With a voting deadline fast approaching, the administration and Faculty Association have yet to agree upon the status of five faculty members who, as of now, are not included on the list of eligible voters for a possible faculty union at the University.
The members are Akiko Jones, Asian Studies co-director; Apollos Nwauwa, Africana Studies director; Kefa Otiso, Global Village director; Gordon Ricketts, Arts Village director and Vivian Patraka, director of the Institute of Culture and Society.
Those eligible to vote are “all full-time faculty at the Bowling Green and Firelands College campuses of Bowling Green State University,” according to documents provided by the State Employment Relations Board (SERB) sponsoring the election. Excluded from voting are the president, vice presidents, assistants of the president or vice presidents, deans, assistant deans and associate deans, part-time faculty, “statutory division heads and department heads … and all other employees of the University.”
SERB mailed approximately 800 ballots Sept. 24 to eligible voters, as determined by a list of addresses provided by the administration.
David Jackson, FA president, said the contested five should be included within this list or at least allowed to cast “challenged ballots” — ballots that would only be opened and counted if they could possibly alter the outcome of a close vote. The election is already accommodating a number of challenged ballots for similar situations, he said.
“We went through and were able to solve most disagreements and recognize that neither the administration’s nor the faculty’s lists are perfect,” he said. “But these five don’t supervise anyone and teach mostly a full load and therefore shouldn’t be defined as ‘statutory heads.’ They should at least be given the option of a challenged ballot.”
Ricketts, one of the five contested faculty members, said he hasn’t received communication from either side of the issue concerning his ballot status.
“I already knew I probably wasn’t going to receive a ballot before the election started,” he said. “Would I like to vote? Of course. I would love to have a voice in any election. But at this point I have no idea what to assume.”
Because Ricketts is the director of the Arts Village, he said he assumes his title within the village makes him unable to receive a ballot. However, he also said he is unsure if he spends 50 percent of his time performing administrative duties, which would render him ineligible.
“I have a busy job, and I don’t have time to chase something around that seems to be futile,” he said. “I don’t see anything happening with it at this point. I guess it’s up to the University to decide how much time I spend administratively and teaching.”
Dave Kielmeyer, senior director of communications for the University, said the administration’s position is grounded in Ohio law, which excludes management level employees from union membership, including directors.
“My understanding is that we are correct under the law because SERB could have weighed in, but has chosen not to,” he said. “Our goal is to make sure that everyone who is allowed to vote under the law gets the opportunity. The whole idea of a mail election is new to SERB, and we’re working with everyone involved to meet these requirements.”
Sherrie Passmore, SERB executive director, said mail-in ballots are a fledgling process that only became effective in January. Nonetheless, the process was communicated directly with both parties involved, she said.
“By consent of the parties, they identified who were eligible voters, and if there are any objections to that process or the way it was handled, they can file objections to that with SERB,” Passmore said. “However, that is entirely up to the employee organization or the employer.”
With a small time frame left before the Oct. 20 vote tally, Jackson said the FA has done all it can to “make this a fair process” and will take no further action.
“We’re going to wait it out and take action after the election if we need to,” he said. “We can’t make the University give SERB these addresses for challenged ballots. Right now, we’re not sure what the next move is.”
