Union leaders talk to students
In a meeting that underscored the deep divisions hampering contract negotiations between unionized faculty members and managers of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education, local union leaders met with students at Slippery Rock University Wednesday night to discuss the impending faculty walkout.
Ben Shaevitz, the president of the university's chapter of the Association of Pennsylvania State College & University Faculties, answered student questions and defended professors' decision to set a strike date later this month.
He said the contract impasse represents a fundamental disagreement over the quality of a state-sponsored college degree, how faculty at the institutions should be treated, and what the system's overarching philosophy should be.
Students on Wednesday — a couple dozen attended the APSCUF forum — aired questions and concerns ranging from what was holding up contract negotiations to what would happen if a strike were actually to occur.
Shaevitz told the audience that the impasse between negotiators for the state system and APSCUF representatives did touch on economic issues. But he and other professors Wednesday said pay and compensation for faculty members within the system was a secondary concern, and that the union would have been willing to strike over other issues regardless of whether both sides could agree on economics.
In particular, professors said, the union vehemently objects to state proposals that would give university management more leverage to transfer professors between different departments, as well as changes that would increase the workloads of part-time, temporary and adjunct instructors. Shaevitz said the state's proposals amounted to “exploitation” of the non-tenure-track faculty members, whom he said would be at a professional disadvantage and unable under the proposals to provide students with a quality education.
“They're going to be very stressed, they're going to be burned out, and they're going to be teaching you,” Shaevitz said.
While the disagreement between APSCUF and state system management is cut in sharp relief, it's also indicative of why the impasse has now lasted for 464 days. Professors said they see the disagreement as more overtly political than previous contract disputes, and one that strikes at the heart of how state-sponsored higher education is funded and run in the commonwealth.
“In some ways what we've got here is a basic disagreement,” said Daniel McIntosh, a professor of political science. “What is a university for? Does it exist to help students get a good education at a reasonable price? Or does it exist to help make somebody else money?”
For students, the impending strike's causes hold interest. But the possible effects are objects of major concern. Would student organizations and clubs continue to meet during a faculty strike? Would student projects and trips be affected? Would outside instructors be brought in to teach courses? Would the semester be canceled and, if so, would students be compensated for a lost 14 weeks?
Shaevitz said Wednesday he doesn't have answers to many of those questions, and told students that it would be up to administrators to decide on issues such as when, or if, the semester should be shut down.
But, Shaevitz said, he believes that particular decision would be made relatively quickly. If a faculty strike lasted a week or more, Shaevitz believes it would impact graduation dates for this year. One student said she had heard that if a strike lasted more than two weeks, the semester would be canceled. Shaevitz said that “sounds reasonable,” but reiterated that he didn't have any specific information about the university's plans.Faculty members — about 5,500 across Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities — are set to walk out of the classroom starting Oct. 19, unless a contract agreement is reached. Shaevitz said the union, which represents about 450 professors at SRU, would be setting up picket lines at each of the 14 roads that lead into SRU's campus. But he pledged that picketers would remain “completely professional; nonviolent; noncombative,” and said they would not seek to stop traffic or heckle people entering the university.“It's not meant to be a physical barrier. It's a visual show,” Shaevitz said.Responding to student concerns about possible retaliation against professors who choose to continue teaching during the strike, Shaevitz said the union had pledged not to let such matters impact things like the decisions of committees that award tenure or other professional matters. He said such actions would be “professionally irresponsible.”“We want to maintain the respect we hope you (students) have of us,” he said.
