Statement of Support and Resolution from the California Conference of AAUP

Statement of Support from the California Conference of AAUP

26 January 2019

To: Marty Kich, President AAUP-WSU

The California Conference of the American Association of University Professors (CA-AAUP) stands in solidarity with the striking faculty of the American Association of University Professors-Wright State University (AAUP-WSU). Yours is a fight for your students’ education and for the continued existence of public higher education as a common good.

We are dismayed that administrators at your institution refuse to negotiate in good faith and are instead using deceptive and coercive tactics to weaken support for the strike among faculty, students, and the Dayton, Ohio, community (e.g., running classes with scab faculty unfamiliar with the curriculum; threatening loss of financial aid to students who fail to attend class; filing an unfair labor practice claim to seize faculty intellectual property). Such tactics are unacceptable in an institution of higher learning.

At the same time, we are heartened by the broad support you have received from your students, the local community, and other members of the higher-education community in Ohio and beyond. We recognize how crucial your struggle is to the future of public and private higher education in the United States, and we will support your strike until you achieve the resolution that your collective-bargaining chapter finds acceptable.

Signed,

Claudio Fogu, President, CA-AAUP

on behalf of the CA-AAUP Executive Board:

President
Claudio Fogu, University of California, Santa Barbara

Secretary/Treasurer
Mary Ann Irwin, Diablo Valley College

Vice President for University of California:
Jesse Drew, University of California, Davis

Vice President for California State University:
Rosalinda Quintanar, San Jose State University

Vice President for California Community Colleges:
Katie Graham, Diablo Valley College

Vice President for Private Colleges and Universities:
Alex Zukas, National University (2018-2020)

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Resolution Approved by the CSU-AAUP Council, 1/29/2019

CSU-AAUP stands with our colleagues at Wright State University in protecting quality public higher education.  The administration’s solution to budget deficits brought on by a drastic decline in state funding for public higher education will leave students with larger classes, fewer interactions with faculty, and longer completion times. Areas critical to a liberal arts education will be gutted.  Academic freedom is under siege.  Each of these assaults would limit access to university education and diminish its effectiveness; together they will be devastating.  We urge management to find a solution that doesn’t sacrifice students, faculty, or the quality of higher education.