College is a time to experiment, stretch the limits of freedom of speech and question authority.
It is only fitting the faculty be granted the same ability students have to question the University's governance.
The BGSU-Faculty Association has entered the next stage in getting a faculty union at the University, citing misappropriation of University priorities and funds as main reasons propelling them forward.
Almost 58 percent of eligible faculty have signed petition cards in favor of the union, well over the 30 percent required. Four hundred and sixty-nine signed cards were sent to Columbus Wednesday, where the State Employment Relations Board will determine if and when an election for a union within the faculty will take place.
Finally, faculty are collectively voicing their dissent in a public forum.
Faculty have been gathering signatures for the card campaign since last spring and talk of unionization started well before then. University faculty salaries hug the bottom of the public university pay spectrum, ranked 11th out of 12 schools in Ohio since 1997. And instead of receiving raises for jobs well done or years invested with the University and its long-term goals, faculty and staff deal with pay cuts, forced unpaid vacation days and fragile job security.
Is this the way to treat those who are the reason for the institution?
Faculty are often overlooked, a point FA President David Jackson has made time and again. In response, University administration stated yesterday they are not in favor of a faculty labor union because it is not in line with the University's strategic goals of increasing student enrollment, improving the University's academic reputation, attracting research funding and increasing state support.
But the University needs its educators to function and to come even close to meeting strategic goals.
The University is a business, driven to make cost-saving measures. Because the deficit is steadily increasing, the University needs to stabilize its hemorrhaging budget -- unfortunately, at the expense of the people responsible for what ought to be its core focus: educating students.
Yes, the University is receiving less funding from the state, which is one reason students' tuition was raised this spring and may be raised again. Higher education has gone from being funded 50-50 state support to University dollars to 30-70 within the past few years. Cuts have to be made to get the University back above water.
But leave faculty alone.
Almost 58 percent of the more than 800 full-time faculty on campus are behind a union, which means something has to change. Something has to be wrong for so many to be unhappy.
Forty faculty have decided to voluntarily leave the University via the Employee Separation Plan, which allows faculty, administrative and classified staff with at least 15 years of service to leave and be paid out their base salary over a period of time. Even though they have until Monday to back out, 40 faculty initially wanting to leave the University is a big deal.
The University is the largest in Ohio to file for unionization in 10 years, said Karen Craigo, FA communications director. Obviously, the University is missing some well-kept secret to keeping faculty content in their employment. They can start by trying to keep faculty around, especially tenured and tenure-tract professors.
Students come here to connect to their majors with professors who have done what they'd like to in their fields or are still doing it. The more experience students can gain before entering the work force, the better. Students need seasoned professors who have gotten feedback about their teaching and desire to better themselves over time.
Faculty deserve respect. They deserve the freedom to teach without fear of retribution or a failing budget, and if a union has become the only way to get that security and consideration, then that is what they deserve.
It is only fitting the faculty be granted the same ability students have to question the University's governance.
The BGSU-Faculty Association has entered the next stage in getting a faculty union at the University, citing misappropriation of University priorities and funds as main reasons propelling them forward.
Almost 58 percent of eligible faculty have signed petition cards in favor of the union, well over the 30 percent required. Four hundred and sixty-nine signed cards were sent to Columbus Wednesday, where the State Employment Relations Board will determine if and when an election for a union within the faculty will take place.
Finally, faculty are collectively voicing their dissent in a public forum.
Faculty have been gathering signatures for the card campaign since last spring and talk of unionization started well before then. University faculty salaries hug the bottom of the public university pay spectrum, ranked 11th out of 12 schools in Ohio since 1997. And instead of receiving raises for jobs well done or years invested with the University and its long-term goals, faculty and staff deal with pay cuts, forced unpaid vacation days and fragile job security.
Is this the way to treat those who are the reason for the institution?
Faculty are often overlooked, a point FA President David Jackson has made time and again. In response, University administration stated yesterday they are not in favor of a faculty labor union because it is not in line with the University's strategic goals of increasing student enrollment, improving the University's academic reputation, attracting research funding and increasing state support.
But the University needs its educators to function and to come even close to meeting strategic goals.
The University is a business, driven to make cost-saving measures. Because the deficit is steadily increasing, the University needs to stabilize its hemorrhaging budget -- unfortunately, at the expense of the people responsible for what ought to be its core focus: educating students.
Yes, the University is receiving less funding from the state, which is one reason students' tuition was raised this spring and may be raised again. Higher education has gone from being funded 50-50 state support to University dollars to 30-70 within the past few years. Cuts have to be made to get the University back above water.
But leave faculty alone.
Almost 58 percent of the more than 800 full-time faculty on campus are behind a union, which means something has to change. Something has to be wrong for so many to be unhappy.
Forty faculty have decided to voluntarily leave the University via the Employee Separation Plan, which allows faculty, administrative and classified staff with at least 15 years of service to leave and be paid out their base salary over a period of time. Even though they have until Monday to back out, 40 faculty initially wanting to leave the University is a big deal.
The University is the largest in Ohio to file for unionization in 10 years, said Karen Craigo, FA communications director. Obviously, the University is missing some well-kept secret to keeping faculty content in their employment. They can start by trying to keep faculty around, especially tenured and tenure-tract professors.
Students come here to connect to their majors with professors who have done what they'd like to in their fields or are still doing it. The more experience students can gain before entering the work force, the better. Students need seasoned professors who have gotten feedback about their teaching and desire to better themselves over time.
Faculty deserve respect. They deserve the freedom to teach without fear of retribution or a failing budget, and if a union has become the only way to get that security and consideration, then that is what they deserve.
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There is a very serious error in the justification of the argument presented in this column:
"Almost 58 percent of the more than 800 full-time faculty on campus are behind a union, which means something has to change. Something has to be wrong for so many to be unhappy."
The truth is that almost 58 percent of the more than 500 full-time faculty on campus are behind both discussion with the administration and a vote on the creation of a union, not behind the creation of the union itself. Big difference.
I liken it to a suspension in a fraternity or sorority. If a motion is created for a brother or sister to be suspended and the motion is seconded, it does not mean that the people who created the motion and seconded it are for the suspension; it means that they are for discussion about the suspension of said brother or sister. There is a tremendous difference in these motivations.
I am neither in support of or against a faculty union; I simply feel it is necessary to point out an extreme flaw in this argument that can potentially create false notions about the union movement. However, I am in support of discussion. If over 50% of faculty members are for discussion with the administration, I feel such discussion is deemed necessary.