We are pleased to share that our own Rudy Fichtenbaum, Past President of National AAUP, long-time OCAAUP Board Member, and emeritus professor of economics at Wright State University, is running for one of the retiree positions on the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) Board.

We also are supporting the candidacy of Elizabeth Jones, a retired teacher and member of the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT). Rudy and Elizabeth are both well-versed on pension issues and would be good fiduciaries of the pension system. They believe that the cost of living adjustment (COLA) for retirees should be restored, and that active educators deserve a fair and sound pension upon their retirement.

In order to get Rudy and Elizabeth on the STRS ballot this spring, we need to collect 500 signatures from STRS retirees who live in Ohio. Two hundred of those signatures have to come in the form of 20 signatures from 10 counties. STRS is not relaxing their rules on signature collection. They will not accept electronically signed or scanned petitions. We need original, hard copy signatures.

As such, we are asking retired professors and K-12 teachers who belong to STRS and live in Ohio to PRINT, FILL OUT/SIGN, and MAIL both Rudy’s petition and Elizabeth’s petition to the OCAAUP office:

Ohio Conference AAUP
222 East Town Street, 2W
Columbus, OH 43215

If you have questions, email sara@ocaaup.org.