After a quarter of engaging each other on local editorial pages and on the walls of classroom buildings, groups of Ohio University faculty on both sides of the unionization issue say they're gearing up for more debate this quarter.
The OU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which is currently holding a card drive to determine whether faculty would like to vote on forming a union, and the OU Committee for an Independent Faculty, which opposes unionization, have been circulating fliers, sending e-mails and writing letters to the editor for several months since Faculty Senate passed a resolution encouraging faculty to discuss unionizing.
AAUP members said they have held several open forums for faculty members and are planning some smaller, department-level information sessions.
The idea behind all of those things is that from AAUP's perspective
there is still a strong interest in collective bargaining but there still seems to be a lot of questions among faculty and some uncertainty about the ways collective bargaining would change the current situation said Kevin Uhalde, president of OU-AAUP.
Uhalde said those meetings are only being offered in departments that request them, and they feature speakers from similar departments on unionized campuses.
Jeff Dill, one of the original organizers of OUCIF, said his group has focused, and will continue to focus, on direct communication with faculty through e-mails and fliers.
We'll continue to get our messages out in various forms Dill said. We're just going to keep making the case that there are two sides to this.
OUCIF's argument is simply that a union would not solve the problems the group sees on campus, such as a lack of faculty input in decisions. Dill said rather than a collective bargaining agreement, he sees a strong faculty senate as part of the solution.
This year, Faculty Senate has fought upper administrators on decisions that contradicted the Faculty Handbook on health-care contributions and the search committee for the new executive vice president and provost. While OUCIF sees these as victories, AAUP argues a union contract would make such fights unnecessary because it could require discussions with faculty before certain decisions are made.
Faculty Senate Chairman Sergio López-Permouth volunteered to organize a forum for the two sides to discuss. Uhalde said AAUP was willing to send a representative. López said he did not hear back from OUCIF originally and that Dill later told him he couldn't find people willing to debate. Dill said he and the OUCIF were still discussing the option.
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Emily Grannis
