NFA-UNLV non-budget legislative update

Although there has been considerable attention paid in the press and elsewhere to the calamitous cuts that have been proposed to the System and UNLV budgets, there is a lot else going on in Carson City that would have direct impact on UNLV faculty -- and there is only one voice that advocates uniquely and directly for faculty concerns, the Nevada Faculty Alliance.

To keep faculty updated -- and to encourage more of you to join in the effort -- consult the UNLV - NFA blog regularly. To receive regular legislative updates, and to lend your voice to those efforts, please consider joining the Faculty Alliance and help strengthen our efforts during this important legislative session.

Some of the issues on which the Faculty Alliance is the only voice advocating directly on behalf of faculty interests:

• SB 387 is a bill introduced on behalf of the Governor, which would cap salaries of NSHE faculty (other than licensed doctors and dentists) at 95% of the Governor's salary. This bill would also enhance the Governor's power to lay off or furlough and to cut salaries of classified state workers, including those who work at NSHE institutions. NFA has been actively working to oppose this additional attack on faculty.
• SB 279 is a bill that would make public part of the personnel records of NSHE faculty -- specifically disclosure forms filed by faculty about any outside income (which the System uses to monitor and prevent conflicts of interest in our work). This bill would create a conflict between existing NSHE policy and state law concerning the confidentiality of these disclosure forms. The NFA has been working to encourage legislators to modify the bill to reconcile it to existing NSHE policy.
• SB 283 , the Nevada Domestic Partnership Act, would define in law the rights of domestic partners. NFA has been strongly supporting this bill.

Those efforts are only as effective as the strength of faculty speaking together. This year, more than ever, its crucial that we faculty have a strong voice speaking for us in Carson City. Joining the Faculty Alliance is the surest way to strengthen that voice.

And for UNLV faculty who want that voice to speak for us as strongly as for other institutions, joining the UNLV chapter of NFA is the surest way to make that happen.

If you'ld like to find out more about the NFA, please consult the updates on unlvfaculty.blogspot.com, please write us at unlvfaculty@gmail.com and please plan to attend our general meeting, which will be on Wednesday April 29 at 1pm (at a location on campus to be determined; contact me later this month for details.)

Respectfully,

Gregory Brown
Interim President, UNLV-NFA
http://unlvfaculty.blogspot.com
unlvfaculty@gmail.com