Gretchen McNamara, a senior lecturer of music at WSU and chief negotiator for the Wright State University American Association of University Professors, or AAUP-WSU, said the contract negotiations focused on clarifying existing language, like explicitly stating expectations for office hours and changes in how long of a sabbatical some faculty can take.
She stressed that the negotiations were cordial, though they did take longer than anticipated.
“The process played out, and we ended up with a contract,” McNamara said.
The 3% raise will be retroactive August 2023. The new contract expires in June 2026.
Negotiations began in January 2023 and the faculty union voted on the final contract in December.
Bobby Rubin, president of Wright State faculty union and a senior lecturer of English at WSU, said the final vote was 269 votes yes, out of 289 votes possible.
“I would say that our members are happy with the new contract,” Rubin said.
But he said faculty continue to be concerned because of continued cuts to higher education faculty and staff across the nation. In 2019, WSU faculty went on strike, and in 2021, the university invoked the retrenchment clause of the union contract, which allowed the university to make cuts to how many faculty were employed. Most of the faculty who left did so voluntarily, and only a handful of positions were ultimately cut.
Rubin noted, however, that Wright State’s finances and enrollment are looking good.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that we are in a good position here,” Rubin said.
Here are some of the biggest changes to the Wright State faculty union contract:
- Professors must have at least four office hours per week, and professors are required to input mid-term grades.
- Any member who shows consistent low scores on an annual evaluation must undergo a periodic review.
- The university can ask a faculty member to develop an online course, but the faculty must agree to sign an agreement and the administration is paying $2,000 per course development.
- Members can apply for and receive one semester of sabbatical at 100% pay and take a full leave at 66% of pay. The union said this was a concession, but a change to be closer to policies at comparable colleges.
- Instead of paying the university faculty a fraction of their pay for summer classes, the university will pay a base of $1,800 per credit hour with a minimum enrollment of 18 students.
Wright State administrators were asked to respond to questions about the new contract.
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