PSU-AAUP recently learned that during the 2015-16 academic year, administrators, without any faculty or other stakeholder input, promulgated an All Gender Bathroom Policy. PSU-AAUP is disappointed by University’s actions that have slowed the implementation of the All Gender Bathroom Policy. However, had Administration abided by state statute and its own Policy on Policies, this slowing would have been avoided.
Bathrooms are related to conditions of employment and, by law, policies impacting conditions of employment are mandatory subjects of bargaining. ORS 243.678 requires that when policies are contemplated, the University informs PSU-AAUP of the intent to adopt policy and provide the Association with an opportunity to bargain. In this instance the University failed to provide notice, which is a violation of statute.
Administrators, in addition, have violated the university policy-creation process. The All Gender Bathroom Policy was adopted without abiding by the University’s Policy on Policies. The Policy on Policies states that policies should be developed and approved with “the engagement of appropriate University stakeholders, and be made widely available to the University community in order to enhance compliance and advancement of the University’s mission.”
On February 15, 2018 PSU-AAUP submitted a Demand to Bargain over the decision and/or effects of the decision to implement this new policy. In so doing we reminded administration of their statutory obligations. By exercising our right to be consulted when policies are passed that bear on compensation and working conditions, we are upholding the law, and also upholding our historical commitment to robust shared governance.
PSU-AAUP further demanded all future policies be adopted through the University Policy on Policies process, and requested that the University take action to ensure our administrators developing policies do so without violating state statutes.
EF and JP