As has already been widely reported in local media, the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (the union representing public higher education faculty) has announced a possible strike to begin on Wednesday, Oct. 19.
There is still a chance of a resolution and that no strike will occur, but if things continue along their current trajectory a walkout will start that day. Until then everything will proceed as usual at our public universities.
If there is a strike, I will join it and will not be reporting to my classes. I realize that my decision to participate in a possible strike will be very disruptive to my students’ studies at Kutztown University. They have paid a lot in tuition, and some are on the verge of graduating.
I want to make it clear that I am not doing this for self-interested reasons like pay and health care. While these have deteriorated over the years as they have for many American workers, my real motivation is the quality of what my students receive in their KU education.
The Chancellor’s office has stated its case in a series of press releases and communications they have been sending out to students. They have put tremendous effort into making it seem like faculty only want more money or are unwilling to help the state save expenses on health care.
But the real point of contention is what the Chancellor’s office has vaguely described as “other important operational changes that would allow our universities to be more nimble and flexible.” They are proposing more than 240 of these “operational changes”, and a sampling of some of the most problematic ones makes it clear why they are being less than forthcoming to students and the public:
-have students teach college courses
-assign faculty to teach outside their fields of knowledge (in other words, a biology class can be taught by an English professor)
-have 40 percent or more classes taught by a rotating pool of temps who will be unable to help students with office hours, letters of recommendation, internships, lab work, publications, conferences, independent studies, or any other type of mentoring
-replace in person teaching with massive online courses, even for students physically living on campus
The Chancellor’s office has claimed that these changes are necessary to “keep tuition affordable”. This rhetoric obscures the fact that rising tuition costs have nothing to do with faculty costs, which have risen negligibly compared to university spending as a whole.
The fact of the matter is that the Legislature in Harrisburg has been cutting funding to higher education for decades. Pennsylvania currently ranks 48th in state support of higher education. The fiscal situation that the Chancellor’s office claims is making these “important operational changes” necessary has nothing to do with the current state of the economy. It is a matter of deliberate policy decisions made over many years.
It is in their power to do something to keep tuition affordable. They have chosen not to.
Our students have long shouldered the burden of the state’s funding cuts in the form of rising tuition costs, the cancellation of entire majors, and other cuts to educational programs and services over the years. These proposed changes will only erode the value of what people are paying for and are not likely to result in tuition costs going down.
As disruptive as a strike would be, it would be far less harmful to our students than the changes the Chancellor’s office would like to impose. It is time for our leaders to think of education at every level as an investment to be cultivated rather than an inconvenient expense to be cut. Until then, I will continue to work towards the day when faculty and students can both get back to doing what we should be doing at a university.
Eric F. Johnson, Ph.D.Associate Professor of History
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
