1. 250 PSU Faculty, Oregon Senator Dembrow & Supporters Rally and March!
2. Press about PSU Budget Cuts and Bargaining - Add your Voice!
3. No Progress During Bargaining Nov. 19th - on to Mediation, FEG & Travel Fund Intact
4. Open Budget Forum MONDAY, 3 - 5 pm, CH 53:
What Would we Have to Know to Accept the Case for Big Cuts?
Are there Discrepancies between Board Materials and PSU Presentations?
5. PSU-AAUP Fall Membership Drive Winners!
Festive, Focused PSU-AAUP Rally and March, Nov. 19!!
Oregon Senator Michael Dembrow called on President Wiewel to prioritize academics and offer a fair contract to PSU-AAUP members, in front of Market Center Building and a chanting crowd of more than 250 PSU Faculty and Supporters on Tuesday, Nov. 19th.
Even the weather supported us, as well as ASPSU's University Affairs Director Rayleen McMillan, SEIU President Marc Nisenfeld, PSUFA President Kelly Cowan, Portland Association of Teachers President Gwen Sullivan and Chris Ferlazzo from Portland's Jobs with Justice, who all spoke out strongly for PSU-AAUP's push to align PSU's budget with its academic mission. With students going into debt to pay for their education, PSU faces a moral imperative to prioritize academics over excessive spending on administration and "auxiliaries."
Our students deserve a stable, dedicated faculty, which means competitive pay, multi-year contracts for fixed term faculty and faculty control over evaluation processes.
Some of the Press Coverage:
http://nwlaborpress.org/2013/11/professors-protest-bottom-tier-pay/
http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2013/11/20/psu-faculty-union-protests-budget-cuts
Oregonian Op-Ed - Add YOUR Voice!
Oregonian Op-Ed: Proposed Budget Cuts will Harm PSU's Mission
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/11/proposed_budget_cuts_will_harm.html
Did you read about our great rally in The Oregonian? No????? The struggle to provide high quality public higher ed in this state, and at PSU particularly, gets little press. To change that, Editors need to hear from many people about the same set of issues.
Please take a few minutes each week to submit a Letter to the Editor to raise community awareness about what's going on at PSU! Our Administration is far more sensitive to public opinion than to faculty concerns. Send a copy to your Legislators while you're at it!
To get your letters published, keep them short (150 words) and focused on one point. Individual testimony and stories are what most move people, but feel free to use the PSU-AAUP webpage & updates for facts!
Oregonian: letters@oregonian.com
Statesman Journal: http://community.statesmanjournal.com/email/letters_to_the_editor.php
Tribune: http://www.emailmeform.com/builder/form/p6f64czlk9qvsdn0r2
Willamette Week: Mark Zusman, mzusman@wweek.com
Vanguard: Whitney Beyer, editor@psuvanguard.com
Breana Harris, opinion@psuvanguard.com
Rearguard: JT Howard, editor@therearguard.org
It's a good way to take advantage of those academic skills, blow off steam and get the word out there! If you're on a roll - go for a guest Op-Ed (500 - 600 words).
No Substantive Progress at Bargaining on Nov. 19th: On to Mediation!
The major accomplishment during bargaining on Nov. 19th was to
a) extend the contract, on the same terms through December 31st, and
b) clarify that the Faculty Enhancement Grant Program, including the Travel Fund,
will continue to operate regularly.
As you may recall, the PSU Administration abruptly suspended the Travel Fund at the end of August, only to restore it when challenged at the Bargaining Table about the wisdom, necessity and legality of that move. Apparently it had been a poorly thought out, hardball tactic - probably the consequence of listening more to attorneys and consultants than to the academics-turned-administrators who used to comprise the Admin Bargaining Team.
The two bargaining teams will spend Dec 18th and 19th in mediation, on the 6th floor of the Market Center Building.
Feel free to cruise through OAA on Dec 18th and 19th, wearing your red t-shirt, lanyard and buttons, to peek through the windows, use the restroom, run any other errand or join us if we're in caucus! The Bargaining Team will appreciate it!!!!
Joint PSU-AAUP/Faculty Senate Budget Forum MONDAY:
Are Cuts Justified?
Come on out, and bring your colleagues, students and friends to a PSU Budget Forum MONDAY, the 25th, 3 - 5 pm in CH 53! There appear to be some surprisingly large discrepancies between State Board materials and those describing a $15m structural deficit at PSU.
We hope to develop a faculty perspective on proposed budget cuts. All are invited; you need not be a Faculty Senator to speak.
Agenda: Three Big Questions, with plenty of time for Q & A, and Discussion:
1. What is the Status of PSU's Budget?
What do we know, and what would we need to know to accept the case for a big cut?
Mary King, Economist and President PSU-AAUP,
Michael Bowman, Librarian and Chair Faculty Senate Budget Committee
Q & A
2. How Does the Budget Adjustment Process work? What are Problems with that Process?
Bob Liebman, Sociologist and Incoming Presiding Officer of the Faculty Senate
Q & A
3. What can and should PSU Faculty Do to Address Budget Concerns?
Open Discussion
PSU-AAUP Fall Membership Drive Winners!
Seventy-one new members have joined the PSU-AAUP this Fall, strengthening us in bargaining, in Salem and in all of our conversations!
The winner of the contest to bring in the most new members is Andy McMillin, Clinical Instructor in Speech and Hearing, who won a dinner for two at Wildwood Restaurant! Way to go, Andy! Thanks a lot!!!!!
And the winner of the drawing among new members this fall is Desmond Cheung, new Assistant Professor in History, with a specialty in Chinese History. Desmond won a dinner for two at the Farm Cafe! Great to have you with us, Desmond!
And while the Fall Membership Drive is over, it's always important to be encouraging our colleagues to make sure that they're members of the union, not just fair share fee payers, so that they can vote for union officers and to ratify the contract, serve on committees and help us all in the fight for high quality, public higher education!
The Membership Form is here: https://psuaaup.net/assets/docs/Membership_Application_2013_11Nov01.pdf