Colleagues,
PSU-AAUP is outraged by the false statements sent to our entire campus community this morning in today’s issue of Currently.
This issue highlights President Cudd’s decision to eliminate the Intensive English Language Program (IELP), terminating the positions of 12 PSU-AAUP represented employees as of July 1st. The message also purported that this is being done in consultation with PSU-AAUP. This is not true. PSU-AAUP has not consulted with Administration to make any decisions, and no decisions have yet been made.
On February 12th, PSU-AAUP was informally made aware of the intention to recommend elimination of the IELP, but none of the Faculty Senate or processes outlined in our collective bargaining agreement have formally begun.
In order to eliminate a program, one or more of several processes must be followed.
- A program elimination proposal must be submitted to and reviewed by the Educational Policy Committee, the Faculty Budget Committee, and the Faculty Senate Presiding Officer. This proposal has not been submitted.
- Article 22 of the PSU-AAUP Collective Bargaining Agreement outlines processes for eliminating programs based on budgetary conditions, and includes a formal invocation by the University President. This article has not been invoked.
Since February 12th, PSU-AAUP has been in close consultation with IELP Faculty, hearing their utter outrage, concerns, feelings of deep betrayal, and grief over this recommendation. Together we have been working to identify our best path forward.
Administration assured us that no decisions had yet been made, and that we would have the opportunity to work with IELP faculty to find the best possible outcome for them and their students. Together we agreed to enter into good faith negotiations of a Memorandum of Agreement for this program and its faculty, so that we could come up with a way to provide members with assurances for their livelihoods should the elimination occur.
President Cudd’s announcement in Currently is an affront to our Collective Bargaining Agreement and betrays shared governance processes. It is a display of disrespect of the Faculty Senate, and of our union, which has been a stalwart for shared governance and bargaining rights at PSU since its inception in 1978.
IELP Faculty deserve better. Our IELP colleagues, like all 1,100 of our members, deserve the dignity and respect befitting the faculty and academic professionals who make PSU run. Our working conditions are students’ learning conditions.
Take Action:
1) Email President Cudd and ask that all IELP faculty and academic professionals be allowed to teachout their current students and for a retraction of her misleading and inaccurate depiction of our union to the campus community.
2) Email Board of Trustees Chair Berry and Finance and Administration Committee Chair Manning and ask that they allow reserve spending to stave off further cuts prior to the finalization of a strategic plan.
In Solidarity,
Emily Ford
PSU-AAUP President