State college professors clash with regents
With only a few weeks left until Connecticut State Colleges and Universities President Mark Ojakian’s retirement, tension between faculty unions and the Board of Regents for Higher Education is spiking as they attempt to negotiate a new contract.
In mid-December, the Connecticut State University American Association of University Professors released a statement on the board’s contract proposals, calling them “draconian.”
The association cited concerns about attacks on academic freedom and collective bargaining, as well as support systems for student retention and success “being gutted.” They also said the board was taking student and public funds to build a “top heavy system that is unnecessary and beyond public control.”
“You could have had a partner, but President Ojakian chose a business model of stability, inefficiencies, consultants and consolidation,” John O’Connor, a sociology professor at Central Connecticut State University, told the board in a virtual meeting Thursday. “You will not bust our union.”
Longstanding disputes over consolidation efforts and decreasing resources hit a boiling point in the fall, when the board adopted an amended budget that increased cuts to funding for part-time university lecturers from a half-million dollars to $2 million. It also cut $1 million in total spending on graduate and university assistants. A$5 million reduction in other expenses brought the new total of additional cuts to $8 million.
The CSCU system, which includes the state’s four regional universities and dozen community colleges, faces a budget deficit in the current fiscal year of about $42 million, driven largely by the ongoing pandemic.
O’Connor noted that while educating students in expensive, “the outcome of that work is priceless.”
“Working conditions always have a substantial impact on the educational experience of students and they are key to the teaching we do and the research we engage in,” he said.
Christopher Doucot, also a sociology professor at CCSU, took issue with previous statements made by CSCU spokesperson Leigh Appleby in which he said: “It is unfortunate that a small few — who not only have job security, but have received significant raises in each of the past two years — would whine publicly rather than negotiating in good faith,” reported the CT Examiner.
“At the start of this semester, I was hospitalized and nearly died,” Doucot said. “But since part-time faculty do not accrue sick time, I chose to teach some of my classes from a hospital bed, rather than risk losing myjob. Does demanding sick time sound like whining to you?”
Maureen Chalmers, president of the Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges, held up a “report card” with a large, red F.
Board Chairman Matt Fleury said the regents do not negotiate contracts publicly.
“Whenothers choose to do so, it obviously puts the other party at a public relations disadvantage, unless one chooses to enter the public argument,” he said. “To date, that’s not the posture this board or organization is going to take.”
Fleury added that while “critique of our work and our policies is appropriate ... I do take issue with the disparagement of intent or intellectual capability of the people who serve as volunteers.”
“What we’re compensated by is the not-small psychic reward of seeing individuals achieve more in their lives as a function of the work that despite the contentious moments, we all care about equally,” he said.
Ojakian, who plans to retire Jan. 1, said: “Bargaining in good faith requires us to put forth proposals about what we need in our contracts to effectively serve our students, our communities, and the mission of our institution.”
He recalled made statements in 2015 about “my attempt and the board’s attempt to destroy public higher education in the state of Connecticut.”
“We sat at bargaining table in good faith, and we came up with contracts that everybody could live with,” he said. “We’ve always been able to find common ground. ... With mutual respect for the process and the outcome, we can find our way to a mutually beneficial contract.”
In regards to the amendment that increased cuts for part-time lecturers, Ojakian said flexibility was given to schools to find the prescribed savings in other ways or areas. He previously stated that due to enrollment declines, the board thought there may not be a need for as many class sections if the schools did not have as many students. Part of the direction was also that “no classes be cut as a result of this,” Ojakian said.
“I know there is a sentiment out there that I don’t understand or care about the work that or faculty does,” he said. “That could not be further from the truth.”
Citing declining state support, decreased enrollment, increasing fridge benefit costs and long-term debt costs, Ojakian noted: “Even before the pandemic hit us, our financial position was not sustainable.”
“We cannot continue to put the increasing costs of our system onto the backs of our students and their families when they are struggling the most,” he added.
A full budget briefing to the board is expected to take place in January.