AAUP Summer Institute 2024

Riley Chase, David Kinsella, and Kim Willson-St. Clair attended the Summer Institute Conference in Detroit this August. This event was an opportunity to develop skills in organizing, bargaining, and more. David Kinsella co-led a workshop on The Role of Shared Governance and Academic Unions in Program Discontinuance. A timely session considering the PSU program revitalization workgroup will begin meeting on August 12th.

While the Summer Institute was ripe with learning and networking, the most meaningful experiences may have come from the fact that Detroit is a historical landmark for the labor movement. Participants had the opportunity to tour the Diego Rivera labor mural at the Detroit Institute of Art, the labor history at the Reuther Archives, and various sites of United Auto Workers’ direct actions in the 1930s. 

PSU-AAUP in 2024 may seem far removed from 1930s auto workers’ labor history, but it’s imperative (particularly during a contract year) to remember and connect with the larger scope of labor history, and all that was fought for and won - from wage increases, to 40 hour work weeks, to health insurance - all things that some may take for granted were hard fought for, at times with the lives of dedicated labor rights organizers. The build over time of this movement is why we continue to urge you to observe our bargaining sessions, to show administration our power in numbers and win us a contract we deserve.