WASHINGTON—American
Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten issued the following
statement after the faculty union at Wright State University in Dayton,
Ohio—a chapter of the American Association of University Professors—went on
strike yesterday in response to the WSU board of trustees’ offensive decision
to impose an unfair contract that slashes healthcare and guts academic
freedom. Weingarten wrote to AAUP-WSU today to express the AFT’s support.
“The AFT and our hundreds of thousands of higher education members across the
country stand with the Wright State faculty as they fight to protect the
essential principles that lie at the heart of American higher education.
“We do so because nothing less than the future of Wright State is it stake.
Academic freedom, shared governance and the free exchange of ideas on campus
are the core of the university.
“The result would be WSU faculty who are precarious, silenced, stretched
thin, stripped of time for scholarly research, and desperately struggling to
earn a living and afford healthcare.
“Striking is always a last resort—but when an employer stonewalls every
attempt to negotiate in good faith and instead decides to impose its will, it
becomes a righteous and necessary act. We will stand with the Wright State faculty
and continue to raise our voice for as long as it takes for this grievous
wrong to be righted.”
“This imposed contract takes direct aim at
these essential values, denying faculty and students the teaching and
learning environment they deserve. It is a stain on Wright State’s proud
history, enabling the university to exercise unilateral power that, at its
root, thwarts everything a university stands for. Academic decisions should
be made for academic—not political, commercial or bureaucratic—reasons, and
this contract fails that basic test.
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