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March 2025 Newsletter

William A. Herbert, Executive Editor

Daniel Cronin, Student Editor

Jenna Salem, Student Editor

Thank You for a Successful 52nd Annual National Conference

We thank all of the speakers, moderators, and conference attendees for a very successful 52nd National Center Annual Conference on March 23-25, 2025.

The theme of this year's annual conference was Unity in Defense of Higher Education and Collective Bargaining. The program was designed to help build an alliance of stakeholders within higher education to protect and defend our shared fundamental values in these extraordinary times.

We are grateful to Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers, Lynn Pasquerella, President, American Association of Colleges and Universities and moderator Adrienne Lu, Senior Reporter, The Chronicle of Higher Education, for the keynote discussion on unity in defense of higher education and the professions, which began the conference.

We are also grateful to the speakers who participated in the conference plenary discussion: Robert J. Jones, Chancellor, The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Charles Toombs, President, California Faculty Association, Lorelle L. Espinosa, Higher Education Program Director, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Nancy Cantor, President, Hunter College, CUNY, and moderator Adrianna J. Kezar, Professor, Higher Education and Director, Pullias Center for Higher Education, University of Southern California.

The success of the conference would not have been possible without the support and assistance of Hunter College President Cantor, the National Center Board of Advisors, along with the staff at Roosevelt House, the CUNY Graduate Center, and our conference staff and volunteers.

New Day's Lyric by Amanda Gorman

At the commencement of our annual conference, Hunter College student and National Center intern Jess Baker recited the poem New Day's Lyric by Amanda Gorman.

We hope that the poem, and our entire conference, provide you with strength, fortitude, and community in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

Thank You to the 52nd Annual National Conference Sponsors

Support the National Center by Purchasing the

Commemorative 52nd Annual Conference T-Shirt

To help support the National Center's mission, research and program, we encourage you to purchase a Commemorative 52nd Annual Conference t-shirt. The shirts are USA made, printed in a union shop, and 100% cotton.

To order your t-shirt, click here. Direct any questions to: msavares@hunter.cuny.edu

Announcing Publication of the

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, Volume 16

We are pleased to announce publication of Volume 16 of the National Center's Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy. The Journal is an open-access, peer-reviewed, online periodical advancing research and scholarly thought related to collective bargaining and other issues in higher education, and making relevant and pragmatic peer-reviewed research readily accessible.

From the Editors

JCBA's Origins, Evolution, & Future by Gary Rhoades and Karen Stubaus

Articles

Who Benefits from a Faculty Union During a Pandemic? by Mary Ellen Benedict, David McClough, and John Hoag

Faculty Views About Their COVID-19 Layoffs from a Public University in the US Midwest by Susan E. Ramlo

A Beautiful Mind Meets Harsh Reality: Practical Tips for Negotiators When Bargaining Strays from Ideal Conditions by Christopher C. Douglas, Ellen Grachek, Allyson Strickland, and Marie Waung

How Do Collective Agreements Stack Up? Implications For Academic Freedom by Tim Ribaric and Rahul Kumar

The Limits of Law: Lessons for Collective Bargaining by Eric J. Scarffe and Daniel Saunders

Practitioner Perspectives

"No Pay, No RAs": Resident Assistant Unionization Amidst University Backlash by Justin Weller

Navigating Harassment and Discrimination at University of California through UAW 4811's Abusive Conduct Contract Provisions by Sarah Arveson and Emily Weintraut

Graduate Student Labor Unions: Two Experienced Academic Administrators Share Their Views by Karen R. Stubaus

Research Notes

Every Grain of Sand: 2024 Changes to the Scope of Higher Education Unionization by William A. Herbert, Joseph van der Naald, and Jacob Apkarian

Book Review

Towards a Progressive Academy: Review of Organizing Professionals: Academic Employees Negotiating a New Academy by Rebecca Kolins Givan

The Journal co-editors are Gary Rhoades, University of Arizona, Karen Stubaus, National Center Visiting Scholar and former Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rutgers University, and Jacob Apkarian, York College, City University of New York. The Journal is supported in part by a generous contribution from TIAA and is hosted by the institutional repository of Eastern Illinois University, The Keep, a service of EIU's Booth Library.

The Journal is now accepting submissions for Volume 17 to be published in March 2026. Our authors customarily include college and university faculty and administrators, scholars, graduate students, union activists and leaders, and others interested in collective bargaining in higher education. Please see the Aims & Scope page for more information or contact the co-editors with any questions on possible submissions.

Ohio University: Faculty Vote for AAUP-AFT Representation

Ohio University, OSERB Case No. 2024-REP-03-0035

On March 24, 2025, the Ohio State Employment Relations Board tallied the ballots in a representation election concerning a petition by United Academics of Ohio University, AAUP-AFT seeking to represent a unit of 795 full-time tenured, tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty at Ohio University. The tally demonstrated that the faculty voted 453-189 in favor of representation by United Academics of Ohio University, AAUP-AFT.

The following is a description of the at-issue unit at Ohio University:

Included: All full-time faculty at all campuses, including tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty, non-tenure track instructional faculty, clinical CHSP faculty, and all instructional faculty.

Excluded: Visiting faculty, visiting instructors, librarians, and employees holding multiple appointments, all managerial employees including presidents, vice presidents, provosts, associate and assistant deans, and department chairs; supervisory employees; and all other employees.

Indian Hills Community Coll.: Faculty Representation Election Scheduled

Indian Hills Community College, IPERB Case No.

The Iowa Public Employment Relations Board (IPERB) has scheduled a mail ballot representation election concerning a petition filed by the Indian Hills Community College Higher Education Association seeking to represent a unit of 130 full-time and regular part-time faculty at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa and Centerville, Iowa.

The following is a description of the at-issue unit:

All full-time and regular part-time professional faculty including Adult Education and Literacy instructors, English-Language Learner instructors, and the American Heart Association Coordinator of the Indian Hills Community School District.

IPERB mailed out representation election ballots to the at-issue employees at Indian Hills Community College on March 21, 2025 and the ballots must be received by IPERB on or about April 11, 2025 at 3:00 p.m.

School of Visual Arts: Faculty Representation Election Scheduled

School of Visual Arts, NLRB Case No. 02-RC-361937

On March 13, 2025, SVA Faculty United - UAW filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking to represent a unit of 870 faculty employed by the School of Visual Arts in New York City. On March 26, 2025, SVA Faculty United - UAW and the School of Visual Arts entered into an agreement scheduling a representation election.

The following is a description of the bargaining unit described in the SVA Faculty United - UAW representation petition:

Included: All faculty members at the School of Visual Arts, including all instructors.

Excluded: All other employees, including all managerial employees, Chairs, confidential employees and guards and supervisors, as defined in the Act.

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai: Represent Election

Scheduled for Bargaining Unit of Scientists

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Case No. 02-RC-361883

On March 13, 2025, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai-UAW filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking to represent a unit of approximately 220 scientists employed by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

On March 26, 2025, the NLRB issued a notice of election scheduling an in-person representation election on April 9 and 10, 2025.

The following is a description of the at-issue bargaining unit:

Included: All Assistant Scientists, Associate Scientists, and Senior Scientists who were employed by the Employer during the payroll period ending March 22, 2025.

Excluded: All other employees, including office clericals, confidential employees, managers, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act. I

Macalester Colllege: Undergraduate Student Workers Vote to Unionize

Macalester College, NLRB Case No. 18-RC-355544

On March 7, 2025, the National Labor Relations Board certified Macalester Undergraduate Workers Union (MUWU) as the exclusive representative of a bargaining unit of 1098 student workers employed at Macalester College in Minnesota. The certification was issued following a representation election in which the student workers voted 406-61 in favor of MUWU representation.

The following is a description of the new bargaining unit at Macalester College:

Included: All student workers who are (1) enrolled as undergraduate students at Macalester College and (2) employed by Macalester College as full-time or regular part-time employees.

Excluded: All students (1) in an entirely externally grant-funded position; (2) who were formerly, but are no longer, enrolled as undergraduate students at Macalester College; (3) who were formerly, but are no longer, non-exempt hourly employees of the Employer; (4) who solely work off-campus and are paid by Macalester for that work; (5) who are non-employees of Macalester College; and (6) guards and supervisors as defined by the Act, as amended, and all other employees.

Also eligible to vote are all employees in the unit who were employed during the Fall semester of 2024 and who averaged a minimum of 4 hours per week of work during their employment in the Fall semester of 2024. Others permitted to vote: The parties have agreed that students who work on-campus and are compensated by stipend may vote in the election, but their ballots will be challenged since their eligibility has not been resolved. No decision has been made regarding whether the individuals in these classifications or groups are included in, or excluded from, the bargaining unit. The eligibility or inclusion of these individuals will be resolved, if necessary, following the election.

Download the National Center's Study on Anti-Discrimination Clauses in Higher Education Collective Bargaining Agreements

In November. 2024, the National Center released a study titled Anti-Discrimination Clauses in Higher Education Collective Bargaining Agreements. 

Download the study here.

The study is based on research that led to the publication in September of our 2024 Directory of Bargaining Agents and Contracts in Higher Education.



The purpose of the study is to assist negotiators, labor representatives, and administrators in developing, amending, and implementing anti-bias contract provisions.

The study includes excerpted anti-discrimination text from 30 collective bargaining agreements negotiated by different nationally-affiliated unions and institutions at all levels of higher education from across the country involving tenured and tenure track faculty, non-tenure track faculty, postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers, and graduate student employees.

For each contract, the monograph includes the contract's anti-discrimination clause and the relevant negotiated procedure concerning enforcement when the contract does not permit, limits, or modifies the use of the standard grievance-arbitration procedure to enforce the anti-discrimination clause. In addition, the monograph includes a hyperlink to each contract to permit the contextualization of the excerpted provisions within the terms of the entire agreement.

KEY FINDINGS



• While most anti-discrimination clauses explicitly prohibit discrimination based on race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, and union activity, there are wide differences with respect to other protected categories.

• Over the course of time, anti-discrimination clauses have changed, reflecting the historical context during which they were negotiated. Examples of those changes over the years are prohibitions against discrimination based on civil union status, HIV status, and Vietnam-era veteran status.

• Recent contract clauses have expanded protections against discrimination to include caste; citizenship status; immigration status; ancestry; marital or parental status; status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking; gender expression; gender identity; genetic information; height; weight; arrest record; military status; veteran status; or unfavorably discharged from military service. Only one contract has an anti-discrimination clause limited to prohibiting discrimination based on union activity.

• Certain contracts expand upon sex as a protected category to explicitly address sexual harassment and sexual misconduct, as well as faculty-student relationships. The most detailed definitions of sexual harassment, with special procedures for investigating and remedying sexual harassment complaints under Title IX and anti-discrimination clauses, are in contracts involving postdoctoral scholars and graduate student employees.

• A significant difference among the contracts is the agreed-upon means of enforcement. Some contracts permit discrimination claims to be processed under the regular grievance-arbitration procedure. Others modify those procedures for handling discrimination issues and some agreements exclude alleged violations of the anti-discrimination clause from the grievance process. Lastly, some parties have opted to condition the arbitration of a discrimination grievance on the employee waiving her or his rights to pursue statutory discrimination claims in court or other external forums.

Download the National Center's 2024 Directory of Bargaining Agents and

Contracts in Institutions of Higher Education

In September,2024, the National Center published our 2024 Directory of Bargaining Agents and Contracts in institutions of Higher Education on the scope of higher education unionization involving faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate and undergraduate student employees.

The 2024 Directory includes data and analysis concerning over 900 collective bargaining relationships in higher education through January 1, 2024, and hyperlinks to 813 recent contracts in higher education. Click here to download 2024 Directory

KEY RESEARCH FINDINGS



• The faculty union representation rate was 27% as of January 1, 2024, with a total of 402,217 unionized faculty across 29 states and the District of Columbia;
• California, New York, and New Jersey have the highest number of unionized faculty;
• The total number of unionized faculty grew by 7.5% since 2012;
• Represented faculty at the private non-profit institutions grew by 56%, relative to a 4% growth in the public sector, since 2012;
• As of January 1, 2024, there were 10 bargaining units of exclusively postdoctoral scholars with a total of 11,471 employees and two academic research units with a total of 6,132 employees.
• The graduate student employee union representation rate was 38% at the beginning of 2024 with over 150,000 employees in 81 bargaining units;
• Graduate student representation increased by 133% since 2012 with 60% of that growth at private non-profit higher education institutions;
• As of January 1, 2024, there were 19 exclusively undergraduate student employee units, with a total of 3,515 represented employees.