AAUP Ohio Conference

American Association of University Professors

Former Professor Leaves Gift to OCAAUP

At the beginning of this year, we received notice from the attorney of the late Harmon Dean Cummings of a gift in the amount of $2,000 to the Ohio Conference AAUP. In his will, Cummings specified that the gift should be used “to provide assistance to faculty in need of an advocate.”

Dr. Cummings was the former head of the Music Department at Marietta College, which is a private liberal arts college located in Marietta, Ohio. Cummings was a graduate of Oklahoma State University and University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, where he earned his PhD.

At our latest board meeting in January, the OCAAUP board of trustees voted to use the gift to establish a fund that will assist private university faculty that may need legal or other support. We will provide more specifics about the fund and how to request a grant in the near future.

Announcing Candidates for 2022 OCAAUP Elections

Below are the candidates who are running for this year’s OCAAUP elections:

  • President: Gretchen McNamara, Wright State University
  • Secretary: Lisa Voigt, Ohio State University
  • At-Large Member from Private Institution: Peter J. Tandler, Walsh University

We thank Professors McNamara, Voigt, and Tandler for stepping up to run for these positions!
Despite there being just one candidate per office, we are required to furnish ballots to every Ohio AAUP member. In March, you will receive an email from the company BallotBoxOnline to vote securely.

STRS Update: Mitigating Rate Reduction

Mitigating rate will decrease for ARP participants

At the December 2021 State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) Retirement Board meeting, it was announced that the “mitigating rate” — the rate charged to participants in the Alternative Retirement Plan (ARP) — will decrease from 4.47% to 2.91% of payroll for Fiscal Years 2023 through 2027.

The mitigating rate is designed to compensate STRS for lost investment opportunity resulting from employees who are eligible for such plans not making contributions to support the STRS retirement plans. This change is based on a five-year rate study that was concluded at the end of the 2021 Fiscal Year.

Several years ago, a group of ARP participants sued STRS over an increase in the mitigating rate. The class action suit was settled and those who opted into the settlement received compensation.

OCAAUP Works for You

Happy New Year! Here is how OCAAUP works for you.

We thought that the New Year would be a great time to remind our members about the ways that the Ohio Conference serves faculty interests.

We know that OCAAUP may sometimes seem like a mystery. You likely are most in tune with the AAUP at the chapter level, which generally has the greatest impact on your day-to-day professional lives.
However, at the state level, OCAAUP does valuable and important work for all Ohio members. With just one staff member and a 19-member elected volunteer board, the Conference accomplishes a tremendous amount each year.

One of the biggest roles of the State Conference is governmental advocacy efforts. OCAAUP is seen as the faculty voice at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. We regularly engage legislators, track bills, and provide oral and written committee testimony. Our goals are to lobby for greater resources for higher education, as well as protect and advance academic freedom, faculty job security, and shared governance. We advocate for strong pensions to the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) and Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) Boards.

We belong to several coalitions with other organizations that work on issues impacting worker rights, collective bargaining, the state budget, education, and public pensions. This work not only strengthens our collective interests, but it also means that other groups have our backs when we are faced with a threat.

In addition to our advocacy efforts, we often work with National AAUP’s Committee A to help individual faculty address infringements to academic freedom and tenure, and we help chapters address wider issues that threaten AAUP principles at the campus level. Over the years, we have had some success mitigating faculty job loss and holding administrations accountable.

We also aid in establishing new advocacy and collective bargaining chapters, build membership at existing chapters, and facilitate information sharing among our chapters. OCAAUP serves as a hub that connects all 25 chapters in the state so that faculty can exercise a collective voice and collective power. We frequently have op-eds published to engage the public on issues of importance to higher education and make the faculty voice heard.

You can keep up with Conference activity by reading our e-mails, checking our website, and attending your own chapter meetings to get updates from your local leadership. Thank you for being an AAUP member and supporting the important work that we do!

Get Involved with STRS

Opportunities to engage in pension issues

If you are a member of the defined benefit State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) pension, there are a couple of ways that you can get more involved in pension issues to be an advocate for yourself and your peers.

Healthcare and Pension Advocates Coalition
For many years, Dr. Rudy Fichtenbaum served as the AAUP member representative to the Healthcare and Pension Advocates (HPA) coalition. Because Dr. Fichtenbaum is now a member of the STRS Board, we need another AAUP member to serve as a representative to the coalition, attending meetings with OCAAUP Executive Director Sara Kilpatrick. Currently, the meetings are virtual, but at some point are likely to revert back to in-person ones at STRS headquarters in Columbus. Travel expenses are reimbursed by OCAAUP. If you are interested in serving in this capacity, please contact Sara Kilpatrick at sara@ocaaup.org.

Run for the STRS Board
The best way that we can make changes at STRS for the better is to elect new people to the board who understand that the status quo is unacceptable. Retirees have been without a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for eight years, and active contributors to the system are paying in more than what the value of their pension will be upon retirement. But it doesn’t have to be this way, and we need more Board members who will support Dr. Rudy Fichtenbaum and his efforts to improve STRS.

Whether you are an active professor or retired, there are positions on the STRS board that will be up for election. If you are interested either now or possibly for the future, contact Sara Kilpatrick at sara@ocaaup.org.