February 17, 2009

Dear Ms. Grace,

The administration of the San Francisco Art Institute over the five weeks repeatedly met with you and your membership to address the necessity of cost reductions to secure the school’s long-term financial survival both during and after the economic downturn.  The administration first proposed a comprehensive cost reduction plan to address this urgent need to the Faculty Union in a meeting on January 12^th.  This plan was informed by a keen attention to academic excellence and the experience of our students; the equitable distribution of cuts with those who make more sharing more of the burden; and finally, the preservation of jobs.  This plan was implemented for all nonunion staff and faculty on February 1, 2009.

Since that time, the faculty union has not been willing to either meaningfully negotiate on the merits of the plan or to propose any voluntary reduction of salaries or benefits for its membership.  Your proposal, received just before 5 p.m. on February 6, did not contain any such reductions and instead substituted further debt for the school.  This ignored the inescapable need to reduce the Institute’s overall cost structure without incurring additional debt.

Therefore, and following the formal statement of financial exigency by the Institute's Board of Trustees on February 6th, it is with deep regret that I am writing to inform you that pursuant to Article XXV, sections 4-8, of the Faculty Union Collective Bargaining Agreement that the Institute is proceeding with a number of faculty lay-offs as a means to achieve a portion of necessary reductions.

This letter serves as the mandatory six (6) month notice of layoff for the following faculty:

Charles Boone          Stephanie Ellis

Stacy Garfinkle         Pat Klein

Robert Johnson         John Lang

Janis Lipzin               Suzanne Olmsted

John Rapko

Please note that the Institute complied with its obligations under Article XXV of the Collective Bargaining Agreement by considering faculty for layoff on the basis of lower seniority (i.e., the most recently hired) except where the consideration of lower seniority represented a "serious and unresolvable distortion of the academic curriculum" as defined in Article XXV, Section 8.  In circumstances where the consideration of lower seniority represented a serious and unresolvable distortion of the academic curriculum, the Institute considered for layoff the next most junior faculty member.

                         Sincerely,

                         Chris Bratton

                         President, San Francisco Art Institute

<Transcribed by J. Menzies on February 24, 2009 7:00:12 pm, SF, CA. From document received at LOGS meeting on 2/23/2009, 12 noon.  Please feel free to contact the administrator of this page with any questions or comments.>