Welcome Back to Campus!
Dear Faculty,
Welcome back to Spring 2025, and to this uncertain new world that presents many stresses for students, professors, employees, and communities. The Faculty Welfare Committee would like to share several resources and events offered by state and national AAUP bodies below, particularly as we begin confronting additional challenges for higher education with the incoming administration, and as we engage with the questions about the future of our own campus.
In the many fights to come, we have each other to turn to for support. If you see a need for organizing or conversation on campus around a new or emerging issue, please contact us via the emails at the bottom of this email. If you have an issue that you'd like to write about for a future issue of this newsletter, please email me at shuber@fairfield.edu.
On campus, wanted to remind everyone that this is a contract year, under the new three-year cycle for setting faculty contracts. The Faculty Salary Committee is hard at work in collegial discussions about many elements of our work lives, including compensation and benefits for full-time faculty. The FSC is sometimes able to advocate for part-time faculty, but does not officially represent them in those discussions. Of special interest for this year’s discussions is an ongoing effort to have gender-affirming care covered by our health plan. You will hear more about the status of those discussions at General Faculty Meetings throughout the semester.
We will also be planning one or more lunch meetings during the semester on topics that have been presented by the Working Groups, including Faculty Workload, Air Quality and Working Conditions, AI-GLEAN, and Academic Freedom. If you have ideas, concerns, or questions, or if you would like to join one of these working groups, please send us an email!
As we continue to gather off-campus email addresses to begin to activate our own list-serv, we wanted to remind you to send us your private email if you'd like to be included.
We hope to see you at the Provost’s Town Hall: Wed., January 29, 2 pm, Quick Center
RSVP here.
This is a great opportunity to engage with questions about our move to a new Carnegie classification and the impacts this may have on research, teaching, working conditions, and expectations of faculty.
All the best,
Sonya Huber for the FWC EC
AAUP/AFT Webinars and Trainings
Academic Freedom School: Feb. 5 @ 7 pm
Register for "Chilling Extramural Speech in Florida: Legislation, Faculty & Student Intimidation, and Campus Restrictions," the final installment of the Academic Freedom School series. The AAUP's Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom and the United Faculty of Florida, an affiliate of AFT, are co-hosting their final webinar in the Academic Freedom School: Defending Academic Freedom in Florida.
This series has explored post-tenure review and the role of collective bargaining, how to push back on political influence on curriculum, and the impact of legislation regulating institutional relationships with “countries of concern.” See more details and access recordings here.
Skills to Win: Feb. 10,12, 17, 19, 24, and 25 @ 7 pm
Register Now for February Training: Register here.
Last November, more than 250 people from over 60 chapters participated in Skills to Win, a training series focused on building power in the workplace, strengthening your local chapter, and strategizing to win better contracts. The next training will take place in February. Skills to Win is an organization that helps communities and unions across the country to identify and respond to challenges, while developing greater capacity to make democratic change. The training will cover:
- Leader identification
- Effective organizing conversations
- Workplace mapping
- Institutional power analysis
- Bargaining for the common good
Skills to Win is designed to be a springboard to building member-led organization, regardless of your chapter's current level of membership. We are looking for FWC members interested in attending this training!
March 10, 17, 24:
Digital Safety for Higher Education Workers Webinar Series
Defending Higher Education in 2025 resource page includes guidance and talking points on the issues we believe the president elect and his associates will attack: accreditation, immigration and diversity, inclusion and equity efforts.
- Digital Safety Workshop: Prepare
March 10, 2025 03:00 PM ET. REGISTER HERE
- Digital Safety Workshop: Respond
March 17, 2025 12:00 PM ET. REGISTER HERE
- Digital Safety Workshop: Allyship
March 24, 2025 03:00 PM ET. REGISTER HERE
From AAUP National
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Read the new statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Criteria for Faculty Evaluation
The AAUP has released a new statement titled Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Criteria for Faculty Evaluation, which holds that, when appropriately designed and implemented, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) criteria for faculty appointment, reappointment, tenure, and promotion are compatible with academic freedom and may serve as an important means of fostering a diverse and inclusive academic environment.
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We promote faculty welfare, broadly defined, through chapter programs and activities designed to advance academic freedom, advance the economic and professional status of the faculty, encourage faculty participation in governance, and inform the community about AAUP standards and policy statements to ensure higher education's contribution to the common good.
