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On the Roadwith Christine Maitland* I HAD AN EXCITING OPPORTUNITY recently, on the Illinois State University campus, to help with an upcoming bargaining election. The unit includes 700 full-time faculty, and they’ll be voting March 8. We spent two days on campus talking to faculty. One of the major campus issues: the role of faculty in the governance of the institution. The trustees of ISU unilaterally adopted a change in 1998 that eroded the authority of the academic senate on campus. A new administration is now trying to undo some of the harm that decision produced. And, while Faculty Association President Ron Strickland and the other campus organizers appreciate the efforts of the new administration, they believe the faculty needs a strong organization to support these positive efforts and guard against erosion of the faculty's role in university governance. Besides governance, faculty at Illinois State are also concerned about their lagging salaries. What’s more, as on many other campuses, tenure is being eroded by an ill-conceived post-tenure evaluation scheme and by an increase in the number of temporary faculty appointments. In discussions on campus, I had a chance to assure a few faculty members worried that a vote for union representation would create another level of bureaucracy. Within our Association, I explained, collective bargaining is campus-based. NEA and NEA state affiliates provide resources. But what the bargaining process really amounts to is shared decision making with clout. This is one reason a union makes sense for university faculty. * —Christine Maitland coordinates NEA higher ed activities. |
