Come celebrate the academic year with your UA friends, old and new!
On Thursday, May 30, we’re having our annual Spring Picnic from 4:00 to 7:00 pm at Alton Baker Park Shelter #2. Bring your family out for a day in the park and celebrate with colleagues, some food, and some fun.
The details:
When: Thursday, May 30, from 4 to 7 pm
Where: Alton Baker Park Shelter #2
What to bring: You, family members, colleagues, and friendly dogs!
We'll provide snacks, beverages (alcoholic and non-), and a few lawn games. So, mark your calendars for the United Academics Spring Picnic! We look forward to seeing you.
Community Investment Fund
In our prior round of bargaining, we achieved a Community Investment Fund to support one-time funding for the expansion of childcare capacity in community-based centers that would provide spaces to University of Oregon faculty and staff. The Request for Proposals is live; you can find additional information here. The deadline for proposals is June 5, 2024.
Your union is here to help
Following up on our Know Your Rights message from two weeks ago with respect to the encampment and student protests, we want to reiterate that your colleagues at United Academics (UA) stand ready to defend any faculty in our bargaining unit whose rights are violated by the administration. Academic freedom and free speech ensure that faculty and departments are not subject to administrative demands to remove statements about current community and global events or to change teaching content without substantive and verifiable reasons.
Additionally, you have a right to representation. If your department head or dean calls you in for an investigatory meeting or one that could reasonably lead to discipline or changes in your working conditions, labor law entitles you to have a UA representative as a third-party witness in that meeting. UA representatives are also available to respond to questions or offer consultation about these matters.
If a supervisor or administrator contacts you about your activities, speech, or a student complaint, please email us at [email protected] or call us at 541-636-4714.
Likewise, reach out to us if you have been a target of harassment, intimidation, or threats – whatever the source.
We sincerely want to help anyone in need of assistance, and we also want to have a clearer picture of the larger patterns at work.
In solidarity,
Nathan Whalen
Chair of the Grievances & Contract Administration Committee
David Luebke
Vice President for Tenure-Track Faculty
Eleanor Wakefield
Vice President for Non-Tenure Track Instructional Faculty
Christina Karns
Vice President for Non-Tenure Track Research Faculty
Next Bargaining Session
Our next bargaining session is on June 13th from 12:30-3:30 in Chiles 125. This is the last bargaining session of the quarter, and we would like to see a big turnout. While we are making progress on non-economic issues, the administration has denied our need for substantive raises in order to counter inflation and keep our salaries competitive with our comparators. We will communicate more soon, but will likely need involvement from all members in order to secure a fair compensation package.