Blog

Our guest post today is by Dr. Amanda Morris of Kutztown University.

Faculty unions are the antidote to the poison of austerity, uncertainty, and fear that has taken hold at many of our universities. If the faculty of Mount St. Mary’s were unionized, the recent kerfuffle probably would not have happened, and if it had, there would now be a flurry of grievances that would tangibly hold university administration accountable for the actions of its president. After comparing students to bunnies who should be drowned or killed with a Glock, the Mount St. Mary’s president was called out in the student newspaper, responded by firing two faculty members, and has since decided to extend “mercy” and reinstate those faculty members. But the damage has been done. Faculty are nervous, uncertain about their futures, and afraid to speak out. A faculty union would stand between the faculty and any administration that abuses its power so boldly. Mercy, indeed.

States such as Pennsylvania and Illinois are currently in budget stalemates, refusing to uphold their financial responsibilities to their own state systems of higher education. This state of austerity has been in place for several years, and it seems to be coming to a head in 2016 for many of us. In Pennsylvania, our State System has flat funding for 2015-16, which is far from ideal, but also far from what is happening at Western Illinois University, where 34 faculty will be fired this year along with staff who have already been let go. The university will also eliminate 24 programs and consider cutting 17 more. According to the McDonough County Voice, “The layoffs are part of the university’s strategy to cut $10 million from the 2017 fiscal year budget, which starts July 1. A state budget impasse is approaching its eighth month, and the university hasn’t received state appropriations and Monetary Award Program grant funding for the current 2016 fiscal year.”

This should sound familiar to those of us who work for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. APSCUF recently sponsored a rally for students in Harrisburg to fight for adequate funding of our system. PA legislators remain recalcitrant and unwilling to do their jobs by passing a state budget that improves funding of the STATE university system. Students and faculty are understandably annoyed, but so far none of our faculty has been fired during this current budget standoff. We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the WIU UPI Local 4100.

Faculty unions are the gatekeepers that hold rogue administrations at bay, demand they provide proof before acting, and refuse to allow whims or personal opinions or hurt feelings to guide hiring and firing decisions. Faculty unions are keenly aware that people’s livelihoods are at stake and work long hours with university officials and financial documents to find ways to save faculty jobs. I know that’s what APSCUF does for us. That’s why we pay dues. We pay for the right to that kind of protection.

When I joined the faculty of Kutztown University in 2010, I was new to the union. No position I had ever held in journalism or advertising had the option or benefit of union backing and protection. Since becoming a KU faculty member, I have seen colleagues’ jobs and departments saved because of our union’s refusal to back down. No matter what minor irritations we must accept as realities of having a faculty union in place, it is all worth it. Faculty unions are the antidote in uncertain, fearful, and austere times. Join today. You won’t be sorry.

Dr. Amanda Morris teaches writing and rhetoric at Kutztown University. Follow her on Twitter @amandawriter.

On behalf of the approximately 5,500 faculty members and coaches employed at Pennsylvania’s 14 publicly owned universities, the Executive Council of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties released the following statement today:

APSCUF stands with the faculty at Mount St. Mary’s University in condemning the summary dismissal of two faculty members, one of whom was tenured, for their supposed “disloyalty.” Although the faculty members since have been reinstated, the unwarranted dismissals create a chilling effect on academic freedom and devalue the importance of tenure. For a college or university to maintain its integrity, faculty must be able to criticize and disagree with administrators without fear of retribution. Further, the nation’s university and college administrators should view the events at Mount St. Mary’s University as a cautionary tale about how the embrace of a corporate mentality breeds disrespect for students, damages an institution’s standing, and disrupts the overall academic enterprise.

Photo/Wikimedia Commons

About 500 people filled the Capitol rotunda last week to advocate for fair funding for our 14 state-owned universities. If you weren’t able to attend, you missed a roaring display of unity and activism featuring legislators and State System students, faculty members, and alumni. Students and professional media reported the Feb. 8 event, and we documented the activities, too.

Here’s a roundup of social and traditional media coverage:

Participants used the #fundorfail hashtag on Facebook and Twitter.

View photos in APSCUF’s Facebook album here. We collected images of rally preparations as well.

APSCUF started a Snapchat account so we could create this story on rally day. (While you’re thinking about Snapchat, make sure to add APSCUF now so you’re all set for our next event.)

The PA House YouTube channel features Rep. Mike Hanna’s time at the podium and included the rally in its Week in Review.

Harrisburg-area coverage included an edition of ABC27’s FactChecker and an article on PennLive.com.

And here’s a collection of coverage by campus news organizations, APSCUF chapters and faculty members, and local media:

Students, Faculty Members Attend ‘Underfunded We Fail’ Rally in Harrisburg via California University of Pennsylvania’s Cal U Times 

APSCUF Fund or Fail Rally video via Clarion University’s Eagle Media Productions

Clarion Rallies For More Funding via The Clarion Call

Clarion APSCUF’s Facebook album

Students and Faculty Rally for Funding via East Stroudsburg University’s The Stroud Courier

Students Demand Funding for Education via Edinboro University’s EdinboroNow/The Spectator

Students, faculty represent IUP at PASSHE funding rally via Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s The Penn

IUP students rally at Capitol in support of higher education via The Indiana Gazette 

KU students and faculty rally for “fair funding” in Harrisburg via The Keystone News (on Issuu)

Opinion: KU students benefit from Harrisburg rally via The Keystone News

#FundOrFail: Pennsylvania State System Students Demand Full Funding via Raging Chicken Press

Kutztown APSCUF’s Facebook album

Kutztown APSCUF’s special rally edition newsletter

PASSHE students make themselves heard in Harrisburg via The Eagle Eye

Photos by APSCUF member Rick Lilla of Lock Haven University

Lock Haven Students Rally For State Funding via WPSU

LHU Student-Faculty Liaison’s Facebook photos

MU60–2/11/16–special edition video via Mansfield University’s communications department

APSCUF Fund or Fail Rally News Package MUTV via Mansfield’s Mountaineer News

Hundreds rally for fair education via Shippensburg University’s The Slate

Commentary: Rally puts pressure on Harrisburg via The Slate

Video: APSCUF rally via The Slate

APSCUF, WCU students to hold rally in state capitol via The Quad

Thank you again to legislators, APSCUF members, and state system students for your participation in and support of the rally.

This statement was prepared by the academic affairs committee and was approved by executive council at APSCUF’s February 2016 legislative assembly. It emphasizes institutional control, broad general educational goals, and values the liberal arts.

APSCUF Position Statement on the Significance of the General Education Curriculum

The Association for Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) remains committed to supporting and maintaining a general education curriculum as defined by both our regional accrediting body, The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). More than two decades ago, the PASSHE Board of Governors clearly defined the objectives of general education in Policy 1993-01: General Education at State System of Higher Education Universities. The universities have since fulfilled the charge of this policy, and APSCUF fully supports the assertion that:

(W)hile study within and across the arts and sciences disciplines forms the basis for the general education curriculum, the most important outcomes — the liberal education outcomes — will consist not so much in the mastery of particular bodies of knowledge as in the acquisition of the skills, values, awareness, understanding, perspective, and appreciation needed for continuing professional and personal growth in a rapidly changing world. To achieve the outcomes of a liberal education, imaginative, deliberate, and rigorous approaches to the design of general education and to its integration with other parts of the curriculum and the college experience are called for. (p. 2)

To this end, the PASSHE institutions with APSCUF readily adopted the recommended procedures for developing, sustaining, improving general education programs while also developing strategies to keep general education goals current with the demands of a changing global community. The institutions communicate the significance of general education at all levels within and beyond the campuses; the systemwide commitment is apparent on university websites that reiterate the nine general education goals articulated by PASSHE Policy 1993-01. as follows:

In developing or reviewing their own goal statements, designing general education curricula, and considering the integration of general education with the rest of the undergraduate curricula, State System university faculty and administrators should use these goals as guidelines or benchmarks.

1. Skill in various forms of inquiry, abstract logical thinking, inductive reasoning, critical analysis, and ability to find and use information.

2. Communication skills — including those required for effective reading, writing, speaking, and listening — and awareness of the challenges of cross-cultural communication.

3. Ability to understand numerical data and use mathematical methods for analysis and problem-solving.

4. Basic understanding of the natural and social sciences and their significance in contemporary society.

5. Historical consciousness, i.e., understanding of ideas, events, persons, and creative expressions from the past.

6. Awareness of the social, economic, political, and environmental interdependence of countries and regions of the world.

7. Understanding of how people’s experiences and perspectives are shaped by gender, ethnicity, culture, and other factors that distinguish groups of people, coupled with recognition of common elements within human experience that transcend time, space, race, and circumstances.

8. Appreciation of and experience with literature and the arts.

9. Understanding of the role of values in personal, professional, and civic life; experience in recognizing and analyzing ethical issues. (p.3)

The effectiveness of Policy 1993-01 and the success of its implementation is attributable to the fact that these stated principles are consistent with the traditions of liberal education viewed through the lens of a rapidly changing world. APSCUF faculty understand the validity of these stated principles through what we have learned in our research and in the ways we see our students apply their educations in their careers and communities.

Our accrediting body, MSCHE, also recognizes these goals. Indeed, the statements articulated by MSCHE and PASSHE are similar, but Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education, the MSCHE (2009) document that defines Standards for Accreditation, is clear on two additional elements: the curriculum should be developed by faculty, and it should reflect the mission of the institution.

A general education program — developed, owned, and reviewed by the institution’s faculty — should be purposeful, coherent, engaging, and rigorous. General education skills may be taught or developed as part of courses in the major, in separate courses, or through a decentralized distribution. However, the skills and knowledge derived from general education and the major should be integrated because general education and study in depth, together, comprise a quality undergraduate education. Institutions offering the associate and baccalaureate degrees will strike an appropriate balance between specialized and more general knowledge. The institution’s ability to demonstrate that its students are able to integrate and apply in different contexts the core knowledge and skills learned in their course work is a critical component of successful undergraduate educational programs. (p. 47)

General education offerings should reflect the particular programs and mission of the institution. However, general education courses should not focus narrowly on those skills, techniques, and procedures specific to a particular occupation or profession. The content of general education within specialized degree programs should be comparable, though not necessarily identical, to traditional academic offerings at the collegiate level or above. (p. 48)

APSCUF is committed to general education and recognizes its importance in higher education. The universal adoption and implementation of PASSHE Policy 1993-01 is a testament to a shared commitment of PASSHE and APSCUF to preparing our students for the expectations of the 21st century. APSCUF also recognizes that the general education curriculum must be developed and reviewed by faculty and that this practice will keep the general education curriculum at each university consistent with the “mission of the institution.” Indeed, general education is ultimately the common element that each university gives each of its graduates and, as such, it shapes an institution’s identity.

Dr. Wilma J. Cavill speaks to assembly delegates after hearing the resolution in her honor Feb. 5, 2016. Photo/Kathryn Morton

Dr. Wilma J. Cavill, who retired from Slippery Rock University last month, has been a fixture at APSCUF’s legislative assemblies. At the most recent one Feb. 4–6 in Gettysburg, the organization honored Cavill’s decades of service with the following resolution:

Wilma J. Cavill Resolution for the February 2016 Legislative Assembly

Whereas, Dr. Wilma J. Cavill has established an auspicious service record through:

• serving as a member of Slippery Rock University’s APSCUF Executive Council from 1971 to 2014,

• serving as the SRU APSCUF secretary in 1972,

• becoming a legislative assembly delegate in 1973 and serving consecutively for thirty-eight years until 2011,

• serving as the SRU APSCUF president from 1974 to 1978,

• serving as the APSCUF state vice president for six years from 1998 to 2004,

• serving as a member-at-large of the state APSCUF Executive Council from 1976 to 1981,

• serving as the SRU APSCUF vice president from 1982 to 1986,

• serving as chairperson of the APSCUF Supplemental Benefits Trust Fund from 1990 to 2006,

• serving as chairperson of the joint APSCUF-PDE Educational Services Trust,

• her institutional memory, which has served to guide and inform SRU administration, faculty, state legislative assemblies, and state APSCUF leadership,

• receiving the state APSCUF Service Award in 1990,

• the establishment of the SRU APSCUF Wilma J. Cavill Service Award in 2007,

• her service being acknowledged by Slippery Rock University conferring an Honorary Doctorate of Public Service in December 2015,

be it resolved that APSCUF recognizes and honors the selfless contributions of Dr. Cavill’s sixty-three-and-a-half-year career in education and recognizes her invaluable mentoring and service as an APSCUF member.