February 23,2004

Dear Colleagues:

Last week, the Boston Globe and several local newspapers published stories about the state colleges "performance measures report," many of which were negative and unbalanced in their characterization of our work on behalf of our students. Despite requests for these reports earlier this year, the Chancellor released them to the media prior to their distribution to the state college presidents or to the MSCA. The reports are being reviewed for their reliability and validity and further information about them will be released soon.

Massachusetts currently ranks 50th among states in support for public higher education. It is difficult to understand how the Chancellor and the Board of Higher Education can expect better than average "performance" from a system so woefully underfunded and so lacking in advocacy from its own statewide governing body.

The MSCA Board of Directors met with the state college presidents on Friday, February 20th to discuss several issues of concern. We emphasized the need to settle the DGCE contract, which expired on August 31, 2003, and to get negotiations for the day contract, which expired on June 30,2 003, moving ahead in a constructive way. We discussed the "performance measures" report and other issues related to the state college mission. We agreed to continue this dialogue as long as it proves beneficial to the concerns of state college faculty and librarians and to the colleges as a whole.

Additional information may be forthcoming from your local chapter president and will be forthcoming from my office. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Pat Markunas
MSCA President

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