The Save Ohio Higher Ed coalition, an alliance among our chapters at Miami University, Ohio State University, and Ohio University, have come together for a fourth forum geared toward faculty senators and administrators, but all are welcome to participate.

“Shared Governance for the Current Crisis & Beyond: A Primer” will take place on Thursday, October 22 at 4:00 pm via Zoom. Registration is required. Come learn about shared governance and how to put it into practice at your institution.

In 2016, a group of Ohio faculty filed a class action lawsuit against the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) over the 1% increase in the mitigating rate for those in the Alternative Retirement Plan (ARP) that went into effect in 2013.

The mitigating rate is a portion of the employer contributions paid by university employers on behalf of their employees who choose not to join the STRS defined benefit plan, and is intended to offset the financial impact of the loss of their contributions.

A settlement of $5.9 million has been reached in the lawsuit. 

All faculty in the ARP should have received notice in the mail about the settlement; however, it has come to our attention that many faculty did not receive notice.

If you are in the ARP and did not receive a notice packet in the mail, click here and follow the instructions to inform the settlement attorneys that you should be included.

*Please note that this article is purely informational and is not meant to serve as legal advice.

On September 14, National AAUP Associate Secretary Anita Levy informed Wittenberg University’s president and board of directors that the association would be launching a formal investigation by the Committee on College and University Governance.

The AAUP, which initiates a limited number of investigations each year into serious violations of AAUP principles, will be reviewing the circumstances under which important provisions of the Wittenberg faculty handbook were suspended and two tenured faculty were terminated.

Preliminary review of the situation suggests that the aforementioned actions were taken without any meaningful faculty input, which is out of step with standards of shared governance, academic freedom, and tenure.

An ad hoc committee of individuals with no previous involvement with this situation will be appointed to conduct an independent inquiry. They may “interview” and request information from administrators and faculty in order to gather all facts before reporting findings to the Committee on College and University Governance.

The committee may recommend to the AAUP Council to place Wittenberg University on the Censure and/or Sanction Lists. The Censure List involves violations of academic freedom and tenure, while the Sanction List involves violations of shared governance.

The Ohio Conference AAUP has endorsed member Joel O’Dorisio in his bid for the 2nd State Senate District. Below is the official endorsement letter that was sent to his campaign.

In June, we had published a story about Joel’s candidacy, highlighting his activism as a member of the Bowling Green State University Faculty Association, a proud affiliate of the AAUP.

To learn more about Joel’s campaign or to make a contribution, visit https://joelforohio.com/.

Turmoil doesn’t begin to describe the current situation at the University of Akron (UA). The Akron-AAUP needs our help.

On July 15, the Board of Trustees, at the recommendation of President Gary Miller, terminated 97 full-time faculty positions, 96 of which were part of the Akron-AAUP bargaining unit, and 70 of which were tenured professors.

The trustees and president should rescind this decision or resign their positions.

The administration reopened the collective bargaining agreement with the faculty union by invoking the “force majeure” section of the contract. They are claiming that the pandemic and associated financial difficulties qualifies as the kind of “catastrophic” event that allows them to make reductions in force outside the scope of the contract.

Akron-AAUP has contested the use of force majeure. They also have presented the administration with various alternatives to eliminating these positions, such as reductions in administrative salaries and reforming athletics expenditures. However, the administration outright rejected such proposals. Upper-level administrators took only small, temporary pay cuts, and athletics was cut just $4 million as opposed to the $16 million cut from academics.

With the pandemic, we have come to a point where the longstanding rationalizations of these skewed priorities are no longer sustainable. In reality, COVID-19 merely exacerbated years of financial mismanagement by those in charge at UA. Faculty didn’t cause these problems, and faculty and students shouldn’t have to pay the price. Balancing the university budget on the backs of the very faculty that generate the revenue for the institution is penny-wise and pound foolish.

We are asking for support from fellow faculty, students, alumni, the community, and others in contacting the trustees and president and telling them they must rescind these layoffs and work with Akron-AAUP to develop a more equitable and sustainable plan that prioritizes education. If they are not willing, they should resign.

Click here to send a message to the UA trustees and president.

While we are primarily concerned for faculty jobs, academic integrity, and student success at UA, there are, of course, broader implications for faculty contracts and tenure if these terminations are allowed to stand. Help defend UA, faculty unions, and AAUP principles by taking action through the above link.