Some details Denise and I discussed by telephone yesterday:

1. The concept of "billionaire" administrators drinking champagne and protesting "improvements" for part time faculty.

• job security
• equal pay for equal work
• benefits
• inclusion in the campus community

2. They could protest equal treatment of students

• Students don't deserve instructors who have office hours
• who have professional development
• who are paid to grade student papers
• who have paid prep time
  
• all of which full time faculty have (and more)

3. They could drink champagne and insist that

• only 1 in 5 students is entitled to meet with an instructor and get help with problems
• it's very OK for a student to meet an instructor next to a trash can, in the hallway, or in the instructor's automobile.
• Students aren't entitled to learn through the class schedule which instructor might not offer them full service from the district
• students don't deserve equality and what they don't know won't hurt them
• student success at community college campuses is dropping due to lousy educational service but everyone should blame part time faculty as lousy instructors . . . not the administration for failing to provide equal service
• if the budget goes bad, cut classes and PT faculty, not administrative budgets.

There's more, I'm sure . . . and I know we can't include all of these details or the message becomes too complex. However, I hope these ideas give Clifford some fodder to work with, and I would love to see him post here and tell us what he thinks!

Pamela

Some details to highlight in video (check your email)

Denise and Clifford and everyone,

I have a PowerPoint I created several years ago in an effort to convince our BOT to add more office hours. Please understand that the FTE income per FT student is outdated . . . but the basic math is the same.

Viewing the PPT may give Cliff one idea of what faces us . . . but there are many more issues. Since I'm not sure how to post a file to the blog (and am not sure if that's even possible), I'll send that file to you all via email attachment.

I'm sure John or David can quickly supply the current FTE given to districts per FT student, and we can plug those numbers in if necessary (the FTE is now much higher I'm sure even though the state is nearly bankrupt).

Please comment here!
Best,
Pamela

CPFA/Billionare/Video: In the Beginning

Hello Wonderful People,

Here is our blog/forum for discussing ideas and planning the CPFA/Billionaire Video! The idea behind this blog is to brainstorm ideas for our video, while also collecting comments so these ideas can be fully developed.

As CPFA Communications Director, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Denise Munro Robb for responding to our online request for assistance . . . and further to thank Denise for putting us in touch with the original "billionairemeister" Clifford J. Tasner, who has graciously signed on to help facilitate this project.

It is my understanding that Denise is a stand-up comedienne, who in spite of being in the throes of writing her dissertation (while teaching as an adjunct to support herself), is willing to help us; and that Clifford has been involved with the "billionaire" project for over 10 years. Clifford also writes melody and lyrics for use in these productions.

I must share that the idea for a similar CPFA project was engendered over 5 years ago, and a dear friend and filmmaker agreed to assist CA part-time faculty (all at his own expense). He met with me over the course of a year and we had a plan of action in place . . . just before he discovered inoperable cancer and quickly passed away. If there is any small way we can acknowledge my friend John Stanley in our film credits, I would deeply appreciate that consideration.

At any rate, my plan is to allow all participants the ability to make original posts and to comment. If anyone has any problems doing so, please let me know . . . and again, CPFA offers each of you our deepest gratitude for your assistance.

Sincerely,
Pamela Hanford
CPFA Communications Director