What Every Central Michigan University Student Needs to Know
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- Category: Michelle Campbell
- Published on Thursday, 18 August 2011 12:10
- Written by Michelle Campbell
After a month long hiatus, I return to talk to you about the recent kerfuffle happening at Central Michigan University. For many students, the news is very confusing. The CMU administration has been sending emails to cmich.edu accounts “informing” students on the recent contract negotiations with the Faculty Association. There have also been numerous news articles “informing” the public on the happenings of the negotiations from both the Faculty Association and the Administration.
This is a post by a student for students and their families. I want to be clear: this post is biased. I support the Central Michigan University Faculty Association because, without the some 600 tenured and tenure-track faculty, Central Michigan University wouldn’t be Central Michigan University. These people are responsible for our education, both in academia and in life. These are the people in the classrooms everyday–dealing with the students who can’t seem to get a simple grammar rule or math equation through their thick skulls. They are also there to witness the growth of the individual from a self centered teenager into one who looks at the world through eyes of passion and the need for understanding. They are often the first source of assistance when a student has a life-altering issue. They are the people who make us who we are in the most formative years of our adult lives.
The purpose of this post is not to sling mud, yet, the purpose is also not to attempt to be detached and unbiased. How can political issues, especially political issues touching us personally, ever be detached and unbiased? The answer is that they cannot. Therefore, I will give a hopefully brief outline of what is going on. If you or your friends or your parents have no clue what is going on, this post should be a spring board for you to continue to do further research. This is your base, your touchstone.
Who Is/Are the Faculty Association?
The Central Michigan University Faculty Association is made up of many of the professors on campus. According to their website:
"The Central Michigan University Faculty Association is an organization of educators that represents the economic and professional interests of CMU’s faculty in collective bargaining. Established in 1969 by a vote of the full faculty, the CMUFA was the first collective bargaining agency for a four-year public institution of higher education in the country.
Membership in the FA currently is open to all regular faculty at CMU, including coaches and librarians. The FA is affiliated with the National Education Association (NEA) and the Michigan Education Association (MEA). This means that joining the Faculty Association also entails joining the MEA and the NEA."
Now, what you need to know is that not everyone that teaches at Central Michigan University is a member of the Faculty Association. That means that if there is a strike, some classes could still be held as usual. These other teachers are graduate instructors and adjuncts. Often, these are people without PhDs (although some are), and they are a member of a separate union. In fact, the Faculty Association is not the only union on campus; there are several others.
I think that it’s also important to note the kind of education and commitment the members of the Faculty Association have. Individuals with PhDs generally have 11-15 years of higher education schooling under their belt. It breaks out like this:
Bachelor’s Degree: 4-5 years
Master’s Degree: 1-3 years
Doctoral Degree: 5-7 years
Keep in mind that this does not include faculty members starting education late in life, taking breaks between degrees to work outside of academic, and those non-traditional students who went to school part-time due to familial or other life obligations. As a student, you know how expensive your credit hours are for just undergraduate course work. Imagine paying that for up to 15 years. In addition, graduate tuition is usually at a higher rate unless the student has received a scholarship like an assistantship or a fellowship.
What do Faculty Do?
The common misconception is that a faculty member teaching three (3) credit courses, or 9 total credits each semester, only works 9 hours a week. This is incorrect. Any teacher will tell you that the hours spent “performing” in the classroom are only the tip of the iceberg. These classroom hours take countless additional hours of preparation, planning, and grading. However, faculty don’t just teach. In fact, that’s only 1/3 of their job requirements.
Faculty also have two other required components: service and research. This means that, for all the time faculty spend in and planning for the classroom, they also need to spend equal amounts of time serving on committees within the university and conducting their own research. For some faculty, this could mean writing curriculum or serving on a grievance board where students come to file complaints against their faculty of record about things such as grades. Research means conducting experiments, writing book or articles, or doing appropriate “publishable” work in the discipline. Of course this is not everything that faculty do, but it is a sufficient outline for the purposes of this post.
What Does the Faculty Association Want?
There are several areas that the current bargaining is seeking to cover.
One is pay. The faculty want a modest living wage increase (to account for inflation and the rising cost of living). This is anywhere between 1% to 3% of current salaries. Although these ARE “tough times” for Michigan and the nation, Central Michigan University has not seen these tough times. The Administration is sitting on a pot of gold to the tune of $228 million dollars in unrestricted funds. That means they can use this money however they wish. Also keep in mind that the new medical school deans (a medical school that has yet to be built, so there are not faculty or students to manage as of yet) are raking in $300,000+ per year.
Another is healthcare. The university wants the Faculty Association to switch to a plan that makes them pay more out of pocket. The Faculty Association has tweaked their current health care plan so that it costs the Administration the same as the proposed plan, yet the Administration has refused this option. I think it’s important to note that the health care plan proposed by the Administration is the same plan that most of the Administration have opted out of themselves. Except, they can afford private health insurance on their $100,000+ salaries, while average faculty members, especially those with families, cannot.
Another is removing certain members from the Union. This includes some coaches, librarians, and new medical school faculty. Honestly, this is a power move. You should ask yourselves: why shouldn’t these people be treated just like all of the other faculty members? If this were to happen, there would be some serious issues in department management, as well as gross inequity in pay between these people and the still-covered Faculty Association members.
There are many more “sticking” points between the Faculty Association and the Administration, but I feel these are the most important.
Will the Faculty Association Strike? Will I Have Class on Monday?
This is unclear. The Faculty Association has given their leadership the go-ahead to enact a strike or some other kind of job action if the leadership deems it necessary and appropriate. After this vote, the Administration (who left the bargaining table weeks ago and has refused to return) came crawling back to the bargaining table, although, it seems not in good faith. A strike is not out of the question.
If there is a strike, some classes may still be held. Remember, adjunct faculty, graduate assistants, and P&As are not part of the Faculty Association. Therefore, many lower-level classes, and some higher level professionally concentrated classes may still go on as usual, but most higher level classes would not. If the strike were to continue for a long period of time, say 3-4 weeks, those classes would no longer be available for credit. This could possibly jeopardize graduation dates and the like.
What Can I Do?
1. The VERY first thing to do is to visit the Friends of CMU Faculty Facebook page and “like” it. There you will find much more information: http://www.facebook.com/groups/140403276035902/
2. Send a letter or an email to one or more members of the administration expressing your support for the faculty and your hopes that this issue is resolved soon.
3. Talk to your friends and family. Let them know what is going on.
4. Come out and support the CMU FA at protests and action events. More information can be found on the facebook page.
5. Ask questions. Learn. Find out the truth–isn’t that what education is all about anyway?
What if I have Questions, Comments, or Concerns?
Please do ask! Comment on this post and I will do my best to respond. You can also ask your question on the facebook page. There are 1500 people there to address your concerns and questions–some much more knowledgeable than I am!
While I understand that this is not an attempt to be unbiased. I would give your opinions the same level of respect as Wikipedia due to the lack of proof that some of this is true. I understand that some of your information was credited like the background of the CMUFA and I know some of the information is credible despite lack of proof. I do not disagree that the CMUFA deserves more than they have gotten, but do not forget who works on dispersing our financial aid, who makes sure athletic games are efficiently run, who make sure the internet is working so you can go on blackboard for your homework. Faculty are needed, no doubt, but the unseen work of college administrators is being greatly forgotten by the student because of the visibility of teachers vs. administrators. This is not meant to be a personal attack because I understand your intent, but here is my personal opinion on the situation
Paul, I'm confused are you saying that "the Administration" that is sitting at the negotiating table in this union contract are the same as the people as the folks the make the athletic game run or disperse the Financial Aid? I'm not from Michigan but from California where this Admin vs. Faculty fight happen every year and I can tell you here the Administration is far and away different from staff that make the light work, athletic field run, etc. If you are arguing that Faculty benefits are at the cost of staff benefits then I would ask you to provide the same evidence that you accuse Mr. Campbell of leaving out of her piece. The pitting of Faculty vs. Students in these types of union fights always allow the administration to win resulting in fee increases for students and decreasing benefits for faculty. This weakens the university, as the best teachers go to other school that respect the value of the service and experience they bring to the table and the value of your college degree ultimately diminishes.
The California State University and the University of California have been dealing with these same issues. With increasing tuition In California over the last decade, there has been a tug and pull between administration, the teachers union, and students a as result of decreasing budgets. While students inevitably lose, it is surprising that the faculty union at least here spends it's days taking vengeful swipes at the administration opposed to working with the administration or organizing student towards a productive solution.
The CMU faculty association has been spending its days attempting to work with the administration and organizing students. The faculty have been without a contract since the last day of June. The university administration cut off bargaining with the CMU faculty association, eventhough the faculty association begged them to come back to the bargaining table. Recently, The CMU faculty association recently voted to allow their leadership to call a job action is necessary. The administration crawled back to the bargaining table, but have not been bargaining in good faith. The faculty association has been out in force the past few days performing information picketing in many places on campus, including the dormitories. As a graduate student, I have been out with them along with a number of my fellow students. The problem is that Mount Pleasant is, for all intents and purposes, student-free during the summer. Move-in started yesterday, and more and more students are expected to get involved each day. I also would like to point out that, earlier in July, the Faculty Association offered a 0% pay increase if the administration would raise tuition 0% for students. This was blatantly ignored, and the tuition was raised to the highest level it could have without financial repercussions from the State of Michigan.
Good management is essential...nearly as essential as good teachers.
Actually Central's tuition hike on students is the smallest of any other public University in Michigan. It is a 3.47% increase which being a student still sucks but it is much lower than Northern Michigan and U of M which are both just shy of 7%. While I support the Faculty Association, the Administration did treat the student fairly well with this modest tuition increase when they could have raised it up to 7.1% and not lost funding from the state. You can read the article I read here http://annarbor.com/news/central-michigan-university-approves-lowest-tuition-increase-in-state-so-far/