Dear Colleagues,
If you’ve been following contract negotiations you may recall that we worked with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) to conduct a financial analysis of OSU in preparation for our contract negotiations. Prior to putting forward our Compensation proposal at the March 15th bargaining session (read our full update here) we started things off by sharing some highlights from the AAUP report and our own research on the financial state of OSU and our faculty. A key finding that stood out to faculty who attended this session is how high inflation in the last 4 years has outpaced our salary increases and that OSU faculty pay is last among 33 peer institutions after adjusting for local cost of living!
Now I am writing to invite you to join us on Thursday May 16 from 12-1:30pm in the Memorial Union room 109 for a more in depth presentation on the findings from the AAUP report, as well as an update on contract negotiations. Members of your bargaining team will be joined by Bonnie Fox Garrity, AAUP Financial Analyst and Professor of Business at D’Youville University. Bonnie’s work sheds light on the financial state of the university and the extent to which institutional spending does not reflect the prioritization of the university’s teaching, research, and outreach missions.
This event is open to all OSU academic faculty, so please bring along your faculty colleagues and friends. If you aren’t a member yet but want to learn more about us, we’d love to meet you! Be sure to RSVP at uaosu.org/finances so we can prepare accordingly. There is a zoom option to ensure all our members can attend this event.
I know spring is a busy time for us all but I hope you’ll make time to participate in this important conversation.
In Solidarity,
Diana Castillo, UAOSU Secretary