New member profile 13
Retirees 14
Community outreach 15
College attorney John Corcoran.
Retrieved October 1, 2006, from:
http://www.hancocklaw.com/
attorneys/showAttorney.cfm?id=108
In negotiations of the past ten
years, the College Administration
and Board of Trustees have
been represented by two MVCC
employees, the Human Rewhile
not specifically noted, appears
to be $175.
The precise nature of every billable
service and expense is unknown
because MVCC’s Freedom
of Information officer,
Vice-President Ralph Feola, declined
to provide all the information
requested, citing the College’s
right to exempt from disclosure
certain portions of the
records.
It is likely, however, that the
quarter-hour service portions are
for such things as telephone
Continued on p.
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
page 1
calls. Others, representing several
hours, could be for coming
from Syracuse to appear in person
at meetings in Utica. Some
dates coincide with mediation
sessions and Board of Trustees
meetings. Expenses for longdistance
phone calls, postage,
faxes, photocopies,
“computerized legal research,”
mileage, and support personnel
are listed.
These documents cover the period
from July 2005 to August
2006. Therefore, costs for fact
finding—with the possible exception
of time involved in filing
the application itself with the
Public Employees Relations
Board and reaching agreement
on the selection of a fact
finder—are not yet shown. Future
billings for travel to and attendance
at fact-finding sessions,
researching and writing a brief,
and related consultations with
MVCC administrators and Board
members will likely add significantly
to the total.

PAnorama’s
Editorial Policy
PAnorama is the voice of our
local. In addition to the PA website
(www.mvccpa.org), email,
and bulletin boards, PAnorama
is a principal vehicle for bringing
you, on a regular basis, information
on the views and activities
of our members.
Cost of Outside Negotiator
Continued from p. 1
sources Director and the Vice-
President of Administrative Services.
The Professional Association
team, elected from within
the membership, represented the
faculty and professional staff.
The Board of Trustees having
opted this time for an approach
that includes professional negotiators
has meant that the PA’s
Labor Relations Specialist Jim
Henck now acts as chief spokesperson
for the Association team.
Such assistance with negotiations
is provided to locals by
NYSUT, our statewide union, as
one of its services, a benefit of
affiliation.
We welcome articles by, for, and
about PA members on unionrelated
issues and concerns as
reflected in NYSUT and AFT activities
as well as in the purpose
and functions of the PA’s standing
committees: Community Outreach,
Education & Training,
Grievance, Internal Communications,
Member Services, Negotiations,
Political Action, and
Research and Records.
All submissions are subject to
the review and acceptance of
the Editor and/or Internal Communications
Committee. We do
not accept articles that make
personal attacks and we reserve
the right to edit articles for
length. We look forward to
hearing from you.
This spring, Publisher three of us from the
PA attended and MVCC participated in
Professional Association
the activities of the NYSUT
Representative President Assembly (aka,
Ellis Gage Searles
the RA) in Nw York City. The
RA is the governance Editor body of
Alison Doughtie
NYSUT and it is convened once
Edition
each year October in either 2006 March or
April. Volume Attending VIII this ● No. year 1 were
President Ellis Website Searles, an automatic
delegate, www.mvccpa.org Bill Perrotti as
an elected delegate, and Mike
Sewall not likely as an the elected case with alternate. most I
have members been of a delegate the PA. So to the what RA
many happens times at the and RA? so I am Actually pretty
Affiliate #39015
Affiliate #2839
familiar lots and with lots and its routine. lots. Let That me is
How much is $42,255?
Enough to
• Pay the salary of a new Associate Professor
• Hire another member of the professional staff at Grade 5
• Increase the entire bargaining unit payroll by nearly ½%
VOTE-COPE:
The Right Time to Get On Board
by Bill Perrotti
October is now
upon us and for
the Professional
Association, it
is VOTE-
COPE month.
VOTE-COPE
is the political
outreach effort that enables NY-
SUT to be an ever-present force
in Albany and Washington in
support of labor and education
issues. NYSUT works constantly
as a non-partisan force to
preserve and improve state aid to
public education (including community
colleges), preserve
teacher and public employee
pensions, protect teacher rights,
and safeguard the right to organize
(to name but a few issues).
Most importantly for us locally,
the PA uses the 40% of our local
contribution that is returned to
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
page 2
remain visible in central New
York and to participate in the
local political scene. The PA's
visibility and consistent, ongoing,
local political involvement
have been significant elements in
recent contract settlements and it
will be even more important in
the effort that will surely be required
for us to prevail in the
current round of bargaining.
As VOTE-COPE Coordinator, I
hope that every member of the
PA can be contacted individually
and personally about donating to
the NYSUT VOTE-COPE effort
within the next thirty days and
that an increasing number of colleagues
will decide to support
this important and effective initiative.
We have entered this
new academic year clearly aware
Continued on p.11

From the President’s Desk
Several Questions—But Only One Good Answer
by Ellis Gage Searles
Our
contract
expired
almost 400
days ago.
During
these many
months, PA
members
and
others—friends, family, and
people in the community—have
expressed their concern, often
in the form of two questions:
“Why?” and “What can be
done about it?”
Why is there still no new
contract? Hard to say. Going
into these negotiations I, for
one, did not expect this to
happen. Based on the events
since our last agreement had
been reached, I was optimistic.
During those years, as always,
PA members individually and
collectively had continued to
sustain the College, developing
innovative programs, teaching
with energy and enthusiasm,
serving students, and reaching
out to the community. We
bring honor to our institution
every day and we’ve been
recognized for it with state and
national awards. We uphold
MVCC’s reputation for
excellence.
This is a source of pride for us,
and we’re not the only ones
who are aware of it. Praise for
our work comes from every
quarter—including the College
President and the Board of
Trustees.
Why then, when the time comes
to reward these extraordinary
efforts, the very ones that make
us the “best community college
in America,” would we have
trouble? Why the impasse at
the bargaining table?
It’s truly puzzling. Before we
sat down to talk, the situation
looked promising. In addition
to widespread acknowledgement
of the crucial value of our
ongoing professional contributions
to the College, so much
else seemed to point in a
positive direction.
For instance, there are the
College’s own stated goals and
objectives. Time and again, the
problems of low salaries and
bad morale have been discussed
on campus. From very early
on, Strategic Planning saw that
correcting this had to be a
priority goal. President Schafer
has repeatedly stated his desire
to raise our salaries to the level
of our peers. The College has
not hesitated to say publicly that
poor pay is an obstacle both to
attracting and retaining highquality
faculty and professional
staff and to rewarding dedicated
service.
Wouldn’t this be the time to
address it?
First of all, there doesn’t seem
to be any real fiscal reason not
to.
We know that increased state
and local funding has come to
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME VIII ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
page 3
MVCC in each of the last few
years. Shouldn’t it have a
positive impact on the
admittedly inadequate salaries
of the faculty and professional
staff?
As PA president I have often
urged the membership to reach
out politically, to get involved
in informing the budgeting and
policy decisions that are made
here in Oneida County and in
Albany. I tell everyone,
“What’s good for the College is
good for us.” And our efforts
have made a difference. Budget
allocations from our state and
local sponsors have gone up.
The PA’s statewide affiliate,
NYSUT, with our help and on
our behalf made increased
funding for community colleges
a high priority in its legislative
agenda, and the result was more
base aid than community
colleges had seen in a decade.
Our local sponsor stepped up,
too, increasing the College’s
funding last year when many
other County agencies faced
cuts. Local legislators
understand what a serious
impact low salaries have on
MVCC and express support for
increasing them through the
budget process.
So, dialogue with lawmakers
has helped to raise awareness of
our issues and to bring more
resources to the College. But
the PA’s effort to improve
communication has not been
limited to elected
representatives.
Continued on next page

Many Questions, One Answer
Continued from p. 3
As an organization we’ve
reached out in many ways to our
communities both on and off
campus. We’ve contributed to
fund raisers and volunteered for
good causes. Here on campus,
we’ve reached out as an
organization to our students,
honoring them at
commencement, providing pens
for registration, and funding an
annual scholarship. And we’ve
sought in a variety of ways to
open up better channels of
communication with the
College’s Administration and
Board of Trustees.
In view of all this, why would
the Trustees decide to hire an
outsider to deal with us on their
behalf?
For years, members of the
College community—
representatives of the
Administration and of the
Association—sat down together
in negotiations and discussed
the vital issues affecting our
professional lives. Everyone
there had a real stake in the
outcome, and real understanding
of its impact. Heated though
they might have occasionally
been, these talks led in a timely
fashion to agreements
acceptable to both parties. It
was a system that had been
working well for a very long
time.
Why was it changed?
I still don’t know the answer.
But I do know that we now find
ourselves in a very bad place.
Negotiations have been at
impasse for months. Morale is
at an all-time low. Meaningful,
productive communication
between the Administration and
the faculty and professional
staff is almost non-existent.
And these realities distract us
from the very important work
we do. This would be a
problem whenever it happened.
But it’s especially troublesome
this year when our expertise and
Solidarity. That’s
what we do about it.
It’s the only answer.
energy will be needed not only
for meeting the full-time
demands of educating our
students but also for guiding a
Middle States accreditation selfstudy
and searching for a new
president.
Why are we without a contract?
Good question.
What can be done about it?
Another good question. To this
one, though, I can respond.
Negotiations so far have been
unsuccessful, and mediation has
failed. Now we go to fact
finding. This means our team
will continue its work in a new
arena with the opportunity to
articulate our positions and
defend our proposals before a
neutral party. Sam, Marie, Paul,
Rose, and Jim are hard at work
organizing data and completing
preparations. Our NYSUT
representative, Jim Henck,
continues as our valued advisor
and spokesperson. Whatever
can be done at the table will be
done—superbly—by our team.
But we all know that success in
negotiations doesn’t just come
from what happens at the table.
It comes from the steady, daily
determination of every member
of the Professional Association.
To secure the fair contract we
know we deserve, we stand
together. In every way possible,
we demonstrate our unwavering
support. We don’t get tired. We
don’t leave it to someone else.
When our team needs us, we are
there.
Solidarity. That’s what we do
about it. It’s the only answer.
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
page 4

Internal Communications
Speakers Present Variations on a Theme to Board of Trustees
Professors Kathy Bernstein,
David Katz, and Beverly Quist
have addressed the Board of
Trustees in recent meetings.
While each has presented her or
his own perceptions of the state
of morale on campus, there has
been one central theme: disappointment
with the College’s
lack of collegiality and forethought.
Each of the speakers has
had a long, involved, and
distinguished career at
MVCC. Kathy Bernstein
has taught at the College
for 27 years, David Katz
for 25, and Beverly Quist
for 17. Aside from the
length of their tenure, they
have all been deeply involved
in and contributors
to the well being of the
College. All have made
teaching and the best interests
of their students
their top priorities.
Kathy has coordinated placement
testing, developmental
studies, and the English as a
Continued on p. 6
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
page 5
Kathy
Bernstein
addresses
the board
as others
listen.
Second Language program.
David has represented MVCC
in and out of the College. He’s
been a member of the College
Senate, a contributor to the
Speaker’s Bureau, a coach, and
a teacher of social dance,
among other roles. Beverly
has also served the College in
her work on various committees
such as the Senate, the
David Katz speaks as Beverly Quist watches and PA
members rise.
Strategic Planning Committee,
the General Education Committee,
and the College Cur-
riculum Committee. She’s represented
the College in the
broader community as president
of the Justice Studies Association
as well as by serving on the
boards of the YWCA, the
Peacemaker Program, and
GroWest, to name a few.
All commented on their professional
and personal connections
to MVCC, and noted that their
experiences are not unique.
David stated many think of
MVCC as family “and that we
often spend more time on campus
than with our real families.”
In fact, the College community
and, more practically, healthcare
benefits and job security
supported his recovery after a
cycling accident prevented him
from teaching for a year. Beverly
emphasized that her work
in restorative justice has led her
to emphasize the importance of
a “community of care” in
day-to-day relationships. A
community of care rests on
belonging, a sense of membership,
and a sense of reciprocity.
MVCC has been her
“community of care,” she
said.
Aside from the personal and
professional connections to
the College, however, these
speakers expressed their frustration
at our current state of
contract negotiations.
Kathy Bernstein voiced her
concerns about attracting and
retaining new faculty, not to
mention a new president, in the

Professors Address Board
Continued from p. 5
current atmosphere. David
Katz seemed mystified by the
College’s refusal to recognize
and reward all of the efforts—
big and small—of the faculty
and professional staff. As he
said, “you need ‘lots of little’ to
start a fire. We are the ‘little.’”
Beverly Quist noted that the
Board has acted “as if it had no
family” and asked three striking
questions: What kind of college
climate do we want? Are we
colleagues? Is MVCC the
Board’s “community of care”?
Beverly Quist reads her statement to the Board
These three professionals represent
the commonalities among
the teaching and professional
staff: our dedication to our stu-
dents and community, but at the
same time our frustration and
disbelief at the Board’s seeming
lack of interest in working co-
operatively to ensure that
“MVCC is the best community
college in America.”
Joint Statement by the Presidents
of the Association of Mohawk Valley Administrators
and the MVCC Professional Association
The following is the joint statement
the presidents of the Association of
Mohawk Valley Administrators
(AMVA) and the MVCC Professional
Association gave to the
Board of Trustees at their September
18, 2006 meeting.
Thank you for accepting our
request to address you this evening.
As I believe you know,
I’m Ellis Gage Searles, President
of the MVCC Professional
Association and Professor of
Humanities. Next to me is Dr.
Robert Jubenville, President of
the Association of Mohawk
Valley Administrators and Professor
and Department Head of
Life Science.
Together, we represent 250
members of the College community—administrators,
faculty,
and professional staff,
many of whom were able to
join us here today. On their
behalf, we must express deep
concern about the MVCC
“family” of which we are an
integral, essential part.
As a community, the Board of
Trustees, Administration, faculty
and staff of MVCC share
important goals. We work together
to provide the highest
quality education to our students
and to serve as a vital resource
to the people and institu-
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME VIII ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
page 6
tions of the Mohawk Valley.
We strive for excellence. At the
same time, we strive for the
kind of supportive, positive atmosphere
in which intellectual
inquiry and social connections
flourish. We want a campus
where everyone feels valued
and respected.
Unfortunately, however, that is
not what we now have.
Instead, we have a campus in
which there is widespread discontent—including
a “we/they”
perception fostered by both a
lack of collegiality in campus
Continued on next page

PA-AMVA
Statement
Continued from p. 6
decision-making and the hardline
tactics that lead to unsuccessful
negotiations. Members of all
three bargaining units are working
without contracts today. The
attendant low morale and sense of
injustice stand in direct contradiction
to what the word “family”
represents.
Even worse, it is unlikely that this
regrettable state of affairs will be
resolved soon. The distances are
great, the damage considerable,
disappointments deep.
Now, however, there is a chance
for the Board to demonstrate its
awareness of and sensitivity to
this perceived inequity within the
MVCC family. In the interest of
fairness—and to prevent further
The PA is Everywhere!
Presidents Jubenville (left) and Searles (right, reading) address the Board.
erosion of campus morale—we
request that salary increases for
exempt administrators be held in
abeyance in view of the fact that
other members of the “family”
are working without contracts
and without increases, the majority
for more than a year.
Doing so will not solve all the
problems facing us as a college
community. But it will avoid
adding yet another item to an already
too-long list of unresolved
issues.
Thank you for your consideration
of this very important matter.
Is that Stephen Colbert
from Comedy Central’s
Colbert Report? But
wait! Aren’t those our
members holding PA
signs?
Indeed, both are true.
The PA appeared as a
backdrop for a Colbert
sketch on Republican
Senator George Allen.
To see the video clip, go
to http://
www.comedycentral.co
m/shows/
the_colbert_report/
videos/most_recent/
index.jhtml?start=49
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
page 7

Internal Communications
PA’s “News and Views” Sets the Trend
by Bill McGowan
Never did I
think I would
be recording
broadcasts at
my dining
room table.
Time and technology
have
shattered the way messages and
advertising are made and delivered
to the masses. Podcasting
was inevitable—it was the next
logical step in the evolution of
“blogging.” Although many of
my friends and colleagues are
familiar with blogging, not many
have heard of podcasting
(sometimes referred to as webcasting),
and fewer understood
how it was done.
When the contract negotiations
began to falter, the union needed
ideas to advertise its plight to its
members, and to reach a broader
audience with other unions. So,
in the early spring while sitting
next to my pool, I peeked into the
bottom of my Corona bottle and
there was the answer—
Podcasting! After bringing the
idea up at a PA ICC (Internal
Communications Committee)
meeting, I got a few blank stares.
Then, after processing all my
“techno-babble” about podcasting,
eyes began to light up and
they decided to give it a try. The
ICC committee became the vanguard
of union podcasting and
ushered in a new era of electronic
activism. We are actually the
first union in New York State
with our own podcast—but not
for long. NYSUT in Albany
spoke with me recently about the
idea and is also interested in the
concept of podcasting
Podcasting was in its infancy in
2005. With the help of I tunes
and other syndication feeds, the
concept began to grow up in
2006. The growth of podcasting
has been tremendous. Business
and industry quickly began to see
the value of this highly targeted
“on-demand” type of broadcasting.
On some of the bigger
named podcasts, businesses began
to pay for advertising—
another Internet cash cow! It is
now a popular method used for
delivering lectures in an academic
environment. The concept
is simple: record your show on
your computer, and clean it up
with a sound-editing program,
like Apple’s Sound Track Pro,
and save it as a streaming MP3
file. Then, add some music and a
little advertising and a star is
born. You now have your own
Internet radio show.
Once your show is recorded, it
must be submitted to an “RSS
Feed.” Wikipedia defines RSS as
“ . . .a simple XML (extensible
mark-up language) based system
that allows users to subscribe to
their favorite websites. Using
RSS, a webmaster can put their
content into a standardized format,
which can be viewed and
organized.” RSS stands for
Really Simple Syndication. Another
form of RSS is referred to
as an Atomic feed. Since I tunes
has an RSS feed, I decided to
submit it to Apple where listeners
can subscribe to our podcast.
Listeners also have the option to
access the PA podcast from either
the PA website, or in I tunes itself.
Our podcast is listed in the
Education Category under
Higher Education in I tunes.
Now all we needed was a moderator—our
star. That’s when
“Broadcast Bob” Musante
stepped up and became the online
voice of the PA. We quickly
found that Bob, much like Larry
King and Imus, was not afraid to
ask the tough questions. He
brought such a high level of energy
to the podcast that he challenged
even the volume control
on the sound mixing board (and
my supply of Corona).
In addition to being a vehicle for
electronic activism, we hope to
branch out and interview students
and community personalities on
topics and issues relevant to the
MV community, and to use it as a
vehicle to disseminate general
information about the college and
the community. Over time, as we
gain experience, we hope to improve
on what we started. We
are always looking for new ideas
and people to interview, and welcome
suggestions from the PA
membership. Suggestions may
be emailed to
podcast@mvccpa.org.
Fall has arrived, the leaves are
changing, and the weather is getting
cooler. Now as I sit by my
pool in a down vest, I wonder
what ideas I’ll find in the bottom
of my cup of Irish coffee. Take a
peek in the bottom of your cup
and see what ideas you can come
up with for the PA.
Semper Fidelis . . .
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCOTBER 2006
page 8

Internal Communications
PA Pickets SUNY Chancellor’s Visit
Board member David Mathis enters the side of the IT Building as PA members walk in front.
VP of Instruction Dan Larson reads “27 out of 30.”
Members keep moving
The 2002 Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year, George Searles, is “out of patience.”
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
page 9

Political Outreach
Candidate Endorsements
by the Central New York Labor Council
by Bill Perrotti
This summer,
the COPE
Committee of
the CNY Labor
Council met on
several evenings
to screen
candidates for a
variety of local, county, state and
federal offices and to decide on
labor endorsements for these offices.
As 1st Vice President and
Labor Council Treasurer and PA
delegate, I participated in these
sessions. As is always the case,
the delegates who participated are
members of a number of different
locals in the Utica/Rome area.
In addition to the MVCCPA
(NYSUT), the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
United Mine Workers,
United Automobile Workers, and
Communication Workers of
America were among the unions
that were represented during
these screenings. As I look back
over my years of union involvement,
few things stand out as
more memorable and rewarding
than participation in the CNY
Labor Council.
It is in this arena that blue collar
truly meets white collar under the
umbrella of unionism and each
delegate comes to appreciate and
understand the range of issues
that matter to fellow unionists in
a wide range of occupations.
There is nothing healthier than
members of diverse labor organizations
working together to better
the lives of all working men and
women.
As I have explained before, the
Labor Council reviews a much
wider range of offices than does
the PA. PA members should also
understand that recommendations
of the Labor Council COPE
Committee are based on a wider
range of issues than are the endorsement
decisions of the PA.
As I participate in these screenings
and exercise my vote as a
participating delegate, I hope you
all understand that I check my
deeply held partisan views at the
door. I vote for those candidates
whose views most support the
agenda of organized labor and the
needs of the MVCCPA as determined
by the PA leadership.
Realizing that the exercise of
your right to vote is a very personal
and private matter, I hope
you'll consider the carefully con-
sidered preferences of the local
labor community as you consider
your individual votes in the upcoming
general election.
The Labor Council endorsements
are listed below.
United States Senator:
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)
United States Representative:
Michael A. Arcuri (D)
New York State Governor:
Eliot Spitzer (D)
New York State Attorney General:
Andrew Cuomo (D)
New York State Senator:
Joseph Griffo (R)
James Seward (R)
New York State Assembly:
RoAnn DeStito (D)
David Townsend (R)
Marc Butler (R)
Family Court Judge:
Randall Caldwell (R)
Joan Teuchert Skhane (D)
No Endorsement Given:
Oneida County Sherif
Oneida County Clerk
It is important that you also realize
that the New York State
United Teachers have also endorsed
the same individuals listed
above for the listed federal and
state offices.
Verizon Wireless Offers Discount to MVCC Employees
If you have Verizon service, please be aware that you are
eligible for an employee discount. You should also know, in
case you don’t yet have service, that Cingular is a union
wireless service.
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
page 10

VOTE-COPE
Continued from p. 2
of what this administration thinks
of faculty and professional staff.
Now that we are nearly 400 days
into this negotiations cycle, you
most likely have a level of frustration
that matches your anger at
the fact that so much of what we
hold dear in terms of compensation,
workplace conditions, and
retirement benefits is under serious
attack.
The solution to the College's approach
is for us to bring every
resource at our disposal and all of
our resolve to this fight for our
institution and our jobs. A very
important element in that arsenal
is VOTE-COPE.
Given that, this is a perfect time
to contribute to this essential NY-
SUT (and PA) initiative. Many
members are already contributors.
Every officer and committee
chair contributes. Members
of every department or administrative
area are represented in the
list of contributors. Payment is as
easy as payroll deduction. If
that's not to your liking, you can
write a personal check. If you are
not as yet a contributor, this is a
perfect time for you to start.
Consider $1 or $2 per pay period.
If you already contribute, please
Benefits Fund
PA Benefits Fund to Increase Benefits
by Paul Halko
consider increasing your donation
by $1 each pay period. Remember,
none of the real progress we
have made in recent rounds of
bargaining could have happened
without the help of VOTE-COPE
and the PA's involvement in the
community and in the local political
process. We need to continue
that now more than ever. For
that, we need you all to contribute.
It's an investment in ourselves
and it only makes us stronger.
Please decide to join this effort
today. Thanks.
The MVCC Professional
Association
Benefits
Fund is proud to
announce the
enhancement of
two of the benefits
provided by
the Fund to bargaining unit members.
The Fund Trustees recently voted
to approve the purchase of an
increased level of benefit in the
Group Life Insurance and Accidental
Death and Dismemberment
policies. Currently each
benefit provides $25,000. The
enhanced benefit will be a
$50,000 life insurance policy and
an additional $50,000 benefit for
Accidental Death and Dismemberment.
In addition to life insurance and
AD& D, the PA Benefits Fund
also provides an excellent vision
plan, long-term disability insurance,
and a travel assistance plan.
To learn more about these benefits,
you can go to the PA website
www.pa.org or contact Paul
Halko, PA Benefits Fund Chair.
If you have not yet signed up for
the PA Benefits Fund, you can
sign up on the PA website. All
bargaining unit members are eligible.
Eligibility begins six
months after your hire date.
Details will follow.
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
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PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
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Marie Czarnecki Honored at NYSUT Dinner
PA member Marie
Czarnecki was honored
for her faithful union
service at a dinner held
June 9, 2006 at
Daniele’s at Valley
View. Nominated by
the Professional Association’s
Executive
Board, Marie received
an Outstanding Service
Award from the NYSUT
Regional Office at its
Fourth Annual Recognition
Dinner.
Joining in the celebration
with colleagues
from school districts
throughout Oneida and Herkimer
Counties were Association members
Mike Donaruma, Steve
Getchell, Paul Halko, Bob
Musante, Bill Perrotti, and Ellis
and George Searles.
Regional Office Director Fred
Monaco presented plaques to the
award recipients as their names
The Professional Association welcomes
Mallory Anyango, recently
hired as an Instructor in the Humanities
Department.
She has joined the full-time faculty
after a year of adjuncting at both
MVCC and HCCC. She has also
tutored at HCCC and Utica College,
and has held a number of
non-academic positions in business
administration.
Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Mallory
was raised in Ilion.
PA members Bob Musante, Mike Donaruma, Paul Halko, Ellis
Gage Searles, George Searles, Bill Perrotti, and Steve Getchell
surround NYSUT honoree, Marie Czarnecki.
and photos were displayed on a
large screen behind the podium.
Souvenir booklets distributed to
all guests contained tributes to the
honorees.
About Marie, it said:
“Marie Czarnecki, as Secretary
of the Professional Association,
Member Services
New Member Profile: Mallory Anyango
by George Searles
She completed her undergraduate
work at SUNY Albany before
pursuing her M.A. at Buffalo,
where she graduated
summa cum laude. She has also
studied adolescent education at
Utica College, completing
coursework toward K-12 certification.
A practicing poet, Mallory has
performed at several venues,
including the MVCC faculty
reading last spring. She has also
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
page 13
tends tirelessly to the
needs of the organization,
keeping meticulous records,
meeting every deadline,
and remembering all
the details. Yet this is just
one of her many roles.
Since the beginning of her
career at MVCC, Marie
Czarnecki has worked
within our union to make it
stronger—as negotiator,
writer, editor, researcher,
advisor, supporter, and
organizer.
Without fanfare, she quietly
and effectively does
whatever needs doing.
PA colleagues past and present
have recognized this truth: the
Association could not be what it
is without her selfless dedication.
So, today, we thank her.”
served as managing editor of 13 th
Moon, an Albany literary magazine.
In addition to numerous academic
awards, Mallory has been recognized
for high achievement in tap
dancing.

One Retiree’s Perspective on the Past
Formation
of the Professional Association
by Al Christensen
The PA
was
formed in
the late
‘60s or
early ‘70s
after the
faculty was
told they
were
permitted to organize under the
Taylor Law. The administration
called a meeting of the faculty
and Chuck Schmidt of the
Business Department explained
the Taylor Law to us. The
general impression at the time
was that we could now form a
faculty bargaining unit that was
empowered to make changes.
Later, it became clear the Law
did not grant any legal
College Presidents
Albert V. Payne
Bob Larsen
Stewart Tosh
Thomas Sheldon (Temporary)
George Robertson
Mike Schafer
empowerment or the option of
withdrawing services. It did not
grant governance or any process
to attain governance.
We were granted permission to
do what we could have done
without the law, form a faculty
association. But now it was
explicitly illegal to strike.
If you are told you can do
something it’s not the same as
finding out you have to do it to
free yourself from injustice. The
law might have been a defusing
device to satisfy faculty enough
to avoid any real conflict over
wages, benefits, security and
governance. The first meeting
to form a group was small, not
very active, a little timid, and
confused being uninitiated in
independent action.
Each following meeting became
larger as the faculty members
became bolder and more
assured they would not suffer
repercussions from joining a
faculty union. The first
PA Presidents
Dave Chamberlain
Dave McCarthy
Al Christensen
Dan Fitzgerald
Arthur Friedberg
Don Willner
Gerald Scotti
Ted Moore
Bill Perrotti
Ellis Gage Searles
president was David
Chamberlain of the Biology
Department.
While I was President, the PA
voted to become part of
NYSUT.
The vote was close. As I recall
from the discussions, many
members were concerned we
could not go it alone and the
others thought that we had
learned a lot so far and could
continue to grow on our own.
The dues were also an issue.
At first we were mainly
concerned with local conditions
but after a while the PA became
much more involved with local
and state politics.
The CNY Labor Agency
and Professional Councseling Center
are offering “Common Sense Parenting”
courses on Wednesday evenings from
October 11-November 15 for $20.
Please call 735-6101 to register and for
more information.
Promotion Packets
If you are applying for
promotion, please note
that you may include
committees for which
you volunteered or were
nominated, even if not
selected.
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
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Community Outreach
Walk with the Union to Fight Cancer
by Steve Getchell
Hope Starts
Here when
you join us
for the
American
Cancer Society’s
Making
Strides
Against Breast Cancer walk
on Sunday, October 15, 2006 at
SUNY Institute of Technology.
We’re trying to get a PA team
together to show our solidarity
and to raise much-needed funds
and awareness for the fight
against breast cancer. Breast
cancer will strike more than
200,000 times this year and
claim 40,000 lives, but more
women than ever before are
surviving breast cancer, thanks
to early detection and better
treatment. Since 1993, the
American Cancer Society has
raised more than $130 million
from two million people
through Making Strides
events. Let’s keep the ball rolling
as "PA Striders” on October
15 th .
Forms will be available at
SUNY IT on Walk Day or by
contacting Steve Getchell at
x5717 (PH 376). More information
is also available at
www.nysut.org/making strides.
Please wear your PA shirts or
something with our logo. I’m
checking on T-shirts that may
be available from NYSUT.
Please contact me if you have
any questions. You may also
purchase raffle tickets from me
or other Community Outreach
Committee members. The PA
did very well last year, raising
approximately $1000.00. Statewide,
NYSUT raised nearly
$700,000!! Thank you for your
consideration and support.
Community Outreach
Local Tragedy Calls for PA Assistance
by Kathy Bernstein
Tejahn Kweh,
one of our
ESL students,
and her family
have suffered
a terrible tragedy.
The
week before
classes started,
her father and three of her
brothers were driving to work
when they were in a car accident.
One of her brothers and
another passenger in the vehicle
were killed immediately.
Her other two brothers and her
father were seriously injured.
One of her brothers died two
weeks later from his injuries.
Her remaining brother and
father are still hospitalized in
Syracuse and will likely remain
in the hospital for some
time.
As you can imagine, the family
is devastated, emotionally
and financially. There are
other siblings living at home
and their primary source of
income is gone. The members
of the Professional Association
can help this family
through a very difficult time.
In the coming weeks we will
begin a series of drives to assist
them. Thank you in advance
for you generosity.
If you’d like to help…
Boxes for food donations
will be located in front of AB
152, Student Services, and
the library. Cash donations
can be made to Kathy
Bernstein, Steve Getchell, or
Ellis Gage Searles. Cash
donations will be used for the
purchase of groceries gift
cards.
PANORAMA ● MVCC PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER ● VOLUME V III ● NO. 1 ● OCTOBER 2006
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page 16
Mohawk Valley Community College
Professional Association
1101 Sherman Drive
Utica, NY 13501-5349