Dear TT Faculty members,

The parties met for negotiation sessions on May 13 and again on May 21, 2026. At the May 13 session, KSUFA made counter-proposals on Articles XIX: Faculty Professional Development and XX: Intellectual Property. KSUFA believes that the parties are relatively close to tentative agreement on Article XX. However, the parties remain far apart on Article XIX, given the administration’s insistence on deleting all references to Faculty Senate’s role in approving modifications to the University Policy on Faculty Professional Improvement Leaves (aka sabbaticals). For more on this issue, see our Negotiation Update dated February 27, 2026.

At the May 13 session, the administration made a counter-proposal on Article XIV: Other Benefits along with a related proposal for a new Article XXV on phased retirement. KSUFA had made its initial proposal on Article XIV on September 10, 2025. That proposal contained a provision for phased retirement in a new section 9. It is unclear why the administration wants to break out the provision on phased retirement into a new Article rather than including it in Article XIV as KSUFA has proposed. However, the administration’s proposal guarantees that the new CBA will include a provision for phased retirement. At the May 21, 2026 session, KSUFA made its counter-proposal on Article XIV: Other Benefits, and again included a provision for phased retirement in that Article.

Also at the May 21 session, the administration expressed willingness to reach tentative agreement on Article VI: Governance. While this is good news, it by no means signals that the administration has backed away from its desire to eliminate the existing contractual protections for Faculty Senate’s role in shared governance when it comes to important University policies. That contractual language occurs outside of Article VI, specifically in Articles IX (Faculty Workload), XI (Promotion, Tenure, and Reappointment), and XIX (Faculty Professional Development).

The May 21 session was the fourth bargaining session at which the administration team had no proposals to present. At this point in time, all of the Articles on which the parties have not reached tentative agreement are on the administration’s side of the table. The next negotiation session is scheduled for June 10. At the May 21 session, KSUFA’s team stated explicitly on the record that we expect the administration to come to the June 10 session with either (i) proposals for both Article XII: Salary and Article XIII: Medical Benefits or (ii) a cogent explanation that we can share with our members as to why, nearly a year into these negotiations, the administration has been completely unable to put initial proposals for either Salary or Medical Benefits on the table.

KSUFA has created a section of our website (https://ksufa.org/index.php/tenure-track-unit/negotiations-2025) dedicated to the TT negotiations. This section contains links to all of the negotiation updates we have sent to our members and links to all proposals on all articles made by either party. From our homepage (https://ksufa.org), you can find the link to the negotiation update both under the TT-Unit drop down menu at the top of the page or just below the Surviving SB 1 section of the homepage.

Although the MOU extending the CBA expired on December 31, 2025, 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 don’t hesitate to contact me (dsmith@ksufa.org).

Sincerely,

Deborah Smith

President, KSUFA

Chief Negotiator, TT-Unit