BY JULIE SCHMID
As we move into the final months of the academic year, I wanted to share updates about three recent wins. These three successes emphasize the power of collective action and solidarity—among chapter members; among the national AAUP and our state conferences and chapters; and among faculty, students, and the community—when we all stand united in defense of higher education as a common good.
A victory for shared governance and the faculty union at Maricopa Community Colleges: Last fall, I authorized a governance investigation at the Maricopa Community Colleges in Arizona. At issue was the governing board’s decision to unilaterally revise the faculty handbook and terminate the existing meet-and-confer process by which the board negotiated with the faculty. They also eliminated the role of the only district-level representative faculty governance body, which doubled as the governing body of the faculty association, an organization that was incorporated as a union, but which did not have collective-bargaining rights under state law. Of particular concern was the governing board’s directive that the new manual should not allow faculty to participate in matters related to “compensation, benefits, accountability, and organizational operations.” These changes flew in the face of AAUP principles of academic governance, which call for meaningful faculty participation in decisions that affect all of these areas. The AAUP’s investigating team found that these changes to the handbook were motivated by partisan ideology and political ambition on the part of two board members. Specifically, they found that the board engaged in union-busting in an attempt to further the political careers of the board president and one board member. Soon after the visit of the AAUP’s investigating committee, three new members were elected to the district governing board and the existing board president announced his resignation. Since the release of the AAUP report, the board has withdrawn the earlier changes and has restored many of the shared governance mechanisms that the old board had terminated. It has also extended shared governance rights to part-time faculty, which our report had urged. We are continuing to monitor the situation.
Another victory against privatization at Purdue: In February, the national AAUP, the Indiana state conference of the AAUP, and the Purdue chapter achieved another victory in the fight against Purdue University Global and the erosion of faculty and student rights under this privatization scheme. In response to the chapter’s and state conference’s ongoing pressure campaign, the administration announced it would stop using forced arbitration to resolve student disputes against the institution. This win comes on the heels of the AAUP’s successful pressure campaign to force the administration to rescind the imposition of NDAs on the faculty teaching in the institution. The rollback of forced arbitration for students and the rescinding of the faculty NDAs are victories for transparency at Purdue University. AAUP members at Purdue and throughout the Indiana conference are continuing to organize to protect academic freedom and shared governance at PUG as part of their ongoing campaign to hold the institution accountable. Learn more about our campaign against privatization.
AAUP-WSU faculty continue to #fight4Wright: On February 11, members of the Wright State chapter of the AAUP voted to ratify a contract and return to work, thus ending the longest higher ed strike in the state of Ohio and the second longest strike in US public higher education. By striking, the union pushed back against a board-imposed contract that would have undermined tenure and job security for non-tenure-track faculty, increased faculty workload, and resulted in the abrogation of the union’s right to bargain the terms of health insurance, as well as doing away with a fair, objective process for merit pay. These were not just attacks against the faculty’s working conditions. They were attacks against the quality of education at Wright State University. Standing in solidarity with faculty colleagues, student and community allies, and members of the local labor movement, Wright State faculty stood strong to protect faculty teaching conditions and student learning conditions. For more information about the AAUP-WSU strike, including information on how to support the faculty at Wright State, click here.
Julie Schmid is the AAUP’s executive director.
