Winter Session Joint Communication

December 20, 2021

Winter Session is no longer part of the academic calendar. To minimize any confusion during spring semester 2022, this joint communication is to clarify nine-month Bargaining Unit Faculty Members (BUFMs) responsibilities and availability during the 2021-2022 nine-month contract period which ends on May 25, 2022.

Spring semester 2022 begins on Monday, Jan. 11, 2022. Two business days immediately preceding the spring session class start date (i.e. Thursday and Friday Jan. 6 and 7, respectively), BUFM will be available for university, college, and/or academic unit meetings. These meetings may or may not be called. If meetings are called, attendance is considered a scheduled obligation (see CBA, Article 38, Section 5.3).

The CBA states that bargaining unit faculty members (BUFMs) on an academic year (nine-month) contract shall not be eligible for paid vacation and that such BUFMs are eligible for all breaks and holidays as scheduled during the academic year (see CBA, Article 21, Section 13.1). Our shared understanding of breaks, holidays and the period after the spring semester in 2022 is that faculty will independently perform work-related activities in the areas of teaching/library effectiveness, scholarly/creative activity, and/or service (see CBA, Article 38, Section 5.2)

As this is a transition year, the University and the BGSU Faculty Association felt it appropriate to memorialize our mutual understanding in this joint communication to minimize any possible confusion. Advice will be forthcoming regarding future academic year contract periods.

Regards,

 

Joe B. Whitehead Jr., Ph.D.
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs

  

David Jackson, Ph.D.
President, BGSU Faculty Association