Faculty Meeting Follow-Up

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

I am writing to thank you for your candid comments and suggestions at Wednesday’s 教师会议. I asked for an honest, civil, robust discussion and we had that. I believe 火博体育 and our community are the stronger for it.

In the weeks ahead, as the petition supported by some of our non-tenure-教师 to be represented by the SEIU is addressed by the NLRB, there are likely to be moments of concern and uncertainty, claims and counterclaims, and philosophical disagreements. I sincerely hope we can always maintain our commitment to the kind of thoughtful discussion and respectful debate we exhibited earlier this week.

I want to reiterate the position of the College and our leadership team. 火博体育 is neither pro-union nor anti-union. We are decidedly pro-information and pro-fair 过程. We are, and always will be, pro-understanding and pro-knowledge. 我们都是 engaged in a 过程 of inquiry and fact-finding. Ultimately, the interest of us all is in a fair and impartial 过程 in which all of the implications are fully explored and all of the information is readily available.

While I understand that the union supporters have been engaged for some time in reaching out to proposed members about the benefits of unionization, other members of the College community – including some of the proposed bargaining unit members – only became aware of this proposal quite recently. Legitimate questions have been raised. 一个是 holding a union election over the summer is optimal given that our non-tenure-track 教师 are not expected to attend to College business over the summer and may not be available to fully participate in a vote. We certainly want to see as full and robust participation by the eligible electorate as possible. That seems to be an unquestionable 好.

Another question is whether the inclusion of full-time non-tenure-track 教师 in the proposed bargaining unit is at odds with the College’s governance structure, which includes participation by those individuals. This is the time, the only time, in this 过程 to consider these questions and to obtain definitive guidance from the NLRB. We do not intend to prolong this inquiry. However, to leave such fundamental questions unanswered would be an abdication of our shared responsibilities to our community 作为一个整体.

Just as the College would not seek to silence the union’s questions, the College’s inquiries (and, more importantly, those of our non-tenure-track colleagues) deserve to be heard and answered by the NLRB. 火博体育 has a long history of diligently and carefully exploring all aspects of an issue and considering disparate viewpoints before 做出重大决定. We can all agree, I hope, that the search for information with respect to this significant matter should be honored and upheld, not condemned. 

Neither SEIU nor 火博体育大学 will render the final decision on the question of a union for our eligible non-tenure-track colleagues. The decision will be theirs and theirs alone, based on a majority of eligible voters. We will continue to support our colleagues, respect their rights, and follow the NLRB 过程.

真诚地,

马克·康纳
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