Category — Uncategorized

The Capital Community College’s faculty and staff senate will take up a resolution Wednesday calling for a 25% cut in the generous salaries of central office bureaucrats. The resolution reflects the growing disquiet that the System Office is inflicting sacrifices on others that it will not impose on itself.

Here’s the lengthy resolution:

Whereas, Capital Community College exists for the primary purpose of furthering academic excellence;

Whereas, The CCC Senate is the official representative body of the Faculty and Staff;

Whereas, The Board of Regents has a lengthy history of fiscal mismanagement dating back to at least 2010 as documented in the APA1 Executive Summary, dated 10/1/2020 for fiscal years ending 2016 and 2017, which identified 32 areas requiring improvement and violations that included unspent allocations, budgetary miscalculations, and non-compliance with the 2017 SEBAC Agreement;

Whereas, Nearly all of the universities and colleges voted no confidence in President Ojakian and the Board of Regents last year;

Whereas, The Board of Regents is largely comprised of individuals who have limited to no experience and knowledge regarding institutions of higher education, and who have spent virtually no time on the campuses they are supposed to lead;

Whereas, Taking the COVID-19 pandemic into consideration, each college, university and the System Office submitted a budget for FY 2021 to the Board of Regents, which duly adopted a FY 2021 spending plan for CSCU on June 18, 2020 based upon these budgets;

Whereas, The System Office and the Board of Regents miscalculated revenue in these budgets, in particular, that of the community colleges by grossly overestimating enrollment numbers which resulted in a reported budget shortfall of $69 million;

Whereas, The Board of Regents, at its September 17 and October 15, 2020 meetings, stated that “everything is on the table” and tasked the administration to consider alternatives, including measures that have not been taken in the past and measures that “require extensive analysis, negotiation, and restructuring within the organization” to reduce the budget shortfall;

Whereas, The Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” in order to justify ‘placing on the table’ the income of the most vulnerable and poorly-compensated employees, including Graduate and University Assistants and part-time faculty;

Whereas, The Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” in order to justify attempting to ‘place on the table’ the income of thousands of faculty and staff responsible for teaching and providing services to our students and to try to break the Collective Bargaining Agreement;

Whereas, the Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” but, has failed to ‘place on the table’ reducing the salaries of administrators in the System Office and throughout the system who are the most highly-compensated employees, an action that would not require “extensive analysis, negotiation, and restructuring within the organization;”

Whereas, The Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” however, has also stated that it will not ‘place on the table’ the exorbitant costs associated with One College and its top-heavy administrative structure, including the additional planned hiring of over $10 million worth of managers;

Whereas, The Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” and has implemented a hiring freeze and a comprehensive effort to “review and identify savings in areas including staffing, academic programming, shared administrative services and collective bargaining;” yet is proceeding with a search to hire a CSU President, an expensive position with largely figurehead responsibilities, and will not ‘place on the table’ the System Office’s bloated staffing and administrative costs, an action that would not require “extensive analysis, negotiation, and restructuring within the organization;”

Whereas, The Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” however, has failed to ‘place on the table’ the System Office reserves of $22.42 million that could be utilized to cover revenue shortfalls;

Whereas, The Board of Regents has stated that “everything is on the table,” but has stated that SCSU, CCSU, and ECSU should contribute $1.2 million each from their reserves to make up for WCSU’s shortfall, failing to ‘place on the table’ the System Office reserves of $22.42 million that could cover this shortfall;

Whereas, The described proposals by the Board of Regents are harmful to our students, who comprise the largest population of minority and underserved students in the state;

Whereas, The described proposals by the Board of Regents would result in a reduced number of academic programs and classes and larger class sizes, and would threaten the integrity of our educational institutions; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That when the Board of Regents states that “everything is on the table,” it truly should consider all alternatives with open-mindedness in order to act in the best interests of the students and the institutions it is charged with protecting and nurturing; and be it further

Resolved, That the Board of Regents cease targeting the most vulnerable and underpaid university and college employees, while failing to take action in reducing the salaries of the most highly-compensated employees in the system; and be it further

Resolved, That the salaries of the highly-compensated, higher-level administrators in the System Office be reduced by 25%, as has been done at many other institutions of higher education in the country in order to deal with COVID-19 budgetary shortfalls; and be it further

Resolved, That the System Office be required to follow any cost-saving measures required of the colleges and universities, including the hiring freeze that would encompass the CSU President position and One College hires; and be it further

Resolved, That reserves from the System Office be utilized to cover revenue shortfalls of the individual universities and colleges and that the Board of 

Regents cease the practice of raiding one university’s reserves to pay off another university’s debt; and be it further

Resolved, That the Board of Regents consider alternatives to the System Office or at the very least, major restructuring of the organization, including measures that have not been taken in the past and measures that require extensive analysis; and be it further

Resolved, That any cost-cutting measures directed towards the colleges and universities not be circumscribed in a top-down manner, but rather demonstrate respect and invite the knowledge and experience of those who understand and work in higher education in our institutions; and be it further

Resolved, That the Board of Regents is called on to be advocates for and supporters of higher education and the CSCU campuses, rather than to act as agents of dismantlement.

Here’s a rule for ballot integrity in Connecticut: Don’t take a selfie with an idiotic message that you can vote twice.   Sue Schroeder, Wethersfield’s attentive town clerk, made sure it doesn’t happen here.

The Facebook post is misinformation and it has caused considerable comment. Attorney General Tong, Secretary of the State Merrill and Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo have their first case. Updates as events require.

Connecticut employers added 20,400 jobs in August, a disappointing drop from the 32,000 the state picked up in July. Connecticut began the year with nearly 1.7 million jobs. In August, that number was at 1.56 million.

The global pandemic has added to Connecticut’s economic troubles. The state has the fourth highest per capita death rate from Covid-19 in the nation. Before this year of sorrows, Connecticut had not recovered all the jobs lost in the 2008 financial crisis.

This podcast from the expanding media platforms of The Times newspaper of London provides a sensible discussion of what a second wave this winter might bring.

Listen to it here. You can also download it on whatever app you use to subscribe to podcasts. It’s one episode in the commendable Stories of our times podcast.

July brought disappointing job gains in Connecticut with just 26,500 jobs recovered, according to state labor figures. The July numbers were a dramatic fall off from June’s encouraging 87,500 report. The state was home to 1.699 million jobs in February–the last full month before the global pandemic caused a shutdown of much of the state’s economy by emergency declaration of Governor Ned Lamont, effective March 16th.

June’s jobs report came as the lockdown began to ease. The state has yet to return to its high of 1.716 million jobs in March, 2008.

Westbrook selectman John Hall will fill the vacancy created by incumbent Republican state Representative Jesse MacLachlan’s decision to quit the 35th House District contest. The district  encompasses Clinton, Killingworth, and Westbrook. 

“…[Secretary of the State Denise] Merrill’s office contends some chaos was expected. The state, after all, has never done this before,” The Middletown Press reports on the conflict over absentee ballots between Merrill’s thinly-staffed office and the state’s 169 town clerks.

Five-term incumbent state Representative Chris Davis (R-Ellington) announced Sunday he is abandoning his campaign for a sixth term. Davis has represented the 57th House District since scoring an upset win in 2010.

The 33 year old serves as the House ranking member on the legislature’s finance committee. Davis cited spending more time with his young family during the global pandemic as the reason for his surprise Sunday announcement.

Davis is a real estate agent and an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Bridgeport.

U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes will not be silent. The first term Fifth District Democrat and national teacher of the year has examined Governor Ned Lamont’s fall school reopening plan and found it wanting.

Hayes expresses her disappointment with her fellow Democrat in a Thursday night tweet. Full marks to Hayes for sharing a critical opinion of a fellow Democrat, breaking the poisonous spell of political tribalism. Hayes reminds us that diversity of opinions is a crucial liberal value.

Seventy years ago this month, Senator Margaret Chase Smith (R-Maine) broke the reign of silence and condemned the demagogue Joseph McCarthy on the floor of the United State Senate.

Four years later, Edward R. Murrow delivered a memorable summary of McCarthy’s wickedness. “Accusation is not proof….we will not walk in fear, one of another, we will not be driven into an age of unreason….”