Vol. 5 No.4                                                                                               May 17, 1995

The Messenger of Sound Advice

SENATOR MARTINEZ, HAVE A HEART!
WHY ARE YOU HURTING BOTH
THE STUDENTS AND THE FACULTY?

      In his memorandum of May 4, 1995, President Leon M. Goldstein wrote, "...it is anticipated that all overloads will be eliminated at the College starting with the Fall 1995 semester." The Patriot, as well as anyone else paying attention for the past decade or so, knows how hard President Goldstein has fought for the faculty's right to overloads. He has gone out on a limb for all of us on this issue.

      Now, however, The Patriot is troubled to learn that Prof. Inez Martinez, member of the English Department, our elected Senator to the Faculty Senate (whose term expires in a couple of years), and who is currently an editor of the Faculty Senate Newsletter, has, according to reliable sources, strongly supported the concept of elimination of overloads at KCC as one of the solutions for the current budget problems. She did this not in a brief hallway meetings, but at a recent Retrenchment Committee meeting which could affect all of our lives! Several sources also revealed that, at a meeting of the College Administration, Senator Martinez suggested that all faculty take a five to ten percent salary cut.

      Since Senator Martinez has been so concerned with a democratic style of operation for KCC, how come she did not consult with the faculty before she made these proposals? Does Senator Martinez realize...

1) that it is the union (the Professional Staff Congress) and not the Faculty Senate which contracts for faculty benefits and/or concessions?

2) that overloads contribute a relatively small amount of faculty members' earnings but that this supplement, especially during these difficult financial times, otten feeds tiny toddlers, helps more mature faculty members pay for their childrens1 educations and may help defer expenses for long-term care? (Just because not all of us have these expenses, we must all be sensitive to such needs.)

3) that there is very little gained in savings in eliminating the overloads (since health care costs have already been set aside for full-time faculty) and that it may actually be cheaper to use full-time faculty, even at a higher rate of pay?

4) that by permitting our full-time faculty to teach, particularly in the evenings and weekends, our hard-working, tuition-paying students get the benefit of their expertise and experience; something to which every student should be entitled? (Full-time faculty are placed under more scrutiny in regard to academic credentials, publications and teaching evaluations. Evening students should not be treated a second-class citizens.)

     The Patriot believes that an overwhelming number of faculty would agree with the above-stated reasons for allowing overloads to continue.

     The Patriot's sound advice to Senator Martinez and all other senators:

1) Even though you are elected, consult the faculty before you take positions on bread-and-butter issues...especially after you have decried the administration's top-down management style. Don't be hypocritical!

2) If you wish, each pay day send a check in the amount equivalent to ten percent of your salary, payable to New York City, Department of Finance, and mail it to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as your contribution to reducing the city's budget deficit, but please, do not volunteer our hard-earned salary or any percentage thereof, to bail out the City of New York.

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