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Know Your Rights as Faculty: Protest, Free Speech, and Academic Freedom Over the last few weeks, we have seen a wave of student protests on campuses across the country against U.S. support for the war on Gaza. Many faculty at these universities have acted in solidarity with student protesters, either through public speaking, addressing the topic in their classes, signing petitions, contributing resources to encampments, joining the camps, interposing themselves between police and students, and in a few cases being arrested with students when camps have been swept by police. Increasingly, these protest encampments are being met with a militarized…

In light of the protests nationwide and at UO, the Executive Council of United Academics of the University of Oregon endorses the following statement by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). UA is affiliated with both the AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). UA will be issuing further information for faculty regarding their rights in the next several days; please contact us if you have questions about academic freedom or your rights regarding the campus protests. The AAUP and its chapters defend the right to free speech and peaceful protest on university campuses, condemn the militarized response by…

Unit Policy Process and Timeline Over recent months, units across campus have worked to craft and approve policies for Professional Responsibilities and the Peer Review of Teaching. Faculty have been invited and encouraged by the administration to engage in this revision process, and have done so thoughtfully and in good faith. The current step in the process is for the respective deans or vice presidents to review these policies and decide whether to make any changes before forwarding their versions (if changed), along with the faculty-approved policies, to the Office of the Provost by June 15.  Final approval by the…

The United Academics bargaining team had another productive session at the table last Thursday.  Your team presented its salary counter with some very minor movement on United Academic’s part.  The administration had proposed three years of merit raises of 3 percent each year, which would exclude hundreds of our bargaining unit members from raises over the course of the contract.  In addition to merit raises, we reasserted our language with across-the-board and equity raises, and proposed a total of 9.18% increases every year through a combination of these approaches.  With this increase, faculty salaries, which currently sit at 84% of…

Thank you to all who attended the last round of bargaining. We bargain again on Thursday, April 18, from 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125. Your presence is important because it shows that faculty are engaged and paying attention to bargaining. We will present a counter to the administration’s salary proposal, so we encourage all members interested in their economic situation to attend. As a reminder you can come and go, do work on your laptop, each lunch, etc. Your bargaining team met with the administration team again last Thursday and we had some productive conversations.  We were pleased that we managed…

Admin wants to take their failed financial planning out of your paycheck United Academics is back at the bargaining table this week, Thursday April 4, from 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125. Come out and support your bargaining team! The administration has promised to walk us through their lackluster salary proposal which fails to keep up with inflation, puts us farther behind our comparators, and excludes raises for many of the faculty in your bargaining unit. Let’s pack the room again! Your presence in the Zoom also makes a difference, but in-person sends a stronger message! The inflationary environment is not news,…

Thanks to everyone who came out on Thursday for the bargaining session. Save the dates and keep showing up! Spring term bargaining sessions will be held on odd weeks from 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125. In our first session after the break (April 4, 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125) we will speak more specifically to the administration’s salary proposal. We need you to be there to show the administration that faculty will not accept raises that signify an actual cut in pay for most, and that excludes large groups from the entire process. The administration seems less concerned about solving actual problems our…

Bargaining This Thursday! We packed the room during our last bargaining session–thank you, those of you who came in person or watched via Zoom. Let’s do it again this Thursday, March 14 (Chiles 125, 12:30 to 3:30)! It is possible that administration will present their counter to Article 26: Salary, so stop by (or come and go) as you have time. We will respond with a counterproposal to Article 41: No Strike, No Lockout in which the administration wants the ability to replace striking employees with your labor. If you think being forced to cover the labor of striking student…

Greetings, dear colleagues, Although the negotiations for our new contract have begun, important items from our current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) remain in process or yet to be implemented. In the CBA the membership of United Academics ratified in July 2022, we agreed with the administration that units need to update their policies to reflect significant changes in the CBA and to address several concerns, including course loads and equity in service assignments. The deadline for these changes is coming up. This email thus reiterates, updates, and adds to a communication I sent in January 2023 on the subject of…

Thursday is the day! We need a strong turnout this Thursday, 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125, as the UA Bargaining Team presents our economic package to the administration. Our Article 26: Salary represents a significant increase to faculty pay through across-the-board, merit, and equity raises, as well as promotion increases. The UA Economics Team will present information showing where faculty salaries at the University of Oregon stand in regard to our comparator institutions and our plan to bring faculty salaries up to competitive levels.  We will present a few other articles (Article 21: Review Decision Appeals, Article 34: Caregiving), pose questions regarding…