Dear WCU students,
I hope this letter can begin a dialog between you and WCU’s faculty about negotiations over the faculty employment contract. Here is why you should care about this issue: because you and your faculty want WCU to remain a high quality and affordable institution, and our contract is our main way of ensuring that.
And here’s why it is of immediate interest: because, after one and a half years without a contract, the faculty union offered binding arbitration to the administration of PASSHE (PA State System of Higher Education, WCU’s governing body) to resolve contract disagreements. PASSHE has rejected that offer. On Oct. 20, the state faculty assembly unanimously decided to hold strike authorization votes on our 14 campuses.
What is in that contract? Salary scales, of course, but also agreements on issues such as how faculty will teach courses and how faculty are evaluated; faculty teaching loads, campus responsibilities, and healthcare options.
Most importantly, the contract keeps oversight of the academic side of campus in faculty hands. When faculty works without a contract, they continue under the provisions of the old one, so you will have noticed no difference in campus and class conditions – yet. Faculty control important educational components (and, so far, PASSHE has refused to negotiate on curriculum and class size). Our contract encourages outstanding teacher-scholars to spend their careers at WCU.
Why should students care about a lapsed contract? Because work conditions affect quality. WCU’s busy faculty grade papers, advise student clubs, attend meetings, prepare class materials, and publish books and articles. And WCU’s permanent faculty teach more classes than peers at most other universities that expect faculty research and publication. Drastically cutting adjunct faculty compensation (by 35 percent), demanding healthcare payments much higher than any other public employees, and denying faculty domestic partner benefit will not allow WCU to attract and retain the best faculty, especially in high-demand fields such as business, where people can make more money in the private sector.
Recently, the state of Pennsylvania settled contracts with other unions that work on our campus. Governor Corbett called these deals “fiscally-responsible agreement[s]” that reflect “the economic conditions in Pennsylvania.” Even though faculty realized that the financial condition of Pa meant that any pay increases would be small, our union was not offered a similar contract. Instead, we were presented with a list of demands that would not make WCU an attractive place to work for new, energetic PhDs.
I hope you see that faculty concern with our contract has gone beyond the dollar signs. We now feel as though we are protecting the future of education at WCU. You are receiving an affordable and high-quality public education. Shouldn’t this continue? And shouldn’t your siblings and your children receive the same?
Please ask a trusted faculty member about these issues. Please write to Chancellor John Cavanaugh and ask him to negotiate a fair contract.
Sincerly,
Dr. Cheryl Wanko