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The records of United University Professions (UUP) document the activities of the union and collective bargaining agent for the faculty and non-teaching professionals of the State University of New York. They begin in the 1960s with UUP's antecedents, the State University Professional Association (SUPA) and the Senate Professional Association (SPA), and continue through June 2000 for the materials produced by UUP's Communications Department, and through May 1993 for most other series.
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Correspondence between chapter representatives and statewide officers and Administrative Office, and inter-chapter correspondence that was copied to UUP's Administrative Office, including memoranda and other materials distributed by campus administration on policies and other issues that chapter officers wanted to make statewide officers aware of. Topics include status of grievances; chapter meetings; chapter elections (including disputed elections); individual campus issues such as the proposed sale of a building used for campus or policies particularly impacting one campus; statewide issues such as SUNY policies and operations as a whole; negotiations commentary and committees; correspondence to campus presidents; and news articles sent to UUP's President on chapter informational picketing and higher education issues. Files for the health science centers (particularly for Brooklyn Health Science Center [formerly the Downstate Medical Center]) also contain correspondence regarding clinical practice management plans, and draft agreements. Chapter newsletters are also included in this series, although most are not complete runs. They are in separate folders for the mid 1970s to the late 1980s, after which time newsletters were included in the main chapter folders. Chapter newsletters inform members about upcoming meetings, the status of negotiations, messages from the chapter president, information on grievances affecting the chapter, and SUNY budget issues.

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Additional materials regarding negotiations are located in Subgroup II, UUP Predecessors and Early UUP Years; the files of Presidents Wakshull and Reilly in Subgroup III; and the files of Joseph Drew including in Subgroup V, Office of the Treasurer. The records of UUP's Negotiations Committee are included in Series 4 of Subgroup IV, Office of the Secretary. Many of these records, however, deal more with the mechanics of negotiations and the operation of the Negotiations Committee, than the details of negotiations themselves. The materials in this Subgroup best document the overall negotiations process and the specific issues under discussion for any given contract.

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There was no discernable order to negotiations materials through the 1988-1991 contract and during processing they were grouped by the individual contract to which they relate. "Collected Materials" was used to describe materials that were grouped together either by date or subject matter prior to processing, or for materials that were not originally in any order but for which a date or topical order could be readily assigned. At some point, possibly during preliminary processing activities, some of the files now designated as "Collected Materials" were reviewed by someone apparently involved in negotiations and approximate dates assigned to some of the materials. These dates have been written in pencil on the documents. Undated materials were left where they were originally found. During processing, indications were found that many of the files in the 1970s were those of Edward J. Alfonsin (UUP's Secretary from June 1975-June 1981 and member of several negotiations teams), and that many of the materials from the 1980s were from Fred Day (one of the field representatives provided to UUP by NYSUT). However, such materials were only designated by creator when that distinction could be confirmed and it was deemed important to understanding the context of the files.

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The Voice is the official publication of UUP distributed to all members of the bargaining unit. In addition, complimentary copies are distributed to top-level members of SUNY management, lawmakers, and news media organizations in the state. Published on an academic year basis (i.e., each volume runs roughly from August or September to May or June), The Voice regularly carries candidate statements, information on statewide and Delegate Assembly elections, the annual audit, attendance reports for affiliate conventions, and verbatim text of negotiations proposals made by both the State and UUP. Regularly featured topics include contract negotiations with the State of New York; Executive Board activities; chapter events and issues; the SUNY budget and legislative issues affecting SUNY and higher education; increases in membership; advertising campaigns; feature articles on particular campuses, and/or specific departments or individuals on campus; information on candidates UUP endorses for state and national offices; and messages from UUP's leadership, including columns by UUP's President and reports on the President's activities.

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Primarily outgoing letters and memoranda, along with occasional reports of the President, minutes of Executive Board meetings, and reports on higher education. The most incoming correspondence is included in the files covering the Drescher and Reilly administrations (1984-1993). Infrequently an outgoing letter includes a notation that the incoming letter being responded to is filed under the correspondent's name in the alphabetical files. These files are included in Subgroup IV, Office of the Secretary, Series 5.

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Correspondence arranging meetings of the Executive Board and sending out materials to be considered by the Board such as agendas; proposed resolutions (both for UUP Delegate Assemblies and for NYSUT Representative Assemblies); officer reports and testimony; third- party reports on higher education, the budgets for New York State and SUNY, and other topics of concern. Minutes of past Executive Board meetings were also routinely distributed. This series also contains correspondence enacting decisions by the Board and correspondence acknowledging receipt of materials for consideration by the Board. Some of the correspondence is actually addressed to chapter presidents and/or other leadership groups, but the Executive Board was copied (although in some instances this is not clearly indicated).

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Outgoing correspondence from members of UUP's Administrative Office, including the President, Executive Director (later Director of Staff), Secretary, communications associates, field representatives, benefits specialists, and office manager. Recipients include individual members of UUP, chapter officers, NYSUT representatives, SUNY administrators on individual campuses and statewide, representatives of the Governor's Office of Employee Relations, legislators, editors of New York newspapers, and representatives of various unions and other organizations that UUP had contact with in conducting its business. Incoming correspondence are occasionally attached, more so during the Drescher administration (1981-1987) than during the Wakshull administration (1975-1981), but enclosures referred to in outgoing letters are rarely included. Topics include appointments to committees; questions regarding the reasons for members' resignations; communications regarding chapter-specific issues; inquiries about benefits provided to members, which during the 1970s was primarily life insurance; later correspondence from benefits specialists covering a wider variety of benefit issues; and grievances. For the most part grievance-related correspondence are administrative (i.e., to set up hearings with the State and the grievant, to inform the grievants of the status of their grievance including decisions by UUP not to appeal a grievance, and to inform the State that a grievance decision will or will not be appealed).

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Award certificates, judges' reports and commentary, correspondence, and articles written by UUP staff, for journalism awards won by The Voice and The Connection in contests sponsored by union organizations. The certificates themselves report only the category of the award, not the specific item to which it related. Although not available for all awards, judges' comments, to some extent, and the articles produced by UUP, in particular, identify the exact article, editorial, photograph, or artwork which won the award.

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Programs for Delegate Assemblies ("DAs") (containing schedules, lists of delegates and committees, membership reports, and agendas); minutes for current DA and immediately preceding DA; reports of officers and standing committee chairpersons, including a treasurer's report usually presented at the Spring DA with budget proposals and financial statements; reports on the implementation of pending business approved by past DAs; correspondence to delegates prior to DAs regarding schedule, agenda, and UUP-wide membership report (used to determine the number of delegates for each chapter); other correspondence relating to DAs including setting up committee meetings and meeting space for political caucuses; resolutions proposed by chapters and committees for consideration at DA; and news articles, third party reports and correspondence, UUP-created reports, and other materials distributed to delegates regarding issues under consideration. Attendance and rooming forms on which chapters reported the names of their delegates and their elected term are also included for some of the DAs prior to 1986.

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Press releases distributed by UUP. Topics include upcoming Delegate Assemblies; resolutions adopted at Delegate Assemblies; election results for UUP statewide officers; awards given by UUP, such as the Link Scholarship, Friend of SUNY Award, and Nina Mitchell Award; commencement and completion of contract negotiations as well as delays in negotiations and critical issues in negotiations; commentary of UUP regarding SUNY and State of New York actions (for example, the state budget or the appointment of a new Chancellor) that impact SUNY; UUP-sponsored conferences and events; and other issues that UUP wished to make its position clear on. See Subgroup II UUP Predecessors and Early UUP Years, Series 2 SPA/UUP Administrative Office General Office Files for news releases prior to 1977.

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Programs; task force reports, brochures for members, scholarships, and awards; and other printed materials used for both internal purposes and to publicly disseminate UUP's mission and positions on various issues. Some of the materials in this subseries were not actually produced by UUP's Communications Department, but have been grouped here for ease of access. Some of the materials in this subseries are also found with the memorabilia in Series 9 of this Subgroup. Tentative dates were assigned for some of the materials in this subseries based on information provided by members of UUP's Communications Department.

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Advertisements produced by UUP to coincide with sessions of the state legislature and to raise public awareness of SUNY's needs. Campaigns often focused on the impact of budget cuts on SUNY students and the impact the SUNY system has on the future of New York State. Some "legislative giveaways" carrying the legislative campaign message, as well as some oversized versions of various campaigns are included with the memorabilia in Series 9 of this Subgroup. Television and radio advertisements that accompanied various advertising campaigns are included in the video and audio tapes in Series 6 of this Subgroup. Tentative dates were assigned for some of the materials in this subseries based on information provided by members of UUP's Communications Department.