This week, United Academics made donations to four local organizations to support their work meeting the extraordinary needs in our community at this time. Thank you to UA members who recommended organizations during our discussion at the Members Meeting or sent us suggestions via email. United Academics donated to: the United Way of Northwest Vermont (where donations are currently being matched), A New Place providing temporary housing at North Beach), the Peace and Justice Center, and the UVM Pandemic Response Fund to support student emergency travel funds. We are so pleased to be able to support a number of local organizations doing important work.
Amid backlash, state college trustees postpone closure vote (VTDigger)
“Trustees for the Vermont State Colleges will postpone by at least a week a decision on a radical restructuring proposal, announced just two days prior, that would cut 500 employees and shutter three of the system’s campuses. “
https://vtdigger.org/2020/04/19/top-lawmakers-scott-urge-state-colleges-to-press-pause-on-closures/
UVM moves to remote instruction in light of Covid-19
https://www.uvm.edu/emergency/covid-19-coronavirus-information-and-updates
2020 United Academics student scholarships- Call for applications
Applications are now being accepted for the annual United Academics student scholarships.
Deadline for applications: April 1, 2020
Faculty Contract Negotiations Set to Begin at UVM
February 3, 2020
Faculty Contract Negotiations Set to Begin at UVM:
Burlington, VT, February 3, 2020—“Our goals are to preserve a healthy learning environment, to increase our ability to recruit and retain superb faculty with competitive salaries and health care, and to provide greater job security for all the faculty, who make this institution great by giving of themselves.” These words were uttered in 2004 by then UVM United Academics president and chief negotiator, David Shiman. They are equally true today.
Contract negotiations will begin on Tuesday, February 4 between UVM’s administration and United Academics, UVM’s faculty union which represents over 800 faculty members across 7 colleges and schools. In preparation, United Academics surveyed faculty in the fall, and the union’s chief negotiator and economics professor, Jane Knodell, met with faculty across the university to explore their priorities and hopes for UVM. United Academics president and linguistics professor Julie Roberts noted, “The most frequent message we received, by far, was that increasing and increasingly unsustainable workload caused by faculty lay-offs and non-replacements and larger class sizes has had the effect of reducing campus morale and eroding the student-faculty relationship that is the hallmark of a UVM education. We will propose ways to support faculty and students and to preserve the quality of UVM’s educational experience.”
Contact: info@unitedacademics.org
Vermont Cynic: Students protest UVM board’s refusal to divest UVM millions from fossil fuels
https://vtcynic.com/news/students-protest-uvm-boards-refusal-to-divest-uvm-millions-from-fossil-fuels/?fbclid=IwAR2tXYFDb2na2eqwbbWtbyGRadCXyWpV0LWIQnNoSk-IPmX2qqN_WGuTobY
Vermont Cynic: Classics struggles to not fall into ruins (12/6/19)
On being ‘a stranger in the land of Egypt’
Former UA President David Shiman highlighted in “On being ‘a stranger in the land of Egypt’"
The Chronicle of Higher Ed: Lessons From Vermont’s Demographic Crisis (12/2/19)
Spotlight on financial struggles and demographic trends at Vermont colleges in the Chronicle of Higher Education:
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Lessons-From-Vermont-s/247639/?cid=db&source=ams&sourceId=5005425
Time: Thousands of Teachers Pack Indiana Statehouse, Calling for Increased Pay and More School Funding (11/19/19)
Vermont Cynic: UVM charts new course for Navigate (11-13-19)
Changes to be made to address faculty concerns
VTDigger: UVM announces tuition freeze for next academic year
VTDigger: Lawmakers plan to require UVM board to achieve gender parity
State representative and United Academics member Selene Colburn is working on a bill requiring UVM Board of Trustees to reach gender parity. UA member Paul Bierman and UA leadership are working on this at UVM.
https://vtdigger.org/2019/11/12/lawmakers-plan-to-require-uvm-board-to-achieve-gender-parity/
NYTimes: Chicago Teachers’ Strike, Longest in Decades, Ends (10/31/19)
University of New Mexico Faculty Win Historic Vote to Unionize
A decisive majority of faculty at the University of New Mexico voted for a union this week in a historic election victory overseen by the UNM Labor Management Relations Board, with votes counted this afternoon. Two UNM bargaining units consisting of more than 1,600 full- and part-time faculty across five campuses—UNM’s main campus, in Albuquerque; UNM-Gallup; UNM-Los Alamos; UNM-Taos; and UNM-Valencia—voted by a 70 percent margin to join the American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors.
Two Institutions Added to AAUP’s Censure List, One Sanctioned
AAUP chapters, including United Academics UVM, gathered at the national AAUP annual meeting last week. Faculty representatives voted to add Vermont Law School to the AAUP’s list of institutions sanctioned for violations of the principle of faculty governance, and to add St. Edward’s University of Texas and Nunez Community College of Louisiana to the AAUP’s list of administrations censured for violating principles of academic freedom and tenure.
The full reports by AAUP are available here: https://www.aaup.org/reports-publications/aaup-policies-reports
VTDigger: Hundreds turn out in Burlington to protest former Wisconsin governor Walker
Cynic: Union blocked out of admin office
WCAX: UVM cites decline in humanities enrollment for faculty cuts
'Save the Liberal Arts' petition signatures delivered to UVM Administration
On March 26, 2019, a crowd of UVM students, faculty, and community members gathered to deliver over 950 petitions to UVM adminstration.