Wright State faculty asks legislators to get involved

Wright State University’s faculty union took its message Friday to Columbus to plead for state lawmakers and the governor to intervene in contract negotiations to end an ongoing strike at the Dayton university.

State Rep. Dr. Beth Liston, a Dublin Democrat, and other lawmakers from her party expressed support for members of the Wright State chapter of the American Association of University Professors during a meeting in the Statehouse.

The AAUP-WSU’S strike will end the week in its 19th day Saturday as a stalemate over health-care benefits continues.

A group of Democratic lawmakers has sent a letter to the Wright State Board of Trustees in support of the union, Liston said.

“Without a strong commitment to higher education and those who make it possible we risk falling behind as a state,” Liston said.

The AAUP-WSU and its supporters said they traveled to Columbus in an attempt to put pressure on Gov. Mike Dewine and his administration to step in to help negotiate a deal. Dewine and Ohio Higher Education Chancellor Randy Gardner have both been monitoring the ongoing labor dispute.

Dewine said earlier this week that he had no plans to take any action regarding the strike. On Thursday, he said it would be inappropriate to announce the options he might consider to address the strike.

Gardner stopped by the Statehouse gathering Friday and briefly spoke to faculty. He told them that they are “a valuable and important part” of Ohio’s higher education system.

“When you have opportunities to try to bring people together to resolve issues, I still believe that’s fundamentally part of this job as chancellor,” Gardner said. “So we’re trying to do that.”

Though Gardner said “there’s nothing official to announce,” he expressed his hope that both sides would return to the negotiating table within the next few days.

There were no negotiating sessions scheduled as of Friday, said Wright State spokesman Seth Bauguess.

Gardner also met with students to hear about how the strike has affected them. Friday was the deadline for students to withdraw from WSU and still receive a full refund.

Bauguess was unable to provide the number of students who had withdrawn as of Friday. But, the school previously reported the number of students who withdrew in the first two weeks of the semester was 181, comparable to 183 during the same time period last year.

Early Friday, students concluded a multi-day sit-in outside of President Cheryl Schrader’s office on campus. Some of those students spoke at the AAUP-WSU’S rally about the difficulties they’ve faced during the strike.

The issue of how the strike could impact veterans taking classes came up during the Statehouse gathering.

Veterans should not be impacted if they pick up new classes or “B-term” classes in place of their canceled ones, Bauguess said. The university will ensure that no students experience a gap in their benefits if they pick up one of these alternate classes, Bauguess said.

Caitlin Ward, a Navy veteran and Wright State sophomore, is paying for her education with benefits from the G.I. Bill. Ward said she fears her canceled and rescheduled courses could affect the funding she receives and might prevent her from getting a housing allowance.

“The administration said that when the strike began that they would cover classes but they did not…i’m here today to spread the word that this administration does not care about our faculty and they do not care about our education or students,” Ward said.

The university has not provided the number of classes that have been canceled, but Baugess said students have several options.

Students who need to replace an elective might simply be able to choose a different one taught by a professor not on strike, Bauguess said. Other options that students could consider include taking a class out of order or doing an independent study, he said.