It’s easy to criticize. It’s much harder to promote change for the better. This is what the AAUP wants to do: restore the balance of power between faculty and administration. As academics, we are always looking for ways to improve. We can improve the system.
Shared Governance
For many years, the standard for shared governance at Ohio University has been embodied in the OU Faculty Handbook. If there is any confusion about how governance at OU should be shared, this document contains the rules. President McDavis endorsed the Faculty Handbook soon after he arrived. What if a new president declines to sign the handbook? Right now, we have no recourse. The AAUP wants to make the Faculty Handbook's provisions legally binding in a contract that confirms our responsibilities to the university and requires the university's reciprocal responsibilities to us regardless of changes in the administration. For examples of how we can do this, look at these contracts at universities with AAUP collective bargaining units: (a) University of Cincinnati (http://www.aaupuc.org/contract.html); (b) Wright State University (http://www.wright.edu/admin/aaup/aaup.html); (c) Cleveland State University (http://www.csuohio.edu/organizations/aaup/contract/0609contract/index.html); (d) University of Toledo (http://www.utaaup.com/toca2.htm).
OU Salaries and Benefits
About 12 years ago, the OU Board of Trustees resolved to return faculty salaries to the top quartile in the state of Ohio. That has not happened. When the transition between Presidents Glidden and McDavis led to large turnover among deans, replacements received substantially higher salaries, and the next year continuing deans won large raises to give them parity. That same year, the Provost received a promotion and of course a raise, and more recently the President received his famous $85,000 raise. What about us? A dozen years later, our salaries just
recently (2007-8) climbed up to the bottom of the top half of ranked
salaries in Ohio, with associates just making it into the top
quartile. Why so long for faculty but not administration? More
importantly, why did we ever sink so low? Collective bargaining can
keep us competitive and where we belong.
The Downsides
Sure, there are some downsides to collective bargaining. There is less flexibility in the system, since there are rules and signed agreements. Under collective bargaining, it is more difficult, for example, to switch funds from faculty health benefits to other areas. If there are hard economic times, as we currently have, then it is more difficult to balance the university’s budget by decreasing salaries across the board. Would this decrease in flexibility create a disaster for Ohio University? If needed, the faculty have the ability to suspend the union contract and, by majority vote, vote for a new one. This is burdensome, and hence reduces flexibility. But what we lose in flexibility we gain in greater mutual responsibility. Administrators can no longer act on arbitrary whim but must instead adhere to clear and binding contracted procedures.
Positive Change
The AAUP believes in the faculty’s ability to collectively make good decisions. If you believe that the system works better when decision making power is concentrated in the hands of a few administrators, then the AAUP is not for you. The AAUP is working for the faculty. Collective bargaining offers a clear and effective means for restoring the balance between faculty and administration in collegial governance.
Contact OU-AAUP President Kevin Uhalde (uhalde@ohio.edu / kevin.uhalde@gmail.com) for more details about collective bargaining and the OU-AAUP card drive. To become an AAUP member, go to www.aaup.org.
