Letter: Part-time professors band together under union for better treatment
Issue date: 10/8/08 Section: Editorial/Opinion
Therein lies URI's shame regarding its treatment of its part-time faculty, a group of teachers the university absolutely depends on to deliver its undergraduate curriculum.
Given these conditions, it is not surprising the part-time faculty at URI found it necessary to form a bargaining unit-to stand together and strive for a more equitable and fair work environment. That desired environment should also include a culture that values and respects the enormous contributions made by the part-time faculty to the university in general, and to URI's undergraduate student body in particular.
The union was certified in spring 2008 and the Part-Time Faculty United (PTFU) contract negotiating team is now in negotiations with the administration in our efforts to establish an equitable and fair work situation for part-time faculty at URI.
In recent weeks, URI administrators, at all levels, from the president to the provost and including the deans, have spoken urgently about the need for a new vision, a new future, for the University of Rhode Island.
Although they don't mention it in their public statements there is no question that a large core of part-time faculty will form a significant part of and play a central role in this "new vision" and "new future" at URI.
As noted above, the university simply cannot deliver on its obligation to provide URI students (and their parents who are paying extremely high tuition rates) the education they came to URI to receive.
We hope to be able to announce in the near future a fair and equitable agreement that reflects the essential value of and the significant contribution made by URI's part-time faculty.
In closing, "Think Fairness. Think Pride. Think Justice."
URI/AAUP/PTFU Negotiating Team
Dorothy F. Donnelly, David Malley, Barbara Silliman, Bruce Johnson
Given these conditions, it is not surprising the part-time faculty at URI found it necessary to form a bargaining unit-to stand together and strive for a more equitable and fair work environment. That desired environment should also include a culture that values and respects the enormous contributions made by the part-time faculty to the university in general, and to URI's undergraduate student body in particular.
The union was certified in spring 2008 and the Part-Time Faculty United (PTFU) contract negotiating team is now in negotiations with the administration in our efforts to establish an equitable and fair work situation for part-time faculty at URI.
In recent weeks, URI administrators, at all levels, from the president to the provost and including the deans, have spoken urgently about the need for a new vision, a new future, for the University of Rhode Island.
Although they don't mention it in their public statements there is no question that a large core of part-time faculty will form a significant part of and play a central role in this "new vision" and "new future" at URI.
As noted above, the university simply cannot deliver on its obligation to provide URI students (and their parents who are paying extremely high tuition rates) the education they came to URI to receive.
We hope to be able to announce in the near future a fair and equitable agreement that reflects the essential value of and the significant contribution made by URI's part-time faculty.
In closing, "Think Fairness. Think Pride. Think Justice."
URI/AAUP/PTFU Negotiating Team
Dorothy F. Donnelly, David Malley, Barbara Silliman, Bruce Johnson
