Dear FTNTT Faculty members,

The negotiation teams of the Kent State United Faculty Association (KSUFA) and Kent State University met on September 21, 2026.

The administration submitted a proposal for a new Article XX: Phased Retirement. 

KSUFA presented our counterproposals for Article VIII: Disciplinary Provision and Article IX: Faculty Workload. Our goal in Article VIII is to delineate specific steps, informal and formal, for any situation in which disciplinary action is being considered by administration. Our counter was presented in a manner in which all of the language that was acceptable to both parties per administration’s counterproposal of August 17th was presented in black type with our additional proposed language red lined. A similar method was utilized for our Article IX proposal. We also delivered tentative agreement proposals for the Preamble, Article I: Definitions, and Article II: Recognition, Dues Deduction and Association Rights. Those three documents were not signed at the session, but agreement is expected on our part.

Our next bargaining session is scheduled for Monday, October 5, 2026. Bargaining is proceeding at a very slow pace, but we are still moving forward at this point in time.

Details of the above proposals can be found at the Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Negotiations 2026 section of the website (https://www.ksufa.org/index.php/full-time-non-tenure-unit/negotiations-2026) which is dedicated to the FTNTT negotiations. This section contains links to the updates that we have sent to our members and links to all proposals submitted by either party.

Although the MOU extending the 2020 CBA will expire on August 31, 2026, the provisions of the CBA will remain in full force and effect until a successor contract is ratified.

If you have any questions or concerns about negotiations, please do not hesitate to contact me (tlaux@kent.edu) or Sue Clement at (sclement@ksufa.org)

Sincerely,

Tracy A. Laux

Chief Negotiator