The Administration and UFF-FAU agree to have open discussions on the potential work modalities.
The University agrees to provide cleaning and disinfecting supplies (wipes and/or hand sanitizers) for classrooms via work orders placed by Colleges/Departments.
In order to process AWA forms, the University shall not share information about a graduate student or faculty member’s health status with their department leadership, without the written consent of the affected faculty member or graduate student.
Intellectual Property questions regarding ownership and rights over course materials shall be resolved pursuant to Article 18 of the CBA.
Given the uncertainty arising from COVID-19, it is possible that assigned activities for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 may change. Such changes shall be communicated to faculty, if practicable, no later than two weeks prior to the beginning of classes per semester.
The University shall continue to provide sufficient technology/resources and bandwidth to perform essential work functions from campus. The University shall also provide technological equipment, as available, for the faculty member’s remote work location, and not require unreasonable physical changes to the faculty’s remote work location or require the personal purchase of technology for the performance of assigned duties.
The parties acknowledge that remote instruction conducted pursuant to this memorandum is not necessarily the intended format for delivery of the course material. When evaluating faculty performance for the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters (including for the 2020 and 2021 annual evaluations, SPE, and promotion and tenure purposes for tenured, tenure-line faculty, and instructors), evaluators will consider whether faculty made a good faith effort to timely transition course materials and assess student learning outcomes to comply with state-mandated remote instruction. While SPOTs and student comments may be considered, they must be reviewed in the context of the disruptive effects of COVID-19.
Faculty members who cannot complete tasks associated with their current assignment due to the COVID-19 health emergency may receive adjustments in their teaching, research, and/or service effort to correspond with the modified percent effort in any of these areas to equal not more than 1.00% FTE.
The COVID-19 health emergency and its many ramifications will undoubtedly affect scholarship and creative activity for some faculty. Faculty are encouraged to have proactive discussions with their chair regarding any potential impacts to research or scholarship throughout the academic year.
Additionally, the University will allow chairs, directors, and faculty to include the following statement in performance evaluations for the 2020-2021 academic year: “Research/scholarship/creative activities may have been severely disrupted by the ongoing COVID-19 health emergency during the Fall 2020/Spring 2021 semester. Researchers may have lacked access to laboratory facilities, may not have been able to interact with human research subjects, may not have been able to conduct fieldwork due to travel restrictions or health concerns, may not have been able to travel or secure travel funds to participate in national and international conferences, and may have been prevented from accessing archives, libraries, or repositories, among many other challenges. Their performance should be assessed in light of these challenges.”
With much faculty instruction moving to online modes directed and supported through Canvas, requests to access faculty members’ Canvas course shells must be received in writing no less than 2 weeks in advance. This timeline is in keeping with Observation/Visitation policies agreed upon in Article 10.2c of the CBA. However, pursuant to Article 16.10, administration has the right to access Canvas course shells and/or conduct unannounced observations/visitations for investigative purposes.
Faculty and Instructors going up for tenure, promotion, or SPE may ask to delay the process for one year due to COVID-19 related reasons. The request to delay going up for tenure or promotion or what some refer to as a ‘stopped clock’ is at the discretion of the faculty member. If opting in to delay tenure or promotion for one year, faculty members must make it clear in their Promotion and Tenure Portfolios that they “opted in” to freeze their clocks for a year when explaining the overall number of years of service to FAU. To do so, a faculty member must notify their chair and dean by May 1st for promotion and/or tenure, and by October 30th for SPE, prior to the year the faculty member intends to apply.
The University shall provide decision-making factors to UFF-FAU in determining changes to course delivery modalities as pertinent to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tenure and Promotion meetings may be conducted remotely using secure teleconferencing platforms, like Zoom, following University recommendations for maintaining anonymous P&T voting practices. While sharing the results, it is recommended that the host obtain verbal agreement from the committee members of the results and that one or two committee members also record the tally for the record. For the host to vote, they will need to send an invitation to their own alternative email address so they can join the meeting through that account and participate in the vote.
