Legislature Postpones Action on College Budget

    ELI

           

       The arbitration panel finally settled the ELI case. The administration was found

guilty of violating the AFA’s jurisdiction at the first hearing. A decision on remedy was

held off while a way was sought to keep the program without continuing the violation.

In the end, the administration decided thatthey could not avoid violating the contract. Therefore, they have decided to end the program. The administration agreed to pay the damages which, unfortunately, do not include back pay for those denied employment as a result of the violation.

    The Budget

 

             After a two and a half hour presentation touting the benefits of a $10.6 million increase in the budget presented by six members of the administration, including the college president and a member of the Board of Trustees, the legislature postponed action until the next meeting.

            The one speaker opposing the budget increase was AFA President Charles Loiacono. He pointed out in detail the prodigious expenditures on administrative personnel and the imbalance in the distribution of budgetary funds. He apprised the legislators of the $1,426 in tuition increases in the last several years that have burdened our students with the largest part of the tripartite funding of the budget. The AFA president urged the legislature to rescind this latest $166 tuition increase.

            Interestingly, there were no rebuttals on any of the matters of substance Loiacono brought up—tacit proof that all his figures and criticisms were accurate. Unable to refute any facts presented by the union president, one member of the administration reached down to the bottom of the barrel and pulled out a cheap shot hoping to convince the legislature that they shouldn’t believe everything the AFA president said. The attempt fell flat when legislator John Ciotti stopped the speaker in his tracks with an admonition that included the fact that he was wrong on the facts and that ad hominem attacks would not be tolerated by the legislature. “When one does not refute the facts presented by an opponent, but descends to ad hominem attacks, you can be sure that their cause is bankrupt,” said Loiacono.

            The AFA president will be working with legislators in an effort to convince them that our students should be spared this latest tuition increase.