Demand to Bargain PI Eligibility Guidelines Withdrawn

The PSU-AAUP Bargaining Team has been working on behalf of members in University Studies, filing a demand to bargain the effects of guidelines for UNST faculty on PI eligibility. We believe that the new Principal Investigator (PI) eligibility guidelines could restrict the scholarly work of some members. 

These guidelines, which were established in addition to the policy we jointly established with administration in September 2019, were not provided to PSU-AAUP with notice--a clear violation of the policy change process at the University. Despite our attempts to come to agreement, we were unsuccessful. As such, after careful consideration the Collective Bargaining Team decided to withdraw the complaint. We did not have good standing to continue forward.

We remain concerned. These guidelines were added on-top of an agreed upon policy. Our withdrawal should NOT become precedent setting--departments and decisions should not make restrictions on PI eligibility. Furthermore, the spirit of this guideline limits the scholarship of PSU faculty. Finally, offering separate guidelines for faculty in the Instructor ranks versus the Professorial ranks is unnecessary and could be considered punitive. We will continue to monitor this situation and follow up if necessary.