Construction Update

Construction projects on both the Blackwood and Camden campuses are moving along well.

·          The Conference Center in Camden will be completed and open the first week in January.

·          The Topping Off Ceremony of the Connector Building will be at 11:00 on October 25. Plans call for the building to be enclosed before the first snowfall.

·          The Madison Connector Project is half done.

 

 

 

News You Can Use

·          Scholarship opportunity for AFT families: All AFT members (as well as their spouses and dependent children) are eligible to apply for the 2007 Union Plus Scholarship. Awards range from $500 to $3000. Deadline for applications for the 2007 awards is January 31, 2007.  Visit http://www.unionplus.org/benefits/education/scholarships/up.cfm to obtain more information about the scholarship and to download an application.

·          AFT Consumer Alert: Be on the lookout for “credit” offers from Union Workers Credit Service. Their web site implies that the company is associated with AFT. They are not!  Visit the AFT + website at www.aftplus.org  to review the full text of the alert.

·          Spring Enrollment: Registration for Spring semester will take place October 3 - November 12. Registration will be online, so students will not be missing class to register during this time.

COUNT ME IN!

David Horowitz and his conservative agenda are challenging academic freedom on an almost daily basis. The NLRB’s decisions curtail collective bargaining rights. New Jersey’s State Legislature is reducing the amount of money given to New Jersey’s Colleges. There are grumblings that one way to decrease the pressure on the NJ pension system would be to eliminate pensions to part-time employees. (Read that as adjuncts.)

 The AFT warns that “almost every day we see new attacks on collective bargaining rights, public services and the benefits and freedoms that generations of working men and women have fought to achieve.”

 The AFT has launched the COUNT ME IN! Campaign to expand its activist base – to help members help themselves by being aware of these threats, and let members take a stand against them. You can join at http://www.aft.org/countmein/index.cfm.

 You can also join FREE EXCHANGE ON CAMPUS for updates on attacks to academic freedom. Get more information at http://www.freeexchangeoncampus.org.

 

Florida Outlaws Faculty Teaching and

Research in Five Countries

 United Faculty of Florida has asked other academics for support in combating a travel ban, and therefore research, in Cuba, Syria, Iran, North Korea, and the Sudan. The bill not only outlaws the use of state funds, but also private grants. The bill’s effects are far-reaching, affecting many on-going research projects including marine biology, climate change, longitudinal studies of migration patterns, and archeological research.

For more information, go to www.unitedfacultyofflorida.org.  Click on “Updates”, their newsletter, and go to the August / September 2006 edition. Register your support to fight this attack on academic freedom by contacting them.