The United Academics of Ohio University met most recently with the Ohio University administration Nov. 19 to continue contract negotiations, but did not reach an agreement on academic freedom.
UAOU first filed to unionize March 5, 2024, delivering a letter to the Office of the President. After a vote of 453-189 in favor of unionization March 24, 2025, UAOU selected a 10-member bargaining team to represent faculty in negotiations, according to a previous report by The Post.
At its ninth meeting with university administration Nov. 19, the bargaining session centered on the administration’s counterproposal to UAOU’s academic freedom article, which the union first proposed Aug. 27, according to Joe McLaughlin, an associate professor of English and a UAOU bargaining team member.
McLaughlin said academic freedom is a central issue for faculty, particularly following the passage of the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, or Senate Bill 1. The law, which took effect in June, places restrictions on course content at Ohio’s public universities.
It also mandates the closure of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which OU ended in prohibits universities from taking stances on political or social issues and calls for greater transparency in course offerings.
“There’s a strong, you could say, lack of trust between faculty and the administration because we saw no attempt on their part to resist Senate Bill 1, to resist the assaults on academic freedom that are there.” McLaughlin said. “Unfortunately, that is overshadowing the bargaining process, where they seem more concerned with keeping people happy in Columbus than doing the right thing by the university.”
UAOU’s initial proposal for academic freedom includes four components: research and creative activity, teaching, extramural expression and service. It aims to limit university oversight on educational matters undertaken by the faculty and includes protections for conducting and publishing research, classroom autonomy and freedom from censorship.
McLaughlin said he was disappointed in the administration’s counterproposal.
“They're not simply trying to comply with the law,” McLaughlin said. “They're trying to over-comply with the law.”
Dan Pittman, a university spokesperson, said OU is committed to negotiating sincerely and continues to uphold confidentiality regarding discussions held during negotiation sessions.
Since their initial meeting Aug. 4, the university administration and UAOU met multiple times, but progress has been limited.
So far, the negotiations have yielded two tentative agreements out of the 24 articles proposed by UAOU: labor-management meetings and health, safety and security. The two tentative agreements will be sent to union members for a vote.
McLaughlin said several major issues remain unresolved, including salary and grievance procedures.
UAOU’s salary proposal seeks to raise benchmark salaries for bargaining unit members by $4,632 by Aug. 15, 2027. It also calls for increased compensation for promotions, ranging from $5,000 for advancement to clinical associate professor or associate professor of instruction to $10,000 for promotion to professor. The union says these increases bring OU faculty pay more in line with other Ohio universities.
According to a previous report by The Post, OU ranked second among Ohio’s public universities in average salary for the 1994-95 academic year but fell to eighth place by 2017-18.
Some students have expressed support for the union’s efforts. Cami Jackson, a sophomore studying nutrition science pre-med and the president of the Ohio Student Association, said improved working conditions for faculty benefit students in the classroom.
“If you have a less stressed-out professor or a less busy professor, they're probably going to be less stressed out in class,” Jackson said.
On Nov. 24, Jackson and other OSA members delivered a letter to President Lori Stewart Gonzalez's office in support of UAOU.
“If admin listens to our faculty, and we, the students, are backed by faculty, then we will be listened to,” Jackson shared.
