Vol. 19, No. 1                                                                                     February 13, 2001

WELCOME, VICE PRESIDENT POINDEXTER

      Welcome, V.P. Poindexter! At KCC, we hope that your arrival will mark the end of never-ending, chaotic registrations. You have an excellent staff in the Department of Student Services, the valuable support of President McClenney, and a great deal of experience in registration. Above all, we understand that you also have expertise in technology and a penchant for change that was lacking in our previous interim administration. What you do not have is time. We are tired, and we look for your leadership in making changes quickly. We do hope that, unlike previous administrations, you will provide department chairs the opportunity to make necessary changes in the Schedule of Classes before it is published. We also hope that the technology that you provide will eliminate the need for transparencies to display the availability of classes let's move into the new millennium at KCC!

      The faculty of Kingsborough look forward to working with you and wish you the best.

Horrors! It's THE QUEEN OF RELEASED OF TIME yet again.
A QUEEN'S ATTEMPT AT COMEBACK IN DISGUISE

      Ground hog day has just passed, and the Queen of Released Time, Susan O'Malley has been sighted on campus in the cluster and in the cafeteria. That means that PSC chapter elections are fast approaching, and the Queen wants to make a comeback. What disguise she will use is unpredictable. We know that she has no credibility to run as Chair, and she cannot be openly associated with a phony ticket. Most likely, she will recruit an innocent patsy, an unknown member of the faculty, as her crony someone who is looking for recognition. This person will be her front.

      She will stay in the background, but please recall what she did to "Larry the Loner ." Although it was she who masterminded the recent "faculty assembly" debacle, it was also she who made "Larry the Loner" publicly apologize to the president, not once but twice! Surely, you do not wish to be in that situation. When the chips are down, she will sell out her so called "friends".

      Many of us recall the years of acrimony created by Geraldine Chapey during the administration of the late President Goldstein. Many of us also remember the late Bernard Eisenberg and his never ending wars with the administration of former President Goldstein wars that hurt faculty, since after a while, the administration refused to accommodate faculty in the most basic ways simply to spite the chapter chair. You may remember the short lived but totally ineffectual period under the Queen's leadership. Compare those days to these recent years, which have been productive ones at the college, and have resulted in gains for KCC faculty. Let's keep it that way. We have a new administrative leadership at the college, and energies must be focused on dealing with that leadership for our collective benefit. This is not the time for changes in the local union chapter.

      If you do not want to be victimized, just say "No" to the Queen of Released Time and her cronies.

M O D E R N ART & T H E C R A N K Y O L D M A N

Reactions to the December 12 issue of The Patriot Returns have been varied and numerous. Some called it the voice of truth and others went even further, calling the Editor the "Thomas Paine" of KCC. Much attention was focused on two issues: 1) The Mutilated Woman, and 2) The Office of the Dean of Faculty.       The Mutilated Woman: A majority of persons felt that the Patriot's criticism of this sculpture was sound. We never requested the censoring of art on campus, nor did we criticize the artistic talent of the sculptor. We merely publicized the feelings of some viewers who are upset at being forced to look at a mutilated woman's body without any possibility of avoiding doing so, unlike a book, a movie, or a song, which one may choose to experience or not to experience. Many, particularly women, told us that they felt offended by this sculpture.

      However, some suggested that the editor take classes offered by the Art Department. One faculty member wrote: "Your own comments about political issues...always come across as ideas expressed by someone who has been involved and who is knowledgeable about the political world particularly world in academia. Unfortunately that is not the case with your comments about art!"

       We thank all for their comments, criticisms, and suggestions. The Editor firmly believes that we must begin a dialog on the campus as to what form of art is proper. After all, this is an educational institution and not a place for exhibition of only one form of art modern art. Perhaps we can make some room for traditional, realistic art, and as well art that does not offend.

       We now have new leadership both at the Presidential level and in the Art Department, and look forward to change. As for the Editor, he accepts the challenge of taking art courses, but not now. One day, perhaps fifteen years hence, you may see this "cranky old man," frail, stooped and walking with a cane, enrolling in the "My Turn Program", scrambling for seats in courses in Art Forms.

       We now have new leadership both at the Presidential level and in the Art Department, and look forward to change. As for the Editor, he accepts the challenge of taking art courses, but not now. One day, perhaps fifteen years hence, you may see this "cranky old man," frail, stooped and walking with a cane, enrolling in the "My Turn Program", scrambling for seats in courses in Art Forms.

Where are all those "Faculty Curmudgeons Who Never Met a Dean They Liked?"

In her article in the Chronicle of Higher Education of Jan. 27, 1998 (p. A 15), Carolyn J. Mooney discusses the original plan for planning a forum for new deans, sponsored by the American Conference of Academic deans. According to her, the plan was to give a catchy theme "I never met a dean I liked" and line up a panel of faculty members who would openly discuss everything they disliked about deans, that deans are superfluous and that somehow the administration always chooses wrong person to be dean. However, "the panel never materialized because potential faculty members backed out or weren't quite right for the role. So the deans ended up offering their own thoughts about faculty relations and other issues, swapping ideas and strategies in a forum that at times resembled a support group."

       We believe that if the American Conference of Academic Deans makes another attempt at organizing a conference on the original topic, i.e. "I never met a Dean I liked," they could find lots of genuinely articulate panelists for such an open forum and frank discussion in the ranks of KCC faculty.

       Our paper pushing Dean of Faculty is an example of a dean who has extended his reach into every nook and cranny, most probably to enhance his own self importance. His fingers are in every pie from paper clips and travel funds to allocating space and attending every meeting of every committee.

       One member of the faculty talked about travel funds. He complained about too much bureaucratic control by the Dean of Faculty on travel funds allocated to departments. First, the departments are allocated very small amounts, somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 per year to be distributed among eight to 30 department members. Second, current procedure requires a member of the faculty to fill out a form with a copy of the preliminary program, and to get an approval from the chair, who then sends it to the paper pushing Dean for his approval. Then the faculty member has to wait for the Dean's approval. Sometimes, the approval comes before the meeting takes place, but sometimes it does not. The faculty member must then take a chance in going to the conference, hoping that some expense will be approved. Then, when the member of the faculty returns, she or he must send the voucher along with original receipts and the original program to the Business Manager for reimbursement, which takes weeks to be paid. All this nonsense for some lousy few hundred dollars that in many cases does not even cover conference registration fees. It probably costs more in the time and energy of all involved than it is worth. It is like looking all around the floor for spare change, and collecting pennies strewn on the cafeteria floor, or checking coin operated telephones and vending machines for leftover or forgotten change.

       Some question why is it necessary for the dean of the faculty to approve a request for funds which was already approved by the Department Chair and allocated to the department. Moreover, he has been known to approve funds for faculty travel that was not approved by a Departments's P. & B. Doesn't he trust the judgements of the Chairs? Are the chairs that stupid that they do not know how to allocate funds to members of their own departments?

       Another area of dissatisfaction has to do with the way applicants are directed to send their resumes to the Dean of Faculty in our advertisements The Dean sends them back to the Chairs anyway. Why can't the applicants send job inquiries and applications directly to the chairs of the departments in which there are vacancies, as is done at other CUNY colleges? Is it because the dean loves to see his name in the newspapers? Or, does he want to create more work for himself to justify his job?

       It is time to end this petty, paper pushing micro management.

Forthcoming issues of The Patriot may be accessed at the www.patriotreturns.com web site. Archived editions are available at http://www.patriotreturns/archive.htm.