Sixth Memorandum of Understanding between Western Washington University and United Faculty of Western Washington University

 

A signed copy of the MOU can be found here

This MOU addresses several workload and working conditions raised by the University’s plan for course scheduling for Fall 2021.

Compensation:

Additional compensation for any additional scenarios not mentioned here will be determined by discussion between the appropriate Dean / Provost’s Office /faculty member and UFWW and any agreement will apply to all significantly similar situations.

No instructor will be required to teach a section including both remote and in-person students. Instructors who choose to teach in a mixed modality (both in-person and remote instruction in some manner) can expect to receive necessary support. In cases where faculty—Non-Tenure Track, Tenure-Track and Tenured—select a modality that involves additional work, they will be supported and/or compensated as described below. Constraints on available classroom space may not allow all faculty who wish to teach in a face-to-face environment to do so, but the administration will work with chairs and the Registrar's Office to fulfill as many requests as possible. In some cases, faculty will be asked to select a remote modality (remote-synchronous, remote-asynchronous, or remote-blended) and will be paid the same compensation rate as in a face-to-face section.

There are at least three possible situations in which faculty may select a modality that requires additional compensation:

  1.  Split Sections: If for Covid-related scheduling purposes a faculty member teaches an additional class over and above their normal teaching load, the faculty member will be paid the usual overload rate of 1/36 of their academic year salary per credit hour of the additional section/CRN.
  2. Mixed Modality: If a faculty member teaches a course with mixed modality (where, for example, some students attend in person and other students attend remotely, or classes are split periodically into smaller face-to-face meetings along with asynchronous remote instruction), then the faculty member, the chair, and the dean will determine the amount of extra workload, in credit hour terms, and be paid 50% of the usual overload rate, so 1/72 of their academic year salary per credit hour.
  3. No faculty member will be required to teach, as part of Covid-related scheduling purposes, outside the 8:00am-6:00pm time frame.

In response to the COVID-19 health crisis, UFWW and the University administration agree to temporarily modify the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) as outlined below:

Student Course Evaluations:

During Fall 2021 faculty will continue to provide opportunities for students to complete evaluation for all sections. However, due to the continued disruptions caused by the Covid-19 health crisis, inclusion of these evaluations in teaching portfolios of all faculty (Non-Tenure Track, Tenure-Track and Tenured) for annual review, probationary review, tenure and promotion, and post-tenure review remains optional. Evaluations that are included in teaching portfolios will have no negative impact on the outcome of the review in light of the most exceptional conditions under which they were conducted. (See Sections 7.7.2.1 of the CBA).

Professional Leave:

Faculty members granted professional leave in AY 2020-21 to be taken in AY 2021-22 have a one-time right to retain and defer their leave, or part of their leave, until AY 2022-23.

Signed and date this 18 of May 2021