We achieved a major victory at the bargaining table! We will have language in our new Collective Bargaining Agreement governing summer pay rates. read more >

The union representing professors at the California State University System have voted to authorize a strike if faculty and administrative leaders cannot reach agreement on a pay raise. read more >

At last Friday’s bargaining session, we started off the day discussing some of the task force charges that we have already signed-off on. The Work/Life Balance task force letter of agreement stated that we intended to have a conversation in bargaining about childcare issues that might result in additional task force responsibilities, so we started a brief conversation about childcare. read more >

Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board Hearing Examiner John Pozniak issued a decision on September 29, 2015 ordering an election among part-time faculty at Temple University's undergraduate schools and colleges concerning whether they wish to be included in the existing bargaining unit of full-time faculty and other professionals. read more >

The part-time faculty at Emerson College's Los Angeles center have requested voluntary recognition from the college to be added to an existing bargaining unit, represented by Affiliated Faculty of Emerson College-AAUP. read more >

So: no, there will not be real tenure in the University of Wisconsin System. That much has been more or less clear since May 29, when the Joint Finance Committee dropped its UW omnibus motion bomb. read more >

Correcting past wrongs at colleges requires programs that commit to educational justice, not mere discussion—or erasure—of racist symbolism read more >

In our last meeting, we began discussing Summer Session. We had come up with a framing question to guide our discussion: How do we compensate faculty during summer session in a way that is equitable, predictable and sustainable while considering student needs? read more >

Bryan Jones is not anti-gun – he keeps two rifles and a handgun at his country home and is a former member of the National Rifle Association. But he does not want weapons in his workplace, and he is not alone. The government professor at the University of Texas is one of about 800 academics there who have signed a petition opposing the campus carry law that is set to go into effect in Texas on 1 August 2016. “There are some places guns don’t belong,” he said. “I think we’ve had enough of this. We’ve been lucky in the sense that we’ve started a little bit of a firestorm because our organization came at about the same time as a shooting on campus in Oregon.” read more >

Portland State University might make a bid for regional tax money with an initiative petition drive for the November 2016 election, President Wim Wiewel revealed this week to the Portland Tribune. The idea, Wiewel says, comes after years of not getting enough out of Salem. “I would much rather have a statewide solution, but I have been fighting for seven years now,” he says, acknowledging that the state boosted funding to Oregon's seven public universities by $30 million this biennium, but it was $55 million short of what they asked for. “It’s still not anywhere near enough for what we need.” read more >

Portland lawyer Jill Gibson has, as she'd promised, filed another initiative petition to make Oregon a "right to work" state, at least for public employees. read more >

Professors and graduate students must navigate all kinds of tricky topics in their relationships. Dissertation deadlines, Ph.D. career paths, and the occasional lapse in research ethics are just a few examples. Now add to that list graduate-student unionization. Or at least that’s what Harvard administrators think. read more >

Ought faculty and academic professionals feel a strong sense of civic responsibility on account of the nature of our work? What is the basis for such a sense of duty? Academic freedom. read more >

The University of Florida on Wednesday announced that it is terminating a huge 11-year deal for Pearson to build and manage the university's online programs. read more >

“The little things are what’s really important” in making transgender students feel welcome on campus. read more >

On August 1, 2016 — exactly 50 years after a student named Charles Whitman climbed into the University of Texas tower and shot 46 people, killing 14 of them — a new law on concealed firearms will take effect here. Already, emotions are exploding. read more >

Good news from yesterday’s bargaining session… read more >

After years of preaching “disruptive innovation” for higher education, one of the most visible proponents of the theory is going to try a little disrupting of his own. read more >

“To them it’s all about minimizing costs and churning out graduates -- they don’t really care what those graduates can or cannot do.” read more >

We completed our bargaining over non-tenure track instructional faculty (NTTF). We have now conceptually agreed upon all of the details of a new system of continuous employment for our instructional NTTF. read more >