Kutztown University faculty held “APSCUF on Strike” signs on the edge of KU’s campus on Oct. 19, while passing drivers honked car horns and people cheered from open car windows.
Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties announced a strike at 5 a.m. on Oct. 19. APSCUF and the Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education conducted contract negotiations Oct. 14 to 18 without coming to a settlement agreement by the 5 a.m. Oct. 19 deadline. Faculty have been working 477 days without a contract.
“I stand before you in a state of profound disappointment that this event is occurring,” said Kutztown APSCUF spokesperson Daniel Spiegel at an 11 a.m. press conference held at the corner of College Blvd. and Main Street. “The quality of that education is of paramount importance to me, and that, much more than anything else, is why my union has called this strike.”
Spiegel, a KU computer sciences professor, said, “One thing has been consistent: PASSHE’s insistence on implementing proposals that will degrade the quality of the education we offer, the value of the degrees we confer, and the conditions under which we perform this important work. Their press releases state otherwise, but the facts on the ground have changed little. Educational quality is still threatened by the final proposal our union received from the State System before they ignored the governor’s request and left the bargaining table, refusing to return, forcing the beginning of this job action.”
Spiegel said, “If PASSHE’s proposals on salary and workload are implemented, our universities will not be as attractive for adjunct faculty they are now. There are alternative sources of employment for these people, and their best and brightest will go elsewhere, where the pay is better and workload less oppressive. We won’t get the best of them as we do now; we’ll have to fight for the mediocre and often be left to settle for the worst, those who are willing to settle for low pay and heavy workloads. And don’t expect the same effort, the same dedication from someone whose working conditions tells them they aren’t appreciated,” said Spiegel.
To provide a quality education, universities must attract and retain quality faculty, said Spiegel.
“Bad contracts are bad for our students, our faculty, and the reputation of our universities,” he said.
PASSHE issued a statement at 9 p.m. on Oct. 18 to media that APSCUF refused both the System’s salary offer and the proposed healthcare plan changes.
“We don’t understand how APSCUF can argue that faculty members should be entitled to a better healthcare plan than our other employees,” said State System spokesman Kenn Marshall. “These are difficult times for our universities. If APSCUF won’t agree to share more of the costs for their own healthcare-like everyone else has-it will threaten our ability to keep tuition affordable for students. We have made significant progress since Friday, and were hopeful we could get to an agreement by now. It is unfortunate-especially for our students-that we have gotten to this point.”
According to the PASSHE release, the State System withdrew more than two dozen previously proposed contract changes. PASSHE withdrew its proposal to allow some graduate students to gain teaching experience in labs and clinics. They also withdrew a proposal that would have allowed university presidents to transfer qualified faculty from one department to another. Also, they withdrew proposals requiring full-time temporary faculty to teach an additional class each semester, reducing compensation rates for part-time, temporary faculty and increasing the maximum number of temporary faculty universities could employ.
“By removing many of the more contentious issues from the table, we have demonstrated our willingness to participate in the normal give-and-take of negotiations,” Marshall said. “We believed it also would show APSCUF our eagerness to achieve a new contract. It is clear from their actions, however, that healthcare and salaries are the real issues in these negotiations.”
As part of the new offer, the State System proposed permanent faculty receive raises in each of the three remaining contract years, with raises ranging from 7.25 percent to 17.25 percent for individual faculty members. All regular faculty also would receive an additional cash payment of $1,000 in January 2017 as part of a new agreement. Raises were offered to temporary faculty in each of the three years, with no workload changes. They currently receive a minimum of $5,826 per three-credit course-more than double the regional average of about $2,700, according to PASSHE.
APSCUF KU mobilization strike chair Kevin Mahoney, KU English professor, said faculty were out on the picket lines at 5 a.m. as soon as they received notice of the strike going into effect. Prior to the strike start time, about 220 KU faculty members committed to walk the picket lines.
“Once the strike was called, suddenly we had a whole bunch of faculty members who had not signed up yet show up and say find a place for me,” said Mahoney. “That would make it almost three quarters of the faculty members have been out and about which has been pretty impressive.”
Mahoney said the most uplifting part of the day has been the student support.
“Dozens and dozens of students have been coming up. They’ve been making their own signs. They’ve been marching around campus,” he said.
The faculty and student relationship is at the core of their efforts, said Mahoney.
“We’re absolutely concerned about the students in our classes now but we’re also concerned about the students five years down the road and 10 years down the road, the integrity of the degrees and the integrity of the programs. That’s really what we’re out here defending,” he said.
Mahoney said people are feeling a real sense of solidarity between faculty and students.
“It has been a rough road over the past, especially the past two contracts, as we saw more and more of our ability taken away from us to deliver the kind of education we want to do in the classroom,” he said. “The mantra do more with less has a limit. You get to the point where it affects your ability to do what you need to do in the classroom. This contract has been the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
APSCUF have opposed proposals that would increase workload and decrease pay for adjunct faculty. Much of those proposals were pulled off the table by PASSHE.
“Instead of doing it all at once, however, they’re still trying to do it in a smaller venue. They’re trying to put the wedge in to separate the different faculty,” he said, noting that for example tenure faculty would get one increase while adjunct faculty would get a lower increase.
Kutztown APSCUF President Amanda Morris would like this strike to be as short as possible.
“I want to be back in the classroom,” said Morris, an English associate professor who teaches writing and rhetoric. “You can see our students are incredibly supportive. We are supportive of them. I want to get back to what I do best. Our students understand the value of what we do for them. I just wish the Chancellor would also see the value that we add to the State System.”
Out on the picket line at the crosswalk between Old Main and Schaeffer Auditorium, KU professor of physical sciences Erin Kraal said, “Last night was really awful. I wanted to not strike. It was hard. Today, being out here and feeling the support of the students and knowing that they understand that we’re fighting for them, it’s amazing.”
Kraal hopes the strike ends soon so they can get back into the classroom.
KU history professor Eric Johnson agreed that there has been a lot of student support. Many students brought the faculty on the picketline food and water, and have been making signs and walking around campus showing their support.
“It’s a tremendous outpouring of support,” said Johnson. “It’s gratifying to know that people realize that it’s not about us. It’s not about our paychecks and health benefits. It’s about some of the things that they want to do to the school here. We’re fighting to make sure the students get their money’s worth.”
KU graduating senior Shana Rose, majoring in environmental geography and minor in psychology, did not go to class that day. Instead she talked to faculty on the picket line to show her support.
“I’m very angry with the Chancellor and the State System because of the fact that they are not supporting the faculty and they’re not supporting what is best for the students and they’re willing to lower the standards of all the 14 state schools,” said Rose. “When you have the president of the university that is trying to increase the standards of this university, it seems like an oxymoron of what the State System is trying to do.”
While concerned about graduating, Rose is more concerned about the quality of the institution for years to come, concerned that standards would continue to be lowered.
KU sophomore art education major Liv Sun, student coordinator for Action on KU’s campus as well as coordinator for student leaders across the 14 PASSHE schools, was out on the picket line with other students holding signs to show their support for faculty.
“The reason we’re out here, and the reason why we’ve organized these student actions of walkouts and strikes, is not only because we believe in the same things as the faculty believe in and what they’re here fighting for, but we really want to show our support and our appreciation for everything that they’re doing because they’re out here fighting for us and they’re out here on the strike lines because they believe in quality education. They believe in providing us with the quality that they think we deserve.”
