CPFA Alpine Meadows Plenary Meeting; June 1999

Report on the CPFA 1999 Annual Plenary Meeting
June 18-20 Alpine Meadows
San Bernardino Mountains

Dear CPFA Members,

I wish you all could have joined us in the beautiful Alpine Meadows of the San Bernardino Mountains where we celebrated our first Annual Plenary Meeting.

And celebrate we did! Even though CPFA is not quite a year old (our first meeting was held in August 1998), we have much to cheer: Our membership is now over 500 and growing daily (we receive 10-12 new applications each week); the first edition of CPFA Pro-News has been highly acclaimed and widely distributed across the state; and the name CPFA is widely recognized both statewide and nationally as an important new voice for part-time faculty.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF PLENARY MEETING

Twenty-two CPFA members from as far north as Butte college and as far south as San Diego attended this year's meeting. Elections were held for five Executive Council seats, with three incumbents retaining their seats and two new members taking the place of those who resigned.

CPFA's first Annual Financial Report was distributed, and lively discussions were held on the following subjects: revising the election and voting process; restructuring the Executive Council, the role of research in CPFA; applying for non-profit status; CPFA's role in the COFO PT Workshops; payroll deduction for membership dues; the exclusion of FT faculty members from holding office in CPFA; recruiting members and forming chapters; the next edition of the CPFA PRO-News.

In addition, the resolution process was defined and nine resolutions were introduced and either passed or referred to Executive Council. Regional caucuses were held, and two new chairs were appointed to the research and public relations committees. The date and location for next year's plenary meeting was discussed.

DETAILED HIGHLIGHTS OF MEETING

Results of Election

Congratulations are in order to the following new and continuing Executive Council members:

Executive Council Chair Chris Storer retains seat (Chris Storer and Tim Dave nominated)

Director of Administration Linda Cushing elected (Uncontested: Emily Strauss resigns and Therese Gray declines nomination)

Director of Communication Deborah Brasket retains seat (Uncontested)

Northern Regional Representative MaryAnne Ifft retains seat (Uncontested)

Central Regional Representative Dave Bush elected (Uncontested: Lin Fraser resigns)

Voting for Elections

Discussions were held on how to expand the voting process so CPFA members not attending the plenary meetings could vote also. Some members suggested a process of voting by mail, others liked the ideas of combining mail ballots with email ballots. A resolution to change the method of voting to include all members by next year's election was moved, seconded, and referred to council.

Restructuring the Executive Council

Discussions were held on whether we should restructure the Executive Council to encourage more membership participation, to avoid burn-out of current council members by spreading the work around, and to make sure important priorities are not neglected (research and public relations). Three Options were raised:

1) Having Council Members appoint non-voting "shadows" that would sit in on council (email) meetings and assist council members;

2) Making better use of the current system of delegating work to standing committees with appointed chairs;

3) Adding members to the Council who would be responsible for specific priorities (i.e. research and public relations). Arguments were made for each option and the Council agreed to study the issue further.

Applying for 501-C (Nonprofit) Status

A motion was made to investigate the pros and cons of applying for non-profit status. The Finance Committee, which has already been studying the issue, agreed to forward a report with recommendation to the Council in one month (July 20)

CPFA/COFO Conference Discussion

Members discussed whether

(1) CPFA should seek to become part of COFO (Council of Faculty Organizations) and take over the responsibility of organizing the Northern and Southern PT Workshops sponsored annually by COFO;

(2) CPFA should volunteer to organize the PT Workshops if COFO agrees to finance the event and gives us equal billing (it could be called the COFO / CPFA Part-time Faculty Workshops). The question was raised about whether we would benefit most by becoming a member of COFO or by retaining our own individual voice when appealing to the Chancellor's Office on PT issues. No conclusion was reached at this time.

Appointment of Chairs to Research and Public Relations Committees

The Executive Council appointed Sandy Baringer as Chair of the Public Relations Committee, and Pete Nixon as Chair of the Research Committee.

RESOLUTIONS

Nine resolutions were introduced, discussed, and either passed or referred to the Executive Council for further study. A summary of the resolutions follows. The full content of the resolutions will be posted on our website.

#1 Annual Dues Referred to Council
(Proposed by Dave Bush)

BE IT RESOLVED that the second sentence of Article 3 Section 1 of the CPFA Bylaws be changed to bring the Bylaws into accordance with the flyers.

NOTE: According to our Bylaws, members joining in June, for instance, would be required to pay again in October after only four months of membership. However, our recent flyers state that membership is $20 per year, indicating that, in the above instance, membership dues would not be collected until the following June.

#2 CPFA Districts Passed
(Proposed by Dave Milroy)

BE IT RESOLVED that regional representative are encouraged to organize their regions into subdivisions with representatives from each on the regional committee.

NOTE: This resolution hopes to encourage more grassroots participation in the regions for recruiting members, organizing chapters, and networking among members.

#3 Automatic Deduction for Dues Passed
(Proposed by Dave Bush)

BE IT RESOLVED that CPFA will begin offering members the option of monthly payroll deduction within three months and that CPFA will encourage all members to use this option.

NOTE: This option is already under investigation.

#4 Voting Referred to Council
(Proposed by Dave Bush)

BE IT RESOLVED that CPFA change the method of voting to allow members to participate in the vote and that this change be made before the next election.

NOTE: Currently only members attending the plenary meeting can vote.

#5 Addition to the Executive Council Referred to Executive Council
(Proposed by Debbie Brasket)

BE IT RESOLVED that the Executive Council be extended to include a Director of Research and Analysis.

NOTE: This resolution agues that conducting research is a huge task, and yet essential to the accomplishment of the CPFA mission. Therefore research requires a Director solely responsible for that part of our mission.

#6 Amendment and Addition to the Executive Council Referred to Executive Council
(Proposed by Debbie Brasket)

BE IT RESOLVED that the Director of Protocol and Public Relations by replaced by:

(1) the Director of Legislation Analysis and Lobbying; and

(2) the Director of Publicity and Public Relations.

NOTE: This resolution argues that the current Director of Protocol and Public Relations is already responsible for the important task of analyzing legislation, a task unrelated to public relations. Therefore we need two separate Directors to be responsible for these two separate jobs.

#7 Eligibility to Become an Executive Council Member Passed
(Proposed by Debbie Brasket)

BE IT RESOLVED that the CPFA Constitution be amended to allow all CPFA members in good standing to hold office in the Executive Council.

NOTE: Currently members of CPFA who are full-time instructors cannot hold office., thereby creating the same double standard we deplore in other faculty organizations.

#8 Funding for full-time CPFA Executive Director Passed
(Proposed by Lantz Simpson)

BE IT RESOLVED that the CPFA Executive Council shall investigate funding possibilities to be devoted to supporting a full-time Executive Director and appropriate support.

NOTE: This resolution argues that eventually CPFA will grow to the point that a full-time Executive Director will be required to accomplish our mission, and therefore we need to begin investigating how to fund such a position now.

#9 Comprehensive Legislative Solution Passed
(Proposed by Lantz Simpson)

BE IT RESOLVED that the CPFA Executive Council shall seek a legislator to carry a bill that would seek a comprehensive legislative solution to the complex issues derived from the use of temporary part-time faculty in the California community colleges.

As you can see, a lot was accomplished at this year's plenary meeting and we have much to accomplish in the coming year. One of the exciting things about attending these meetings is the increased energy, enthusiasm, and determination we take with us when we leave.

Join us at next year's Plenary Meeting which will be held in Sacramento to coincide with Lobby Day 2000.

Deborah Brasket
CPFA Director of Communications and Publications

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