Letter of Support from the Associated Faculties of the University of Maine

Affiliated with the Maine Education Association & National Education Association

ASSOCIATED FACULTIES OF THE UNIVERSITIES OF MAINE

Dear Dr. Kich,

At its monthly meeting on January 26th, the Executive Committee of the Associated Faculties of the Universities of Maine (AFUM) unanimously approved a motion expressing its wholehearted support for Wright State faculty in their labor dispute with the WSU administration. Our union represents 1114 lecturers, instructors, and professors who serve on seven campuses of the University of Maine System, and, regrettably, we can all too easily identify with the stark and unfair conditions that are being imposed upon your membership.

The tactics employed by WSU Board of Trustees and senior administrators threaten to diminish the quality of education and research at the very institution they should be working to advance. Faculty are the lifeblood of every university, and nothing is gained by imposing conditions that deny them their due role in governance, erode the protections of tenure, weaken program viability through faculty retrenchments, and undermine morale through wage decreases in the guise of austerity furloughs and draconian revisions to health care premiums.

On behalf of our membership, and in concert with the many other expressions of support already posted on your website, we wish you every success in your action. We strongly urge the WSU President to return to the bargaining table, and to work productively toward a fair settlement.

In solidarity,

Jim McClymer, PhD, AFUM President

Jamie Moreira, PhD, AFUM Vice President