ANNOUNCEMENTS

Next Chapter Meeting on Friday, May 19, near USF Tampa

The UFF USF Chapter will meet Friday, May 19, at Noon, at Perkins Restaurant, 5002 E. Fowler Ave., in Tampa, at the intersection of N 50th Street and E. Fowler, just east of USF Tampa. Everyone is invited to attend.

During the summer, the Chapter will meet on alternate Fridays, at noon, starting on May 19. We will meet at Perkins on May 19, June 2, Jun 16, June 30, July 14, and August 11. On July 28, we will meet on USF St. Petersburg at a location TBD.

Join UFF Today!

Download, fill in, and mail the membership form. Benefits of membership include the right to run and vote in UFF chapter and statewide elections; representation in grievances (UFF cannot represent a non-member in a grievance or litigation); special deals in insurance, travel, legal advice, and other packages provided by our affiliates; free insurance coverage for job-related liability; and the knowledge you are supporting education in Florida. Come and join the movement.

USF May Lose Pre-eminence Funding

One increasingly important source of state funding for Florida universities is tied to an array of "performance metrics", rather than determining what the universities need (versus what the state can afford). The state set up numerical criteria (such as the percentage of undergraduates who graduate within four years) and provide funding to those institutions that meet those criteria. The theory is that universities will take steps to meet those criteria (whether or not the state provides the resources to do so). One result is that universities become very aware of these criteria and (a) start taking steps to meet the announced criteria and (b) make plans based on progress towards meeting those announced criteria.

One problem is the incredible moving criterion. Millions of dollars for USF depends on USF achieving a 50 % four-year graduation rate, everyone agrees that 50 % is the criterion, and USF is at 54 % so USF meets the criterion. Then apparently late yesterday afternoon, the goalposts were moved ... to 60 %. A USF press release estimates that that could cost USF $ 10 million.

The Florida legislature meets tomorrow, Sunday on the budget, and for any members of the USF community who want to share their concerns with their legislators, there is a USF web-page on how changing this "pre-eminence" performance metric (percentage graduating within four years) will affect USF, with a link to a form for sending a letter to local legislators. Two important things about this form:

• Be sure that your email address is your personal email address. Legislators do not like to receive this kind of email from state-owned machines.
• At the bottom of the form, there are two boxes. "Remember Me!" means that the server will retain the contact information you enter (unless you uncheck the box), and "Sign me up for the Action E-List" means you will be added to their mailing list (unless you uncheck the box).

Reminder: Stamp Out Hunger

The National Association of Letter Carriers is conducting its 25th annual food drive next week. Postal workers will collect non-perishable food from mailboxes during their mail delivery on Saturday, May 13.

From the NALC FAQ page:

• What do you mean by "non-perishable food?" The top requested non-perishable food items are: cereal, pasta, pasta sauce or spaghetti sauce, rice, canned fruits and vegetables, canned meals (such as soups, chili and pasta), 100% juice, peanut butter, macaroni & cheese, canned protein (tuna, chicken and turkey), beans (canned or dry). You also can donate healthy, low-sodium, low-sugar items such as beans, oatmeal and other whole grains, and canola or olive oil.
• Is there anything I shouldn’t donate? Please do not donate frozen food, homemade food or home-canned items. Please do not donate items that have expired or are in glass containers. In keeping with good food-handling and food-safety procedures, food that is opened, damaged, out of code or does not have the official ingredients included will be discarded by the food bank in the sorting process.

LOGISTICS

Next Chapter Meeting Friday, May 19, at noon, at Perkins Restaurant, 5002 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa. We will have lunch. All UFF members are invited to attend. Non-members are also invited to come and check us out. Come and join the movement.

Membership: Everyone in the UFF USF System Bargaining unit is eligible for UFF membership: to join, simply fill out and send in the membership form.

NOTE: The USF-UFF Chapter website is http://www.uff.ourusf.org, and our e-mail address is uff@ourusf.org.

About this broadcast: This Newsletter was broadcast from uff.ourusf.org, hosted at ICDsoft.com, and is intended for all members of the UFF USF Bargaining unit (USF faculty and professionals at most departments). A (usually identical) version will be broadcast to USF-News and USF-Talk from mccolm@usf.edu.

If you do not want to receive the UFF Biweekly, you can unsubscribe below. If you do not receive the Biweekly, but want to, e-mail a message to gmccolm@tampabay.rr.com.