Why NCSC-AAUP is a good idea
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University of Akron Priscilla Sakezles and Steve Aby
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University of Akron, Wayne College |
| Cincinnati State |
Kent State University |
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February 11, 2008 To My Fearless Colleagues at North Central State According to your website, your election to decide union affiliation with AAUP is going to be held March 4th, 2008. I have little doubt, given the steadfast campaign you have waged, that you will be successful in winning the day. And you will have won nothing less that the opportunity to slow the steady encroachment of corporate-style educational leadership into your classrooms and to have a stronger voice in determining your professional destinies. By now you all know too well that fighting for your rights as faculty members is accompanied by hefty responsibilities to make sound judgments. You have already begun to prepare in this regard by forming a negotiating team, sending your union leadership to AAUP training sessions, and calling on your unionized colleagues around the state for advice and counsel. You likely have noticed that your unionized colleagues in Ohio are only too happy to consult with you as often as you need because we are all in this effort together. Further, you have carried yourselves with integrity throughout your election campaign. By taking the high road, you’ve had the exciting experience of letting the facts speak for themselves. You are representing the right side of the arguments and you know it. You have, in my limited experience, most excellent legal advice in Sandy McNair and valuable strategic advice from the national AAUP staff. These are crucial resources – the same ones we relied upon – that will see you through to the realization of your first contract and beyond. Looking back on the two years since we ratified our first contract with our administration, I can say that unionization has accomplished exactly what we envisioned that it would. Our paychecks have increased predictably. Our administration now asks for our participation on university committees. The number of grievances over retention, promotion, and tenure has decreased. Our health care contributions have increased, but at a rate much less than it would have. These “bread and butter” issues are now matters that were just beyond our reach prior to unionization. Now they are contractually agreed upon and cannot be undone easily. The least paid of my colleagues now have the same rights as the highest paid, and we all enjoy the simple fairness of the arrangement. We’ve managed to cement the issues of academic freedom (a principle we all cherish and one that has come under attack) and shared governance (a principle we are working to rectify with each passing month). Where the administration could have taken our livelihood away from us with little in the way of a reason, now they must demonstrate their reasons in transparent legal terms. Where they could have made demands on our time as they wished, now our work is guaranteed in the ink of our contract. Some might charge that faculty relationships with the administration are more formal now, and pine for the halcyon days when we made agreements based on a trusted handshake (presumably a time before any of us were alive to bear witness). Personally, I’ll take our union over the good old days without any reservations. In my discipline, which is Family and Consumer Sciences, we are now able to carry out our professional responsibilities in a manner that I had hoped for when I taught my first class 25 years ago at UA. I can focus on my students and plan my career according to the forces that should be considered – the quality of my students, the application of my intellect on the subject matter of my classes – without having to wonder who is determining my financial future and existence, or who is listening at the door. My union enforces a contract with elements that protect my professional status. None of this was easily won, but already I have younger, new colleagues who came to the university after all our unionizing activism. They are starting out their careers with rights and privileges we all should have had all along. They’ll be able to better concentrate their efforts on producing a better graduate, better research, and more of both. They’ll be better classroom instructors because they can focus undistracted by administrative whim. The nicest part of all this is that for the first time in my decades of teaching in higher education, I feel like I have real colleagues who are interested in a set of common issues – a real academic community. All in all I wouldn’t change a thing (except for even better pay raises and an increase in the full time faculty in the next contract). We’ll be watching your website for news of the vote on March 4th. Good luck to all of you,
Dave Witt |
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May 2, 2007
Faculty union about academic freedom
The primary goal of the AAUP is to support professors in their effort to ensure their role in campus decision-making, and that is exactly what the faculty at NCSC are working to do. Because the core relationship on any campus is between the faculty and the students, good campus decisions need guaranteed faculty input. Faculty union representatives are unpaid volunteers who are contributing their time to protect things like academic freedom and shared governance. The public often thinks that unionization is only about the money. On campuses, it is almost never just about that. Faculty want a guaranteed voice in the academic matters that they should have a say in. If they have a voice, reflected in the contract, other matters will take care of themselves. Unionizing with the AAUP has been beneficial not only for the faculty affected at our school, but also for the university as a whole. Before we had a contract, rules changed constantly (partly because administrators change jobs so frequently). Now that we do have a contract, all rules governing faculty employment, governance, academic freedom, etc., are agreed upon by both sides and binding on both sides. This provided stability that is mutually beneficial, and makes a good environment for student learning. The faculty here are much happier now, which means we can fully devote ourselves to our work teaching instead of wasting our time fighting to protect our role on campus. We have a contract specifying the rules, and both sides respect that. Priscilla Sakezles, Vice President, Akron-AAUP Steve Aby, Past-President, Akron-AAUP (Visit Akron AAUP) |
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January 18, 2008 Dear North Central State College Colleagues, I understand that in early March, 2008, you will be voting on collective bargaining. This scheduled election means that several of your NCSC colleagues have already been hard at work on your collective behalf. As the current President of the Akron Chapter of AAUP, and associate professor at the UA regional Wayne College Campus, I am writing to encourage your faculty to vote affirmatively, and join eleven of your Ohio sister institutions of higher education who currently enjoy the benefits of collective bargaining. The struggle for true shared governance, academic freedom, and other matters related to our professions is an on-going process. As you have undoubtedly experienced, without a union, your voices in important decision making for your college are sometimes heard, but often ignored. Their reception is largely dependent on who is sitting in the College President’s office. One benefit of belonging to a faculty union is that the processes become more contractual and thus more predictable. With a contract that identifies rights, responsibilities and privileges of key stakeholders, the personality of the College President becomes less important. At the University of Akron, faculty have been under contract for only two years. Yet, even within those two years there have been substantial improvements, including a grievance procedure with binding arbitration, guaranteed across the board raises with an additional merit component, no threat of post-tenure review, faculty driven RTP guidelines, chair review guidelines, enrollment bonuses, and payments for teaching overload. The implementation of these contractual rights has produced a more positive morale among the faculty, both on the main campus and at Wayne College, who now feel more free to focus on teaching and research. Because our campus atmosphere has improved so dramatically, I encourage the faculty at North Central State College to vote for collective bargaining. We are always stronger as a group, and working together we can achieve more. In Solidarity, Jennifer L. Holz President, Akron AAUP Associate Professor of Sociology University of Akron Wayne College (Visit Akron AAUP) |
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January 9, 2008 Dear Beth and Colleagues, Congratulations on your decision to seek collective bargaining representation through the American Association of University Professors. The faculty at Cincinnati State made that same decision almost 20 years ago, under circumstances similar to yours. The decision we made in 1989 is one that we don’t regret. Through collective bargaining, many important changes have happened for Cincinnati State faculty. Some of our achievements can be seen in “bread and butter” areas such as salary and benefits, but just as importantly, we’ve made significant achievements in professional areas such as faculty involvement in college governance. In fact, many national AAUP leaders consider our accomplishments to be landmarks in governance for unionized two-year college faculty. Of course, our AAUP contract ensures fair starting salaries, raises, and benefits, and we’ve been successful in making economic gains even in times when administrators said that budgets were tight and state appropriations were uncertain. In addition, our contract includes provisions that guarantee support for professional enrichment including funded sabbatical leave, tuition reimbursement for faculty who seek advanced degrees, and salary increases for completing advanced degrees. Our contract ensures that faculty members can attain tenure with peer review as an essential step in the process, and our contract ensures the rights and responsibilities that accompany the granting of tenure. When we negotiated our first contract, we considered it essential to codify the role of faculty in decision-making at Cincinnati State. The contract article titled “Faculty Involvement in the Governance of the College” defines the role of our Faculty Senate as the voice of the faculty in numerous academic and non-academic matters. This article also guarantees faculty representation on decision-making committees, including the standing committee that monitors and advises the College administration during the annual budget-building process. In addition, the article contains a clear procedure for dealing with possible program retrenchment, with faculty input as part of the process. The governance article defines in detail the procedures for selection and appointment of faculty and academic administrators, and it includes a guarantee that at least three faculty members selected by the Faculty Senate will serve on the committee that recommends who the Board of Trustees should hire when a College president is selected. This type of contract provision is currently important to both Cincinnati State and North Central, since both of our institutions are going through a presidential search. Just after our faculty voted for AAUP as our bargaining agent, the College president resigned. Administrators and Board members tried to persuade us that a contract was therefore less important, because we could simply trust that a new administration would eliminate problems of the past. Our faculty persisted in the belief that strong contract language regarding the faculty role in decision-making was important—not just for one year, but also for the long-term health and success of the institution. Since then, we’ve had two College presidents (plus two interim presidents), and we’ll be selecting yet another new president during the coming year. I can tell you that Cincinnati State faculty are glad we have contract language to guarantee that our views about the choice for College president will be taken into consideration. If you want more of the specifics of what may be available to you if you choose collective bargaining, you can obtain our current contract at www.cinstateaaup.org, under the “Library” link. The decision to seek collective bargaining representation at North Central State College is an important one, and should not be taken lightly. Voting for AAUP will mark the beginning, not the end, of some hard work, and it will mark the beginning of a great opportunity. By choosing AAUP as your collective bargaining agent, you will be gaining control over your professional lives, and enhancing your opportunity to have a meaningful voice in the governance of North Central State College. If you or other faculty members have questions or need additional information, please let me know. Cincinnati State AAUP members are ready and willing to assist you. Sincerely, Paul W. Davis, Ed.D. (Visit Cincinnati State AAUP) Cincinnati State AAUP Chapter President |
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January 31, 2008 Dear Colleagues, I have been asked to reflect on the relationship between collective bargaining and shared faculty governance – something that I've had the opportunity to observe closely in almost 35 years at Kent State University. During this period, I have served in both the traditional faculty role, as well as a senior academic administrator. I started as an assistant professor at Kent State in 1973 while completing my Ph.D. in economics at Case Western Reserve University. During those early years at KSU, I was actively engaged in teaching and research, publication, and grant-getting--all the important things junior faculty do in order to be tenured and ultimately promoted. After being tenured and promoted, I decided to try my hand at something a little more applied. The dean of our college of business encouraged me to become assistant dean for undergraduate programs. As business deans often do, he quickly left and I ended up being appointed the acting dean! As acting dean, I became well acquainted with the senior leadership of the university. After a new dean was hired in 1982, I was asked to move into the provost's office as an assistant vice president with responsibility for the academic budget. I served in various permutations of that position with increasing responsibilities over a period of fourteen years, ultimately working with five provosts and becoming the senior associate provost with broad responsibility for budgets, personnel, and academic planning. In 1996, I left academic administration and returned to my position as professor of Economics. While this change was a much welcome relief, I quickly found myself immersed in other kinds of university service though the Faculty Senate and our local chapter of AAUP. When I returned to the faculty, I had immediately joined the AAUP. Why? Having served in upper levels of the University administration for so many years, I saw first-hand how easily an administration–even a well-intentioned one--can lose sight of the faculty and student perspective in setting the direction of the institution. My experience as a senior academic leader taught me that organizations become stronger only if they are willing to cultivate diverse views and listen to those who are the closest to the fundamental mission of the organization. In colleges and universities, shared faculty governance is the essential vehicle for transmitting this perspective. Why can't this be done through our beloved process of "collegiality"? Unfortunately, the degree of collegiality an institution adopts is always at the discretion of the administration. When it comes to important issues such as the terms and conditions of employment, the faculty needs a more formal voice. Shortly after returning to the faculty, I was elected as an at-large member of the Faculty Senate. In my first year of service, I was elected vice chair and then subsequently chair for two terms during a very stressful period when a faculty petition initiative in the late 1990s resulted in a vote on the issue of a vote of "no confidence" for then KSU President Carol Cartwright. During this period, I realized that faculty at Kent State take great pride in having both a strong Faculty Senate, as well as active representation by AAUP-KSU. In the 1970s when Kent State's faculty voted in favor of representation, both the University administration and the representatives of the faculty recognized and endorsed in the first collective bargaining agreement the existence of a Faculty Senate as the primary governance body involving faculty at the level of the University. Historically, there have been close ties between the Faculty Senate and AAUP-KSU. Both groups have many shared interests despite their distinctly different responsibilities. The primary responsibility of the Faculty Senate is the academic standards and educational policies of the University, professional standards, and responsibility for specifying the mechanisms for faculty participation in University governance. The faculty union, AAUP-KSU, has as its primary responsibility enhancement of the terms and conditions of employment for KSU's faculty. Often, both groups draw from a similar base of faculty leadership but that is to be expected, given that faculty who value institutional service are likely to want to participate in both activities. AAUP-KSU has generally not taken positions on academic matters but has a strong interest in ensuring that appropriate consultation occurs with the Faculty Senate. From time to time, this has not happened. For example, when our administration rejected the recommendation of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee that faculty advisory bodies (not administrators) be permitted to select the faculty representatives for an important University-level committee, the Association publicly supported this position by distributing a "white paper" to all faculty entitled "Faculty Representation: Who Chooses?" Rather than being destructive of the academic traditions of shared faculty governance, the Association worked with the Faculty Senate and has succeeded in ensuring a continued strong role for the Faculty Senate in the governance structure at KSU. In 1999, I joined the AAUP-KSU Executive Committee as chair of the Negotiations Committee and was ultimately appointed the Chief Negotiator. In 2001, I was part of a team of faculty members who successfully negotiated a new three-year contract, one where we reached tentative agreement before the expiration of the former Collective Bargaining Agreement. Working with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the University and the Association agreed to adopt a less adversarial approach to collective bargaining called modified traditional bargaining. It combined elements of mutual gains or interest-based bargaining for most issues with more traditional bargaining on economic issues. In 2002, I was elected the president of Kent State's AAUP chapter, a position that I held for four years before returning in 2006 to my current role as chair of the Faculty Senate when a new University president took office. Looking back over KSU's years of collective bargaining, I am grateful that KSU faculty voted for unionization in 1975. Today, as a result of that choice, KSU has a strong tradition of shared faculty governance that rivals any university in the country. Has the relationship between faculty and administration always been congenial? Of course not. Nor does KSU faculty believe that unionization is the solution to every problem. But, despite the various ups and downs of our bargaining relationship, there has never been a serious effort on the part of the faculty to decertify the union. One of my primary goals as Faculty Senate chair (and former AAUP-KSU president) is to educate the next generation of faculty on the importance of effective shared faculty governance. I worry that some may fail to appreciate the true significance of the many faculty rights that have been fought for and that are now specified within the Faculty Senate Charter and By Laws, and guaranteed in our Collective Bargaining Agreement. It is always tempting to believe that a benevolent administration could be simply left to make decisions in "the best interests of the University," but experience has taught otherwise. Faculty unionization at Kent State has provided, and continues to provide, the much needed opportunities and protection for faculty voices to continue to be heard. Sincerely, Cheryl A. Casper, (Visit Kent State AAUP) Chair, Faculty Senate & Professor of Economics |