On the Road
with Rachel Hendrickson

A couple of years ago, I wrote in this column about the faculty at Hagerstown Community College in Maryland and their efforts to form an NEA higher education chapter there.

I'm happy to report that the group is still going strong—and about to take a major step.

Under the leadership of Clare Lyons, the Association now has over 80 percent membership. And it's going to need every member in order to challenge recent unilateral decisions by the administration.

First, the administration raised the cost of prescription drug coverage for the college's faculty. While folks were still buzzing with this, the administration then announced that it is going to drop health insurance for retirees.

The decision forced some faculty members with plans to retire to reconsider their decision.

The college's faculty were angry, charged up, and determined to do something about the administration's rule by fiat. What they're going to do is—like many faculty members before them—move to collective bargaining.

Now, in Maryland, this is not so easy. For a community college to bargain, it must get a state legislator to sponsor a bill and then get that bill through the legislature.

It's doubtful that the administration will sit quietly while these efforts are under way. More likely, the college officials will, instead, mount their own political effort against the bill in the state house.

But the folks at Hagerstown have laid out a plan, and with the help of the Maryland State Teachers Association, they will be a force to reckon with. I almost (but not quite) feel sorry for the administration.

—Rachel Hendrickson coordinates NEA higher ed activities.