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Metro’s faculty union defined:
“The union is in a period of strategy building,” said
union member Tim Gould of Metro’s philosophy department.
While there has been little visible activity by the union since last
month’s rally, Gould said that there is “a lot happening
in conversation.”
The union is considering legal action against Metro’s Board
of Trustees to change the board’s policy manual, which, according
to Gould, “devalues tenure.”
“Tenure is the core of academic freedom. Without it, academic
freedom is empty,” Gould said.
The term “academic freedom” refers to the freedom of a
faculty to express views and ideas without interference from outside
the faculty.
According to union member David Sullivan, academic freedom “demands both institutional
autonomy and individual self-determination for teacher and
for student.”
Sullivan noted that the concept of academic freedom dates back to
the founding of the University of Berlin in 1809.
“Tenure is the guarantee for academic freedom,” Sullivan
said.
According to the new policy manual, a faculty member can receive
tenure at Metro after seven years; prior to the release of the new
manual, that time was only five years.
The college is required by law to honor the terms of contracts signed
before the new policy was implemented.
Another of the union’s goals is to assure shared governance
among the faculty and the administration.
Shared governance refers to a balance in decision making processes
amoung the college’s different constituencies.
“The role of the union should be to support faculty and student
institutions, but not to be one of them,” Gould said.
The issue of shared governance is perhaps most apparent with regard
to Metro’s current search for a new president.
While the board of trustees will appoint the new president, Metro’s
student body and its faculty both have representatives on the board,
and the faculty senate will appoint three members to a presidential
search advisory committee.
However, union member Renee Ruderman noted that these are “merely
advisory positions” and that this “does not bode well.”
“The decision about who will be the final candidate(s) and
how they are ranked is left solely to the BOT,” Ruderman said,
“once again, the power of the faculty and students has been
usurped.”
According to Gould, the union should provide support to the faculty
during the search, but avoid direct involvement.
“My view is that we are supporting faculty groups near to the
search committee,” Gould said. “I personally don’t
think the union should have anything to do with the search directly.”
Despite the complex nature of these issues, the union has a more
basic function.
“Talking with people is the most essential work we do,”
said a union member who requested to remain anonymous.
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