They Said They Were Sorry: Akron’s Administration Kicking Us at Our Lowest Moment
BY SUE RAMLO They said they were sorry; they said that it was financial. We were devastated when we got the emails or phone calls about meetings with an administrator concerning our future at the University of Akron (UA)–we were being fired. Our situation made national news because there are nearly one hundred of us…
Akron Represents a Crisis. It Is Not an Anomaly.
BY MARTIN KICH The current situation at the University of Akron is extreme but nonetheless illustrative of the situations developing at many of our college and university campuses across the state of Ohio and the nation. At Akron, the administration and Board are attempting to use a force majeure clause in the faculty contract to…
Akron-AAUP Chapter Members Reject Proposed Collective Bargaining Agreement
BY THE COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE OF AKRON-AAUP The members of the University of Akron Chapter of The American Association of University Professors have voted to not ratify the proposed collective bargaining agreement with The University of Akron Board of Trustees. The electronic balloting process ended at 1pm, Wednesday August 5th. The University’s Board of Trustees had…
The Utter Devastation of Wayne College—The University of Akron’s Only Regional Campus
BY THE WAYNE COLLEGE REDUCTION IN FORCE (RIF) FACULTY HIT LIST On July 15, 2020, the Board of Trustees, in consultation with the administration, at the University of Akron (UA) chose to eliminate ninety-six bargaining unit faculty. Those of us on that list of cut faculty call ourselves the Hit List. Although there are satellite…
The University of Akron: Why We Cannot Just Move Along as if Nothing Happened Here
BY EVONN WELTON In 2011, The University of Akron received an award from the American Psychological Association for being a healthy workplace environment. What a profound and sad irony that in less than ten years, it has become a place of financial hardship, possible injustices, fear, anxiety, and pitting faculty against faculty. It has become…
So Just How Dire Is the University of Akron’s Financial Condition?
POSTED BY MARTY KICH As he has been doing for faculty at institutions across the United States for two decades, past AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum has provided a financial analysis to the AAUP chapter at the University of Akron. He has distilled the main points of that analysis into the following short video: https://akronaaup.org/uas-budget-presentation-dr-rudy-fichtenbaum-responds/. The…
Please Take Just a Moment to Support Our Colleagues at the University of Akron
POSTED BY MARTY KICH On July 15, the University of Akron Board of Trustees, at the recommendation of President Gary Miller, terminated the employment of ninety-seven full-time faculty members. When factoring in retirements, this results in the loss of over one hundred faculty. The Board and President must rescind this decision or resign their positions.…
Open Letter to Our Akron Colleagues
POSTED BY SUE RAMLO A couple of months ago, the Provost’s office sent faculty, through their deans, a survey, asking us what we thought the criteria for firings should be. Akron-AAUP saw this for what it was: direct dealing with faculty, and a failed attempt to legitimize the gutting of the faculty. At the time,…