Who and UF? Los Medanos College faculty representation

We're disturbed to see the first newsletter, "U and UF" described as "anoccasional view by LMC UF VP Michael Zilber," not because we don't like the idea of the VP having direct communication with the folks he represents--not all leadership needs to come from the UF president--but because of what that first view let us see of the VP's vision of who it is he represents, and how he sees himself representing them.

Although the VP begins promisingly by hailing both full-time and part-time faculty for their dedication and professionalism, he immediate makes it clear that it's only those who have "tenure track jobs at a college" that he's concerned with: the part-time faculty aren't of concern. He emphasizes that idea by speaking of the "90% of us" who voted to affilate with a larger union last fall, neglecting the 71% to 29% part-timer vote AGAINST affiliation (which brought the overall LMC vote down from 90% to a still impressive 76%).

We're troubled as well by the VP's assertion that he has "no desire to play [the] part" of an adversary to management. It's no surprise that the current UF leadership believes that management has the same goals as faculty and can be approached on that basis; Jeff Michels said so at a UF meeting (AT LMC, coincidentally or not) last fall. It is right and proper that the UF VPs be able to support the president's position, AS part of that leadership. Whether that position is supportable, we'll leave it to the faculty to determine. Perhaps future "occasional views" will help us see more. It's pretty clear to us what we're seeing now.