In other words, it wasn’t worth the effort to educate these foreign students if the administration had to honor union contracts and hire professional teachers to teach the classes under the terms and conditions of those contracts—contracts that they swore to honor. They saw these foreign students as somehow less important than conventional students. They coveted the power of the robber barons of old and used it to exploit both students and teachers.

            “Jack said that we don’t need a union to have qualified faculty.”

            That was tongue-in-cheek, because when they didn’t have to answer to the union, they hired unqualified teachers. When Vice-President Bob Gaudino checked the files, he found that none of the persons hired had submitted transcripts or degrees. The files showed resumes only. Years after this program was started, the Fresh Look committee complained that there were no credentials on file. Obviously, it is only when the unions have input that professionalism is assured. This administration was willing to look the other way when it came to hiring professional faculty.

            “---------- commented that when we wrote the curriculum for the ELI and the program was put in Continued Ed we didn’t like it there. We wanted it put in part of a department or to be a department itself.”

            Once again, the professional faculty was upset with the program being relegated to a sub-standard category. They were obviously not aware that the administration was violating the federal regulations that prohibit classes from being taught under a continuing education entity. That regulation is specific, so all the students who paid tuition and received credit for taking those courses would be in danger of losing that credit if the Office of Homeland Security knew of the administration’s scam. We have hesitated in revealing the truth to the feds, not because we wish to protect this corruption, but because the students are innocent, and we do not want them to suffer any more than they did when they were exposed to academic incompetence. The government would certainly withdraw its approval of the program if they saw the record. This administration deserves that disgrace, and we reserve our right, perhaps our obligation, to expose this violation to the feds.

Let’s continue:

            “--------- reiterated that the Administra -tion owes the three departments something for having given up the levels to the ELI.”

            Here one person recognized that the full-time faculty was being hurt by this program being taken away. Had he been a union leader, he would have taken a much stronger stand to prevent it from happening.

            “----------- said that the AFA is a big problem.”

            To be sure! At least these folks recognized that the administration was violating the contract and that we would respond the minute we found out.

            “------------ suggested that we start meeting with the union. Let’s have ----------- and the NCCFT come to our next meeting.”

            We don’t know if or how the NCCFT got involved then, but the NCCFT and the AFA are now fighting this thing together.

            A final excerpt will nail home the attitude of the full-time faculty:

            “Recommendation number 8 should

 include the rationale for professionalizing the ELI faculty in the long run. In other words, the Administration needs to realize that the role of the ELI is similar to the one of BEP; therefore, the ELI faculty should be treated like the one in BEP.”           

            The professionals on this committee knew that the administration was wrong in taking academically oriented courses and placing them in an adult education setting. They intuitively thought that the unions should be involved. They instinctively knew that the AFA would fight any attempt to de-professionalize these courses. But the administration resisted any attempt to sway them from their ultimate goal—control without union involvement. That meant freedom to exploit and make money—the goal of the original robber barons. The only way that was possible was to absolve themselves of any obligation under the Taylor Law to honor the terms and conditions of a labor contract.

            We believe that we have gathered all the evidence and have all the witnesses necessary to convince the PERB Administrative Law Judge and the court that this was an is a program born of greed—a program that sacrificed all that should have been sacred to any honest administration committed to the welfare of the students, the faculty, and the institution.

            Alas, this administration is committed to other values including, but not limited to, exploiting, profiteering, dissembling, and denying. Let’s not forget double-dealing.