APSOU Accompanist Service:
Guidelines for APSOU Members’ Use

If you are called to a meeting with an administrator and believe the subject of the meeting will relate to your performance evaluation or employment status, the APSOU Accompanist Service can help support you. The primary goals of the Accompaniment Service are to support you when meeting with administrative personnel, and to assist in resolving issues at the informal stage whenever possible.

 The primary roles of the APSOU – approved accompanist are to be knowledgeable of the issues addressed in the meeting, listen carefully and be witness to the discussion, be supportive of your interests, offer advice to both you and the administrator related to your faculty rights, and to maintain confidentiality.

 If you want an APSOU Accompanist, please review the APSOU Collective Bargaining Agreement language on Faculty - Administration Relationships (Article 18, Section B in the 2013 - 15 CBA – see link at top). You may also want to review the APSOU Grievance procedures (Article 17) and also Article 16 (relating to Disciplinary procedures), but please note that an APSOU accompanist is NOT a grievance officer nor are they officially representing APSOU; the accompanist’s role is to support you.

Also at the APSOU home page is a link to a list of APSOU members who have agreed to serve as APSOU Accompanists and their contact information. In selecting someone to ask to be your accompanist, we recommend you consider asking someone outside the department/division of the administrator with whom you are meeting.

You are also welcome to contact the APSOU President or a Board member for advice on choosing your accompanist. Please understand that a potential accompanist may elect to decline your request – he/she may be swamped with work or perceive a potential conflict of interest. If the first person you ask declines, just ask another person!

Your accompanist will want to meet with you one – on – one prior to the meeting with the administrator. Please come prepared to discuss your situation, to outline the key facts leading up to the meeting, bring any relevant documents, and discuss desired outcomes of the meeting. Your accompanist and you will craft a strategy for how each of you will act at the meeting. Typically, you will take the lead in discussions but your accompanist will be observing, taking notes, and ready to offer constructive suggestions in order to obtain a satisfactory outcome.  You and your accompanist will then meet following the meeting with the administrator to discuss next steps.

Hopefully, an acceptable resolution is the result. However, if you both feel that your issue has not been resolved satisfactorily, the next step is likely to contact the APSOU President. The President may determine that you are in the first step of an informal grievance, and would then advise you on how to continue the grievance process.