It is unfortunate that the controversies surrounding the NCC Presidential Search are obfuscating the visits of the candidates for NCC President who are visiting our campus to meet with the various constituent groups.
At the February 9th Board of Trustees meeting, it was interesting to note that Vice-Chair Kathy Weiss and Co-Chair of the Search Committee Arnold Drucker asked for an investigation into allegations of misconduct, while both Chair Jorge Gardyn and Trustee John DeGrace attempted to minimize and dismiss these claims. Trustee Ed Powers asked each public speaker if they knew someone named Andrea Campbell (apparently, this individual wrote an accusatory letter) yet the video of the BOT meeting does not indicate that Trustee Powers asked any member of the Board or Administration the same question.
John DeGrace referred to those of us who speak up at the BOT as the “vocal minority” while Jorge Gardyn referred to comments made by Arnold Drucker as a “new form of sensationalism for the benefit of the present company”. Is the “vocal minority” and “present company” the leadership of the Chairs, ASEC and NCCFT or the dedicated faculty whose presence at these meetings is consistent? We urge you to watch the February 9th Board meeting video and listen carefully to the discussions and comments.
These arrogant attitudes towards the NCCFT faculty, along with these demeaning comments are indicative of the message the Board is sending to the Administration. Furthermore, Dr. Saunders’ interference in the Promotion and Tenure process, handing out patronage adjunct positions while denying NCCFT members our contractual rights, reliance on the BOT to solve SUNY Seamless, DevEd and Curriculum issues reflects a disdain and disregard for the NCCFT faculty who are the soul of this institution. The most recent case-in-point is the SUNY Excels Performance Improvement Plan 2015-16 (PIP) submitted to and posted on the SUNY website. As disparaging as the report reads, it is extremely disturbing that the Administration is more concerned about the “timing” of our indignation than the report itself. As a matter of fact, the Administration may be disingenuous in their faint affront and actually agree with some of the controversial content. Someone, after all, did write it.
The NCCFT Executive Committee has filed a formal complaint with the Nassau County District Attorney asking for an investigation into to the many claims being levied in emails, letters and transcripts regarding the Nassau Community College Presidential Search. In addition, the complaint includes the PIP and asks the District Attorney to review the content to determine if this should be forwarded to the EEOC. We want to express our appreciation to Professor Sara Hosey, Coordinator of the Women’s Studies Project, for providing an analysis of the PIP (http://aaupncc.org/2016/02/14/nccs-suny-excels-falls-short/) and to the NCC Academic Senate Executive Committee and the NCC AAUP Advocacy Chapter for the essay, History of Doomed Searches, (http://aaupncc.org/a-history-of-doomed-searches/) both of which were included in our complaint package. Furthermore, the NCCFT is currently in discussions with NYSUT to review other legal action.
If the Board of Trustees believes the leadership of the Chairs, Academic Senate and NCCFT are a vocal minority, then we call upon you, the faculty, to write letters, make phone calls and visit the Trustees, Legislature, County leaders, SUNY or anyone else and express your concerns regarding this corrupted search and the disregard the Board and Administration have for shared governance, our contract and the role of the membership as professionals.