Union leaders from APSCUF, AFSCME, and SCUPA (an affiliate of PSEA) today addressed the possibility of retrenchment and other job losses at Commonwealth University, which includes Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, and Mansfield campuses. In the East Wing Rotunda of the Pennsylvania Capitol, speakers discussed the failure of Pennsylvania’s public officials to properly fund its universities and the lack of accountability for questionable decisions made by university and State System leaders.
Watch the full press conference:
Dr. Kenneth M. Mash, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, emceed the event, which took place 10 years after the conclusion of APSCUF’s first faculty strike (Oct. 19–21, 2016).
“This retrenchment, this loss of jobs, doesn’t lie on the backs of the faculty members who are going to lose their jobs, the workers who are going to lose their jobs,” Mash said. “It should be on the backs of the people who put us in this situation in the first place. It certainly shouldn’t be on the backs of students who will have fewer course offerings, difficulty graduating from their classes, and they will not have the options that they otherwise would have had. Someone has got to take responsibility.”
Rachel Shaffer, Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg campus SCUPA president, spoke directly to legislators.
” … Step up and make investments in all of our state-funded universities, including Commonwealth University, so that we have the resources we need to prepare our students for future success,” Shaffer said. “To the elected leaders in the Capitol right now, we have a message for you: We need you to fund our colleges and universities. We need you to invest in our students and the professionals who help make their college experience a success.”
Shawn Makar of AFSCME Council 13 works at Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg.
“Don’t play a game with my life and the lives of my fellow PASSHE employees,” Makar said. “Please.”
Dr. Alan Gishlick teaches at Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg, and his position is in peril. He underscored the importance of workers to a university.
“It’s the faculty who teach the classes,” Gishlick said. “It’s the faculty who mentor the students. It’s the faculty who provide research opportunities and intellectual enhancement to the students’ lives.”
Dr. Matt Girton of Commonwealth University-Lock Haven talked about his lifelong ties to all three Commonwealth University campuses. He discussed how cuts would harm the university and communities.
“Retrenchment doesn’t solve a problem,” he said. “It hastens the demise of the school.”
APSCUF photos