UNITED UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONS
2008 Winter Delegate Assembly
Highlights and Resolutions
The 2008 Winter Delegate Assembly of United University Professions was called to order by Acting President Fred Floss at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, February 8, 2008 in the King Street Ballroom of the Desmond Hotel, Albany, NY.
In pre-plenary activities:
• Academic Delegates heard Ann Hoffman and Boris Kolba of the National Writers Union.
• Professional Delegates discussed professional issues such as overtime, FLSA, promotions and titles.
In the Friday evening Plenary Session, Delegates heard the report of Acting President Fred Floss.
• Delegates adopted a Resolution of Appreciation to Paul Zarembka.
Whereas, the UUP Constitution, Article II, states as its purpose “The purpose of this organization shall be…to advance democracy in education; to promote the principle of unity and collective bargaining in higher education; and to defend the civil, professional, and human rights of those it represents;” and
Whereas, democracy within the union is best served by the free and open exchange of ideas, principles, and opinions; and
Whereas, the use of information technology, such as listservs, expedites such open and free communications; and
Whereas, Paul Zarembka, Buffalo Center Chapter’s Grievance chair for Academics has established such a leadership listserv, the UUP-DA-LIST; and
Whereas, Paul has taken great efforts in time and energy to moderate the list; and
Whereas, Paul has been scrupulous in keeping his personal opinions very separate from his role as moderator; and
Whereas, the UUP-DA-LIST has been very active, popular and successful in discussing a variety of issues of concern among the leadership; therefore be it
Resolved, that the 2008 Winter UUP Delegate Assembly expresses its gratitude and thanks to Paul Zarembka for such exemplary service to the UUP at large.
At the Friday night Delegate Assembly Dinner:
• Delegates honored the 2008 Friend of SUNY Award winners, Senator Catharine Young and Assemblyman Peter Rivera.
• Delegates were addressed by Dr. Pedro Cabán, SUNY Vice Provost for Diversity and Educational Equity.
Following dinner, Delegates attended the Candidates Forum.
At the Saturday Plenary:
• Delegates elected Phillip H. Smith (UMU) President.
• Delegates urged Vice President for Academics Fred Floss to serve the remainder of his term.
• Delegates heard the reports of the Acting Vice President for Academics Kallio, Vice President for Professionals Marino, Secretary Landy, Treasurer Blackman-Stroud and Membership Development Officer Quinn.
• Delegates took the following actions:
o Adopted a Resolution.
Whereas, Union democracy is so important to our whole society that Congress legislated democratic rights including a “union member’s bill of rights” so members could criticize the status quo in their organizations and of the officials who run them; and
Whereas, the United University Professions and its affiliates have embraced and adopted those rights; and
Whereas, the NYSUT Director of Field staff, Peter Martineau, has been accused of infringing on those rights by directly approaching SUNY management about the establishment and use of a listserv for discussion of UUP issues without in any way approaching the organizer of the listserv or the campus UUP office to explain his concerns; be it
Resolved, that the Executive Board of the UUP investigate this action by Mr. Martineau, in consultation with officers of the New York State United Teachers, and report the results of that investigation to the 2008 UUP Spring Delegate Assembly; and be it further
Resolved, that the UUP Executive Board and NYSUT establish organizational safeguards to ensure that the concerned members of UUP and the Chapter leadership be the first point of contact in any and all matters effecting members of UUP.
o Adopted a Resolution from the Labor and Higher Education and Solidarity Committees.
Whereas, the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE), based in Basra, Iraq, has called for international support of their efforts to protect Iraqi oil resources from U.S. pressure to privatize them; and
Whereas, public sector unions in Iraq are still without any legal protection, continuing unchanged the anti-labor policies of Saddam Hussein; therefore be it
Resolved, that UUP expresses its solidarity with the General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE), based in Basra, Iraq, and Iraqi working people, and joins US Labor Against the War and labor around the world to oppose the privatization of Iraqi oil and other resources under duress of occupation; and be it further
Resolved, that UUP calls for the rapid creation of a legal and political environment that secures a free and independent labor movement with full labor rights in Iraq; and be it further
Resolved, that UUP communicate these demands to our elected representatives, US Labor Against the War, the General Union of Oil Employees, and our affiliates NYSUT, AFT, and AFL-CIO with requests that they also adopt this resolution.
o Adopted a Resolution from the Solidarity Committee on Sweatfree New York.
Whereas, the basic human rights of workers globally are violated in an economic race to the bottom that subordinates human dignity to corporate profit; and
Whereas, New York’s public universities regularly contract with apparel and sports equipment companies engaged in the above mentioned race to the bottom; and
Whereas, despite NYSUT and the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition’s legislative victories establishing ‘responsible bidder’ purchasing options for New York schools and Universities, our universities have by and large failed to take advantage of sweatfree options; and
Whereas, New York elected officials will soon consider legislation that would have New York join the new State and Local Government Sweatfree Consortium and would extend sweatfree purchasing provisions to all state apparel contracts, including for police, fire, and other public employee uniforms; and
Whereas, electing to purchase from ‘sweatfree’ providers counters the race to the bottom and can create dramatic positive changes with respect to working conditions in the apparel and sports equipment industries worldwide; be it
Resolved, this UUP Delegate Assembly calls on the state’s university purchasing officers to implement the intent of New York’s sweatfree legislation by seeking to contract with responsible, sweatfree vendors; and be it further
Resolved, this Assembly Urges UUP delegates, UUP members, UUP chapters and the NYSUT Political Action Committee to lobby for the extension of sweatfree provisions to cover all state apparel contracts and for New York to join the State and Local Government Sweatfree Consortium, and we ask UUP to require its vendors to use sweatfree products for give-aways.
o Adopted a Resolution from the Task Force on Emerging Issues of Diversity and the Women’s Rights and Concerns Committee on Commitment to and Funding for the SUNY Office of Diversity and Educational Equity.
Whereas, the partnership of UUP, NYSUT, the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force, the University Faculty Senate, and SUNY is committed to increase the quality and nature of diversity and equity in SUNY; and
Whereas, this partnership resulted in the development of a plan for the creation of an Office of Diversity and Educational Quality and the hiring on 15 July 2007 of Dr. Pedro Cabán as Vice Provost for Diversity and Educational Equity by the SUNY Board of Trustees; and
Whereas, Governor Spitzer’s Executive Budget allocated only an additional $200,000, for a total annual budget of $500,000, from the state budget to support the Office of Diversity and Educational Equity; and
Whereas, SUNY’s Office for Diversity and Educational Equity should be funded in a manner that enables this initiative to begin to fully address the diversity and educational needs of all New Yorkers; therefore be it
Resolved, that the Winter Delegate Assembly direct the President of United University Professions to urge the members of the New York State Assembly and Senate to pass legislation reflecting UUP’s proposal that this section of the Executive Budget be increased by $4.5 million for the Office of Diversity and Educational Equity; and be it further
Resolved, that the Winter Delegate Assembly direct the President of United University Professions to urge the Governor to sign the aforementioned legislation, which will enable SUNY to begin the critical work of meeting its system-wide diversity and educational equity goals; and be it further
Resolved, that the Winter Delegate Assembly direct the President of United University Professions to submit a copy of this resolution to Governor Spitzer; Senator Bruno; Assemblyman Silver; Senator LaValle; Assemblywoman Glick; and members of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus; the Higher Education Committee; the Legislative Women's Caucus; the Task Force on New Americans; the Task Force on People with Disabilities; the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force; and the Task Force on Women's Issues, reflecting UUP’s concern for and commitment to the Office for Diversity and Educational Equity.
o Adopted a Resolution from the Committee on Active Retired Membership.
Whereas, an estimated 30,000 or more seniors are victims of some sort of abuse or exploitation; and
Whereas, instances of substance abuse, financial stress, emotional stress, lack of social and other community supports, inadequate training for caregivers, increased medical and emotional needs of the elder person and a family history of violence constitute risk of senior victimization; and
Whereas, New York State as a whole is not prepared to safeguard seniors from harm or to address these multifaceted needs of victimization; and
Whereas, neglect is the most common form of abuse with financial exploitation occurring with equal frequency; and
Whereas, elderly abuse by family members occurs in approximately half of the cases reported; and
Whereas, this abuse is often not reported by the victim due to fear, guilt and shame, and what is often the case, the victim is dependent upon the perpetrator who threatens the elderly with institutionalization, if she/he is reported to the police; and
Whereas, elderly victims suffer from a high rate of social and physical isolation thereby limiting their access to communicate such problems with anyone other than their caregivers; therefore be it
Resolved, that it is incumbent upon United University Professions along with NYSUT, AFT, the Alliance for Retired Americans and other appropriate organizations to coordinate their social service networks with Adult Protective Services (APS) and thereby assist in potential investigation, and intervention in the growing number and complexity of elder abuse cases. In sum, UUP should use their leadership and vital community linkages in addressing abuse and exploitation in the elderly population including retired academics and professionals.
o Adopted a Resolution from the Buffalo Center Chapter in Support of Professor Steven Kurtz.
Whereas, Dr. Steven Kurtz is a Professor of Visual Studies at SUNY Buffalo and a founding member, with his late wife, Hope, of the internationally-acclaimed art and theater collective Critical Art Ensemble, which works within educational and art contexts to raise awareness of a range of social issues, biotechnology and the many issues surrounding it;
Whereas, In participatory theater events, CAE publicly and legally perform basic scientific processes to explain and demystify them, helping audiences obtain a clearer understanding of the issues surrounding aspects of the biotech revolution like genetically modified agriculture, advanced reproductive technologies and bio-warfare;
Whereas, In May 2004, the Joint Terrorism Task Force detained artist and SUNY Buffalo Professor Steve Kurtz of Critical Art Ensemble as a suspected “bioterrorist,” seizing documents, computers, and equipment used in four of CAE’s projects, including materials for a project that was to have been part of an exhibition and performance at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and three other projects that had been safely displayed in museums and galleries throughout Europe and North America with absolutely no risk to the public;
Whereas, The Public Health Commissioner and the FBI's own field and laboratory tests concluded that these materials did not pose any health or safety threat to people or the environment;
Whereas, After a costly investigation, the Department of Justice (DoJ) instead brought charges of “wire fraud” and “mail fraud” against Dr. Kurtz and his colleague Dr. Ferrell, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh, punishable under the USA PATRIOT Act by up to 20 years in prison, and continues to expend vast sums of public money on this outrageous prosecution;
Whereas, The DoJ is now claiming that Dr. Ferrell used his contract through the University of Pittsburgh to purchase the samples from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), which he then gave to Dr. Kurtz for use in one of art CAE’s projects, thereby "defrauding" the University and ATCC, and which, if true, this would constitute a minor contract discrepancy concerning $256 of harmless commonly available science materials, to be settled between the parties involved;
Whereas, Neither the University of Pittsburgh, nor ATCC, nor any state authorities, have brought any complaint against Ferrell or Kurtz and scientists frequently share materials in this manner because such academic collaboration is necessary for research;
Whereas, The DoJ is going far outside its own guidelines in an attempt to make this into a federal "crime" (the DoJ publishes a Criminal Resource Handbook available online in which it states a general "Prosecution Policy Relating to Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud" as follows: "Prosecutions of fraud ordinarily should not be undertaken if the scheme employed consists of some isolated transactions between individuals, involving minor loss to the victims, in which case the parties should be left to settle their differences by civil or criminal litigation in the state courts”);
Whereas, The case has drawn international attention because its threat to the right to freedom of speech and academic freedom; so much so that the editors of the pre-eminent British science journal Nature have called on scientists to support Dr. Kurtz and Dr. Ferrell, and innumerable other academics, artists, and concerned citizens worldwide have gone on record to respond to this outrageous case, passing resolutions and letters of support, and organizing fundraisers for Drs. Kurtz and Ferrell;
Whereas, This case indeed has profound implications for constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of speech, expression, and inquiry, and seriously compromises independent scientific research in which artists and academics must have the right to openly and honestly contribute to vital public discussion about the actions of their government; and
Whereas, This case threatens to erode the boundary between civil and criminal law and to intimidate and criminalize those who would legitimately and legally criticize government policy, while the DoJ’s radical interpretation of mail fraud law would maximize the department’s power for selective prosecution, and enable it to bring felony charges punishable by up to 20 years in prison for any minor discrepancy in a civil contract involving the mail or internet; therefore be it
Resolved, That the UUP insists that all charges and legal proceedings against Dr. Steven Kurtz be immediately dropped; and be it further
Resolved, That the UUP President engage that office in such a way which would aid the dropping of charges against Dr. Steven Kurtz, including but not limited to Prosecutor’s Office at the Department of Justice in Buffalo, New York State’s Congressional representatives, the American Association of University Professors, the SUNY Faculty Senate, and the UUP publication The Voice.
The 2008 Winter Delegate Assembly adjourned at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, February 9, 2008.
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