[Editor’s Note: Following the late August ouster/retirement of controversial and unpopular Dr. Mark Rocha, Pasadena City College promoted Dr. Robert Miller to interim president. He had been vice president of business and college services. Dr. Miller promised improved communication with faculty and students.]
Dateline Pasadena – Pasadena City College Academic Senate president Eduardo Cairo has announced that the Senate executive committee would work only the minimum number of required hours in response to interim president Robert Miller’s estimates of fulltime faculty hiring needs that Mr. Cairo said merely attempt to meet state minimums.
Mr. Cairo urged faculty to follow suit, recommending that they conduct their classes, office hours, and the mandatory 5½ hours of professional development time (also known as release time) per week and nothing more.
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From left, Academic Senate Vice President Kris Pilon, President Eduardo Cairo and Secretary Pat Rose at their regular meeting in the Circadian held on Monday. Courier photo.
“We’re not going to be overworked anymore,” said Mr. Cairo following the meeting. “If the college is fine with putting up the minimum number of faculty, if that’s what they think is good enough for this college, then the faculty will be good enough with putting in the minimum amount of time.”
Mr. Miller took a conciliatory tone when reacting to Mr. Cairo’s proposal.
“I understand that president Cairo is frustrated,” said Mr. Miller. “I know they are working beyond their release time hours. I appreciate that.
“I can’t dictate what he or other individuals decide to do,” he added. “What I will try to do is improve the overall atmosphere for [all faculty] so that they are that much more encouraged to go the extra mile for their students.”
The figure known as the Fulltime Faculty Obligation Number, FFON, is at the heart of the dispute.
It is determined by what Mr. Miller described as a very complex mathematical formula. He welcomed any faculty member to examine it with associate vice president for strategic planning Dr. Ryan Cornner.
“I invite any faculty member who wants to look at the formula to sit down with Dr. Cornner and try to work it out,” said Mr. Miller. “Absolutely no problem at all.”
The number is reached through certain calculations of full-time student enrollments.
While Mr. Miller has publically discussed the formula with the Academic Senate, he has not indicated the number of fulltime faculty the school will hire.
That recommendation comes from the Faculty Hiring Priority Committee, chaired by Mr. Cairo.
The committee has not received hiring requests from all departments yet, and is unable to name a specific figure.
However, a document obtained by the Courier indicated that 27 new hires were being asked for, with some departments yet to weigh in.
Of these, 22 are replacing outgoing staff, while five are new positions.
It is this ratio of replacement to growth that Mr. Cairo has the biggest issue with. He is concerned that the administration will not make enough full-time hires to keep up with retirements and other turnover.
The conflict over the hiring figures began at last week’s Council on Professional and Academic Matters meeting and continued at the Academic Senate session.
Mr. Miller said the formula would be between five and 10, which drew an angry response from Mr. Cairo.
“Based on the number of administrators we’ve hired in the last couple of years, it’s insulting to say we only need five to 10 [new faculty hires],” said Mr. Cairo.
Mr. Miller later revised his estimate when he joined the senate session, citing new data that increased the estimated formula to between 11 and 24 new positions by next September. He said that Mr. Cairo’s previous indignation played no role in the increased figures.
Mr. Miller told the senate that adding more than the mandated amount of new faculty was possible, depending on factors such as the new Faculty Assn. contract currently under negotiation.
“I can assure you that I will take as high a recommendation as we possibly can this year on fulltime faculty, trying to balance all the other things we need to balance from the light bill to library books and everything we need to have a full-service institution,” said Mr. Miller. “We are planning to grow from three to four percent each year over the next four or five years. That is going to require faculty, obviously.”
Mr. Cairo remained dissatisfied.
He cited senator Russ Di Fiori’s assertion that four percent growth worked out to about 21 new teachers, meaning that simply meeting the FFON would not fully address vacated positions.
“Many positions haven’t been filled,” he said. “We need to hire people to fill them before we get to growth.”
Mr. Cairo indicated that if retiring and vacated positions were addressed, he would accept the FFON as additional hiring growth.
“Ideally what should happen is that if the college says 11 or 12, we’ll say we’ll take whatever you give us, plus the [retirement] number,” said Mr. Cairo.
“I respect everyone’s comments in there, and if I could wave a magic wand and do what they want, I would,” said Mr. Miller. “In the meantime, if we can work together and keep talking maybe we can come to a reasonable position, and remember every year we get to hire new faculty.”
Mr. Johnson may be contacted at www.pcccourier.com This story originally appeared in the Pasadena City College Courier.
