Coverage of the October 2011 MTA Higher Ed Conference

The challenges confronting public higher education and unions in Massachusetts and beyond were the focus of a recent conference that drew MTA members from across the Commonwealth.

The event – sponsored by the MTA and the Higher Education Leadership Council – took place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Natick on Oct. 28 and 29, just ahead of the historic Nor’easter that hit the state. It featured workshops and plenary sessions covering a range of topics and providing those who attended with a forum to learn, discuss issues and exchange ideas.

Participants heard from NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and MTA President Paul Toner, who offered updates and insights about union efforts at the state and national levels, as well as Jim Rice, a Quinsigamond Community College professor who heads the National Council for Higher Education, and NEA staffer Brian Dunn of the association’s Campaigns and Elections Division.

Rice offered an overview of the NCHE, which is the higher ed caucus of the NEA, and various NEA functions and services provided specifically to the higher ed community. Dunn briefed MTA members on the national political scene.

One theme that was predominant throughout the weekend was the need for a targeted strategy to overcome the orchestrated attacks on organized labor that are happening now in many states, including Arizona, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and New Hampshire. Van Roekel stressed the need for members and their allies to be unified and flexible – and to “play a good defense” – in seeking to combat the many challenges ahead.

He also noted that he is not depressed, but optimistic about the future. While opponents of public education seem to have unlimited funding, Van Roekel said, the NEA has the collective power of 3.2 million members.

“It’s important to remember that none of the things we have accomplished just happened. The reason we have five-day work weeks, paid vacations and health care benefits and pensions is not because someone gave it to us,” Van Roekel said. “It came through collective action, and it is in all of us. And it is going to take collective action to play defense and also to play offense.”

Van Roekel added, “It’s about each and every one of us coming together for something we believe deeply in for collective action.”

Toner introduced Van Roekel and updated members on a variety of legislative and political issues in play on Beacon Hill, including educators’ pensions and MTA’s efforts to create new revenue streams to support public education at all levels.

First-time attendee Sue D’Amore, who is a member of the Grant and Contract Funded Employees Association at UMass Lowell, said she benefited from hearing about the issues covered during the conference.

“I got a lot of good information. I found the workshop on bullying especially useful, as this is a growing area of concern,” D’Amore said. “I think the more people realize that they are not alone and get educated on what bullying is about, the more we can work together on this issue.”

Aside from workplace bullying, the workshops covered a wide range of issues, including accountability and student outcome measurements in public higher education, the legal realities of electronic communications and the Internet and the public/private partnership trend.

View photos from the conference