Blog

The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculty (APSCUF) and State System negotiators met today, Friday, March 20, 2015 at the APSCUF office in Harrisburg. The two sides primarily discussed the financial health of the State System and briefly discussed retrenchment. The negotiators will meet again on April 10, 2015 at the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.

Earlier today, Governor Wolf gave his first budget address outlining his fiscal plan for the Commonwealth. APSCUF President, Dr. Kenneth M. Mash, is issuing the following response:

“In 2011, the previous administration cut funding to the State System of Higher Education by $90 million and provided no additional money the last three years. All Pennsylvanians should feel proud to have a Governor who understands the value of public higher education, and we fully support his plan to completely restore funding over two years.

“Restoring the full $90 million for the State System in the first year would have been challenging given the economic climate in Pennsylvania, and it is understandable that an increase must be incremental.

“As a result of the budget cuts, Pennsylvania fell to 49th in higher education funding, there are 270 fewer full-time faculty at the state-owned universities, and universities have discontinued over 90 programs. All Pennsylvanians will benefit from reinvestment in our students and our universities.

“The State System’s impact on the Commonwealth’s economy is substantial. Nearly 90 percent of students are from Pennsylvania, most are from lower or middle income families, and many are first-generation students. Upon graduation, 80 percent of State System students remain here in Pennsylvania where they obtain jobs, pay taxes, and contribute to the economy.

“Our professors and coaches hope that the Governor and the members of the General Assembly will work together to ensure a strong path to full restoration so that our students and generations to come will have access to high-quality public higher education at an affordable cost.”

PASSHE Board of Governors
Remarks of Kenneth M. Mash, Ph.D.
February 27, 2015

Chairman Pichini, Governors, Chancellor Brogan,

Good afternoon. This week is National Adjunct Action Week, and APSCUF stands in solidarity with our colleagues across the nation both adjunct and tenure and tenure track, in recognition of the plight of these faculty, who across this country are too often exploited, that is, they are grossly underpaid, denied health benefits, and forced to travel hundreds of miles to patch together enough money to make a living.

Their work is underappreciated, and they are way too often treated as if they are expendable, even as they devote their time and energies to instructing students, preparing them for their careers and giving them the ability to think critically that will serve them in every capacity of their lives.

The plight of the adjuncts has caught the attention of the US Congress, which held hearings on their situation. And across the country, adjuncts are unionizing in order to improve their plight, and to press for full-time tenure track positions that help create a proper learning environment for both students and faculty. As we repeatedly say, the conditions under which faculty work are the conditions under which students learn.

While we stand in solidarity with our colleagues, you have probably noticed that we have been relatively quiet on our campuses. There was no talk at all of our faculty participating in the “National Adjunct Walkout Day.”

Why? I think in large part it is because this System has not been as exploitative as many universities across the country. The pay at our universities is better than at most, and the System Universities provide benefits for full-time temporary faculty.

Consequently, I stand here today to say thank you for working with us to treat our temporary faculty members with a modicum of dignity. Thank you for working with us to maximize the opportunities for full-time employment with benefits. Thank you for working with us to provide a path, even if it is not perfect, for long-term adjuncts to join the tenure ranks.

However, there is still much room for the universities to improve their treatment of our temporary faculty. In my position, I have heard my share of horror stories of course loads being reduced so that a university does not have to pay benefits or does not have to consider a permanent position. Numerous faculty have been buried at the bottom of the pay scale despite their qualifications or their length of service.

I have witnessed adjunct faculty be displaced, even as they have singlehandedly built up their programs. The cost of benefits for part-time faculty continues to be exorbitant. And our adjuncts are too often marginalized, too easily displaced, and too often their work is underappreciated.

We must continue to work together so that the adjunct faculty we represent are treated with the dignity and respect that they rightfully deserve, and I look forward to that endeavor. Adjunct faculty working conditions are, indeed, student learning conditions.

I thank you for your time.

During Februrary’s Legislative Assembly, APSCUF delegates approved the following resolution: 

Resolution

2/7/15

Whereas music is an important academic discipline, one of the critical subject areas recognized as part of the quadrivium by classical scholars,

Whereas contemporary research has proven that the study of music substantially enhances general intellectual development,

Whereas no “alignment plan” has been presented showing that Music does not aid the University in the fulfillment of its academic mission,

Whereas student demand for General Education offerings at East Stroudsburg University (ESU) remains strong,

Whereas the ESU administration based its decision to eliminate Music as a department and to delete General Education music courses on faulty budget projections, which forecasted a $7.6 million deficit for 2013-14 before a $3 million surplus was submitted in the final budget,

Whereas no budgetary deficit for the current year is projected,

Whereas this decision will eliminate a number of excellent musical groups and ensembles, including the ESU Orchestra and the nationally recognized ESU Chorale Ensemble.

Whereas ESU’s music program has provided especially strong ties to the community, expressed by energetic, emotional testimony at recent Council of Trustees public meetings,

Whereas, to date, more than 1000 have signed a petition urging the President of East Stroudsburg University to end her plans to eliminate Music,

Whereas eliminating music at ESU unjustly causes the retrenchment of two tenured faculty,

Be it resolved, that the Legislative Assembly of APSCUF supports the importance of Music as a discipline at East Stroudsburg and at all of our public universities and APSCUF urges Governor Wolf, Chancellor Brogan, the Trustees of East Stroudsburg University and President Welsh to retain the tenured music faculty and to maintain credit-bearing music courses at East Stroudsburg University and throughout our public university system.

by Andrew Kissinger, Intern

A few weeks ago, APSCUF held its 181st meeting of the Legislative Assembly. During this time, delegates from each of the 14 universities converge to discuss ideas, receive reports from statewide committees, and vote on both organizational policy changes and resolutions. One such resolution – a moratorium on the per-credit tuition pilot proposals – passed unanimously. The resolution reads:

“APSCUF requests that the Board of Governors refrain from approving any additional undergraduate per-credit tuition pilot programs until there is enough time to study the effects of the already approved pilots.”

The pilot programs already in place at Clarion and Millersville Universities will, according to the Board of Governors, help these schools generate new revenue. Next fall, similar programs will be implemented at Bloomsburg University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), potentially generating $3 million a year for three years, which will be paid by State System students and their families.

The widespread implementation of such pilots without knowledge of their full impact is irresponsible. Act 188, which created the State System and the Board of Governors, clearly dictates that the system is “to provide high quality education at the lowest possible cost to the students.”

As it stands currently, a student at Bloomsburg taking 12-18 credits per semester pays an annual tuition rate of $6,820. Under the per-credit pricing model, a student taking 12 credits will still pay $6,820, but a student who wishes to take 15 credits – the number necessary to graduate in four years – will pay an annual rate of $8,520, an increase of $1,700 or 25 percent. A student taking 18 credits will pay $10,224 annually, a staggering $3,404 – or 50 percent – increase in one year.

One must wonder if these programs help or hinder the mission of the State System under Act 188. These pilot programs come at a time when the average Pennsylvania student already graduates from the State System with over $30,000 in debt. From a national perspective, Pennsylvania ranks third-highest in student loan debt. Nearly 80 percent of PASSHE students accept some form of financial aid. These tuition increases will place an even greater financial burden on students and their families.

When the State System was created in 1982, the Commonwealth covered 65 percent of college costs. Today, state financial support covers a mere 25 percent of college costs, an abysmal number that will plummet even with the institution of these pilot programs.

The delegates of APSCUF show resolve in asking the Board of Governors to halt these tuition pilots. It is more than reasonable to request and study the impact of the established pilots before similar programs are established at any other universities.