September 2022

Save the Dates: March 26-28, 2023

National Center's 50th Annual Conference in New York City

On March 26-28, 2023, the National Center will be holding our 50th annual conference in New York City at Hunter College. It will be a hybrid conference, which will permit in-person and virtual options for panelists and attendees.

The theme of the 2023 annual conference will be Collective Bargaining in Higher Education Looking Back, Looking Forward, 1973-2023.

Below is a list of currently confirmed conference panel topics with more to be announced in the near future:

The 50-Year History of Collective Bargaining at Hofstra University

Collective Bargaining and Building Relationships During the COVID-19 Crisis

The Negotiated Substance and Procedures of Contract Non-Discrimination Clauses

Collective Bargaining and Governance: In Harmony or In Conflict?

Title IX: Its Past, Its Present, and Its Future 

Bargaining, Arbitrating, and Litigating over Academic Freedom

Looking Back, Looking Ahead: State and Federal Higher Education Financing Over the Past Half-Century

Enrollment Trends and Strategies: Past, Present, and Future

Exploring the Retirement Income Equity Gap

It Started in Madison: Graduate Assistant Unionization and Collective Bargaining

Cultivating a Collaborative Culture in a Climate of Semi-Permanent Austerity

Labor and Anti-Discrimination Rights at Religiously-Affiliated Institutions

Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Labor-Management Cooperation for Campus and Community Benefits

Additional news about panels and panelists along with registration and hotel information will be announced in future newsletters and on our website.

Become a Conference Sponsor or Program Advertiser to Celebrate the National Center's 50th Anniversary and Support Our  Research

2023 Conference Sponsorships

To help celebrate the National Center’s 50^th anniversary, we encourage higher education institutions, unions, law firms, organizations, and companies to become a sponsor of our 2023 annual conference. 

Through a conference sponsorship you will demonstrate support for the National Center’s continuing labor-management mission, programing, and research agenda.

Major Supporting Partner: $15,000

Benefits:

Complimentary registration for 3 conference attendees and a 50% reduction for a fourth;

Your organization’s logo and link to your site on the National Center website;

Opportunity to make introductory remarks at the plenary or mid-day greetings;

Your organization’s name referenced in our monthly newsletter;

Inclusion of a one-page display ad in the conference program;

Listing as a major supporting sponsor of the annual conference, webinars and conference receptions.

Supporting Partner: $10,000

Benefits:

Complimentary registration for 2 conference attendees and a 50% reduction for a third;

Your organization’s logo and link to your site on the National Center website;

Your organization name referenced in our monthly newsletter;

Inclusion of a one-page display ad in the conference program;

Listing as a supporting sponsor of the annual conference, webinars and conference receptions.

Participating Sponsor: $5,000

Benefits:

Complimentary registration for one conference attendee;

Your organization’s logo and link to your site on the National Center website;

Your organization name referenced in our monthly newsletter;

Inclusion of a half-page display ad in the conference program;

Listing as a participating sponsor of the annual conference, webinars and conference breaks.

Basic Sponsor: $2,500

Benefits:

Complimentary registration for one conference attendee;

Listing as a sponsor on the National Center website;

Your organization’s name referenced in our monthly newsletter;

Inclusion of a one-quarter display ad in the conference program;

Listing as a basic sponsor of the annual conference, webinars and conference breaks.

Introductory Sponsor: $1,500

Benefits:

Complimentary registration for one conference attendee;

Listing as a sponsor on the National Center website;

Your organization’s name referenced in our monthly newsletter;

Inclusion of a one-quarter display ad in the conference program;

Listing as an introductory sponsor of the annual conference, webinars and conference breaks.

2023 Conference Program Advertisements

Another important way to celebrate the National Center’s 50^th anniversary and demonstrate support for our mission and research is for your institution, union, law firm, organization or company to place an advertisement in our 2023 conference program.

Full-page advertisement:       $ 1,500

Half-page advertisement:       $   750

Quarter-page advertisement: $   275

Please email us with any questions at: national.center@hunter.cuny.edu

L.A. Comm. Coll.: Cancellation of Remedial Courses Not Arbitrable

Los Angeles College Faculty Guild Local 1521 v. Los Angeles Community College District, California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Eight

On September 21, 2022, a California intermediate appellate court issued a decision affirming a lower court decision dismissing a petition filed by the Los Angeles College Faculty Guild, Local 1521 seeking to compel arbitration of grievances challenging the decision by the Los Angeles Community College District to cancel certain for-credit remedial English and mathematics courses.

The appellate court reasoned that the District’s unilateral decision to cancel the at-issue remedial courses was outside the scope of collective bargaining under California’s Educational Employment Relations Act because “in essence, [it was] a decision about the content of courses and curriculum. Put differently, it is a decision not to offer courses which contain such content. Thus, it is a matter within the discretion of the district, and so not within the scope of representation. It is therefore not an arbitrable issue.” In addition, the appellate court concluded that the faculty union had failed to demonstrate that there were arbitrable issues under the specific contract provisions cited by the union.

Clackamas Community College: ULP Filed Alleging

Interference with Access to New Bargaining Unit Members

Clackamas Community College, OERB Case No. UP-031-22

On September 16, 2022, the Clackamas Community College Part-Time Faculty Association, OEA, filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Oregon Employment Relations Board alleging that Clackamas Community College violated the 2019 amendments to Oregon’s Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act (PECBA) by failing to cooperate with the union in gaining reasonable access to new unit employees and by failing to provide information to the union in a timely manner. 

Like other state collective bargaining law changes passed following the Janus v. AFSCME decision, the 2019 PECBA amendments were aimed at providing an incumbent union with information and reasonable access to newly hired bargaining unit employees within specific time frames.

MIT: UE Files Petition to Represent a Graduate Fellows Unit

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NLRB Case No.: 01-RC-304042

On September 26, 2022, United Electrical Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) filed a petition to represent a bargaining unit of approximately 1, 000 graduate fellows at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The following is the proposed graduate fellows unit in the UE petition:

Included: All graduate fellows enrolled in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) degree programs who are employed to provide instructional or research services.

Excluded: All other employees; undergraduate students; graduate student resident advisors; hourly graders who are not also graduate fellows; graduate students not seeking MIT degrees, including visiting students; office clericals; managers; guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.

Earlier this year, UE was certified by the NLRB to represent the following unit of close to 4,000 MIT graduate assistants:

Included: Graduate students enrolled in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) degree programs who are employed to provide instructional or research services, including research assistants, teaching assistants, and instructor G's.

Excluded: Undergraduate students; graduate student resident advisors; graduate fellows who are not also employed as either research assistants or teaching assistants; hourly graders who are not also employed as either research assistants or teaching assistants; graduate students not seeking MIT degrees, including visiting students; office clericals, managers, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.

Dartmouth College: Museum Visitor Guides Vote for SEIU Representation

Trustees of Dartmouth College, NLRB Case No. 01-RC-301777

On September 16, 2022, NLRB Region 1 tallied the ballots in an election on a petition filed by SEIU Local 560 to represent a unit of 6 full-time and part-time visitor services guides at the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College. The tally demonstrated that five guides voted in favor of representation and none voted against.

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

All full-time and regular part-time Visitor Services Guides who are employed by the Employer at its Hood Museum facility located at 6 East Wheelock St. in Hanover, NH, but excluding all clerical employees, administrative employees, confidential employees, managers, guards, and professionals and supervisors as defined in the Act.

Marist College: Security Officers Vote to Unionize

Marist College, NLRB Case No.: 03-RC-300397

On September 21, 2022, NLRB Region 3 tallied the ballots in an election on a petition filed by International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA) seeking to represent a bargaining unit of 36 full-time and regular part-time security officers at Marist College. The tally demonstrated that 30 security officers voted in favor of SPFPA representation, one voted against, and three ballots were challenged.

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

Included: All full-time and regular part-time security officers performing guard duties as defined in Section 9(b)(3) of the Act at the Employer’s 3399 North Road, Poughkeepsie, New York facility.

Excluded: Office clerical employees, professional employees and supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other employees.

University of Chicago, NLRB Case No. 13-RC-296531

On September 23, 2022, NLRB Region 13 tallied the ballots in an election on a petition filed by the Illinois Council of Police (ICOPS) seeking to represent a bargaining unit of 13 full-time sergeants at the University of Chicago. The tally demonstrated that 12 sergeants voted in favor of ICOPS representation, and none opposed.

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

Included: All full-time sergeants, including patrol sergeants, criminal investigations sergeants, training sergeants, special operations sergeants, and recruitment sergeants, employed by the University of Chicago out of its facility currently located in Chicago, Illinois.

Excluded: All other employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.

Hofstra University, NLRB Case No. 29-RC-303581

On September 16, 2022, Local 553 International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 553 (IBT) filed a petition seeking to represent a unit of 54 full-time and part-time public safety employees at Hofstra University. 

The following is the proposed unit in IBT’s representation petition:

Included: All full time and regular part-time Public Safety employees located at the Employers facility at Hofstra University.

Excluded: AII other employees, including office clerical, professional employees, managers, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.

The National Center's 2022 annual conference on April 11-13, 2022 was a major success. We thank all the panelists, moderators, and attendees for their participation.

We are grateful to TIAA, SEIU, AAUP, AFT, NEA and NCHE for sponsoring the conference, to the organizations, law firms, and businesses that purchased conference program advertisements, and to the individuals who made donations.

Below are links to video recordings of conference presentations along with links to panel descriptions, panelists bios, and reading material. Click here for the full conference program.

Welcoming Remarks from Jennifer J. Raab, President, Hunter College, CUNY, Theodore H. Curry, Professor of Human Resources and Labor Relations, Michigan State University, Christopher Simeone, Director, Department of Organizing and Services, AAUP, and William A. Herbert, Executive Director, National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, Hunter College, CUNY.

Keynote Presentation by Montserrat Garibay, Senior Advisor for Labor Relations, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Education in conversation with Kathleen Mulligan, Director of the National Labor Leadership Initiative, Cornell University, ILR School. Panelists Bios

Panel: The Future of Higher Education with Arthur Levine, The Great Upheaval: Higher Education's Past, Present, and Uncertain Future, Ann Kirschner, University Professor, City University of New York, Discussant, Adrianna Kezar, Endowed Professor and Dean's Professor of Leadership, USC, Director, Pullias Center, and Director, Delphi Project, Discussant, and Daniel Greenstein, Chancellor, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, Moderator.

Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Panel: Reassessing and Reexamining the History of Higher Education with Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, Indentured Students: How Government-Guaranteed Loans Left Generations Drowning in College Debt, Cristina Viviana Groeger, The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston, Davarian Baldwin, In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities, and Ellen Schrecker, The Lost Promise: American Universities in the 1960s, and Suzanne Kahn, Managing Director of Research and Policy, Roosevelt Institute, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios. At our request, the panelists prepared the following bibliography for further study of the issues.

Panel: Contract Negotiations under COVID and Beyond with Margaret E. Winters, former Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Wayne State University, Ricardo Villarosa, Wayne State University AAUP-AFT, Dominick Fanelli, Associate Director Labor Relations, University of Michigan, Kirsten Herold, President, Lecturers' Employee Organization, AFT Local 6244, and Homer C. La Rue, Labor Arbitrator, Mediator, and Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law, Moderator.

Panel Description and Panelists Bios; Reading Material

Panel: COVID and Higher Education: The Role of Unions and Arbitration Regarding Vaccine Mandates with Richard Bales, Professor of Law, Pettit College of Law, Ohio Northern University, Eve Weinbaum, Co-President, Massachusetts Society of Professors, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Michael Eagen, Associate Provost for Academic Personnel, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Charles Toombs, President, California Faculty Association, Moderator.

Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Panel: Pandemic Organizing and Bargaining Lessons in Higher Education with Larry Savage, Chair, Department of Labour Studies, Brock University and Lauren Byers, United Faculty of Florida, Unit Service Director, Organizing Specialist, Barry Miller, Senior Policy Advisor on Labour Relations, York University, Discussant and Moderator.

Panel Description and Panelists Bios; Reading Material

Panel: Lessons Learned: Organizing and Collective Bargaining by Graduate Assistants During the Pandemic with Jacob A. Bennett, MFA, PhD, University of New Hampshire, Ben Serber, Higher Ed Organizer, North Dakota United and Past President, FSU Graduate Assistants United, Amy L. Levant, Assistant Director of Labor and Employee Relations, University of Illinois, Chicago, and Joseph van der Naald, Graduate Student Researcher, Program in Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY, Moderator.

Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Panel: Limiting the Use of Student Evaluations in Contracts: Challenges in Vision and Enforcement with Steven Newman, former President, Temple Association of University Professionals, Temple University, Ian Sakinofsky, Professor of HR Management, Ryerson University, Laura Murphy, Dutchess United Educators, Alexandra Matish, Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs, University of Michigan, and Timothy S. Taylor, Arbitrator, Scheinman Arbitration and Mediation Services, Moderator.

Panel Description and Panelists Bios; Reading Material

Panel: Federal Funding, Inequality, and Higher Education: Politics and Policy-Making with Adam Harris, staff writer at the Atlantic, National Fellow at New America, and author, The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal — and How to Set Them Right, Rebecca S. Natow, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership & Policy, Hofstra University and author, Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education: Politics and Policymaking in the Postsecondary Sector, and Sosanya Jones, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Howard University, Moderator.

Panel Description and Panelists Bios; Reading Material

Panel: Becoming JEDI: Labor-Management Strategy to Challenge Racism on Campus and Stem Community College Enrollment Decline with Courtney Brewer, Professor of Psychology, Executive Vice President, Faculty Association Suffolk Community College, Christina Vargas, Chief Diversity Officer and Title IX Coordinator, Suffolk County Community College, board member, ERASE Racism NY, Patty Munsch, Interim Vice President for Student Affairs, Suffolk County Community College, Jennifer Browne, Associate Dean for Curriculum Development, Suffolk County Community College, Lauren Liburd, Specialist, SCCC Foundation, Co-Chair Achieving the Dream Committee, and Cynthia Eaton, Professor of English, Secretary, Faculty Association Suffolk Community College, Moderator.

Panel Description and Panelists Bios; Reading Material

Panel: Collective Bargaining and Shared Governance: Findings from the 2021 AAUP Shared Governance Survey with Lynn Pasquerella, President, Association of American Colleges and Universities, Timothy Reese Cain, Associate Professor of Higher Education, University of Georgia, Hans-Joerg Tiede, Director of Research, American Association of University Professors, and Michael Loconto, Arbitrator and Mediator, Loconto ADR, Boston, MA, Moderator.

Panel Description and Panelists Bios; Reading Material

Panel: Achieving Pay Parity for Part-Time Faculty in Community Colleges with

Sandra Weese, Organizing Director, California Federation of Teachers, Ron McKinley, Vice Chancellor of Human Resources and Employee Relations, Peralta Community College District, Dyana Delfin-Polk, Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees, and Jennifer Shanoski, President, Peralta Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1603, Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios; Reading Material

Panel: An Update from NLRB and Public Sector Labor Relations Agencies on Higher Education Issues with Mark Gaston Pearce, Executive Director, Workers’ Rights Institute, Georgetown University Law School, and former National Labor Relations Board Chairman, J. Felix De La Torre, General Counsel, California Public Employment Relations Board, Ellen Maureen Strizak, General Counsel, Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, and Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel, National Labor Relations Board.

Panel Description and Panelists Bios; Reading Material

Panel: Faculty Unionization and Collective Bargaining in the Philippines: Similarities and Differences with Benjamin Velasco, Assistant Professor, University of the Philippines, School of Labor and Industrial Relations, Rene Luis Tadle, Associate Professor, Philosophy, University of Santo Tomas and Lead Convenor, Council of Teachers and Staff of Colleges and Universities of the Philippines, Gerardo L. Blanco Associate Professor, Higher Education, Academic Director, Center for International Higher Education, Boston College, Shannon Lederer, Director of Immigration Policy, AFL-CIO, and Ashwini Sukthankar, Secretary/Treasurer, International Commission for Labor Rights. Panel Description and Panelists Bios

Panel: Higher Education Legal Update with Henry Morris, Jr., Partner, Arent Fox LLP, Monica Barrett, Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC, Angela Thompson, CWA Special Counsel for Strategic Initiatives, and Aaron Nisenson, Senior Legal Counsel, AAUP, Panelist and Moderator. Panel Description and Panelists Bios; Reading Material