The National Center's September 2020 newsletter includes information about our upcoming virtual national conference on October 19-20, links to our 2020 webinar series, and reports on recent decisions concerning representation of faculty and other professionals at Duquesne University, Medaille College, University of the Arts, American University, and Kean University. This month's newsletter also includes information about a new California wage and hour law applicable to adjunct faculty in that state.

We also include information about NYU's 73rd Annual Conference on Labor on October 1-2, 2020 and links to articles in the current volume of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy.

As always, if you have comments or story ideas please email us.

The National Center's 47th annual conference will be taking place virtually on October 19-20, 2020.

There is still time to register for the annual conference: Register here!

TIAA is a sponsor of the National Center's 47th annual conference with additional funding provided by AFT, SEIU, and The Standard Insurance Company.

Steven Greenhouse, the former New York Times labor and workplace correspondent, will be the keynote speaker at our rescheduled annual conference in October.

Mr. Greenhouse will be analyzing labor's response to the pandemic in the context of the historical and contemporary themes set forth in his exceptional book Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor (2019). His book traces U.S. labor history from the 20th Century up to and including the first two decades of the 21st Century. The book was published last year by Knopf, and

it has been released in paperback:

The Student Debt Crisis: History, Consequences, and Post-Pandemic Solutions with Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, Associate Professor, Loyola University Chicago, Caitlin Zaloom, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University, Jennifer Mishory, Senior Fellow and Senior Policy Advisor, Century Foundation, and Suzanne Kahn, Director, Education, Jobs, and Worker Power and the Great Democracy Initiative at the Roosevelt Institute.

Professor Zaloom is the author of the new book titled Indebted: How Families Make College Work at Any Cost, published by Princeton University Press. Professor Shermer is working on an up-coming book examining the history of the student debt industry.

Jennifer Mishory and Suzanne Kahn are co-authors of a paper titled Bridging Progressive Policy Debates: How Student Debt and the Racial Wealth Gap Reinforce Each Other. Suzanne Kahn also recently authored another paper titled A Progressive Framework for Free College.

The following is a list of other confirmed panels for the October 19-20, 2020 conference:

Panel: Growth in Union Density Among Academic Labor, 2013-2019 with Jacob Apkarian, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Department of Behavioral Sciences, York College, CUNY and National Center Affiliated Researcher, Joseph van der Naald,

Graduate Student Researcher, Program in Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY and National Center Affiliated Researcher, and William A. Herbert, Distinguished Lecturer and National Center Executive Director, Moderator and Presenter. Discussants: Gary Rhoades, Professor and Director, Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona, JCBA Co-editor and Adrianna Kezar, Endowed Professor and Dean's Professor of Leadership, USC, Director of the Pullias Center.

Presentation: Race and Labor In Historical and Contemporary Contexts with Bill Fletcher, Jr. author and activist, former president of TransAfrica Forum, and Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies. Discussants: Derryn Moten, Alabama State University, co-president of the Alabama State University Faculty-Staff Alliance and a vice president of the Alabama AFL-CIO and Sherri-Ann Butterfield, Executive Vice Chancellor and Associate Professor, Sociology, Office of the Chancellor, Rutgers University—Newark. DeWayne Sheafter, National Council for Higher Education/NEA, Moderator.

Panel: Black Lives Matter on Campus and Beyond with Calvin Smiley, Assistant Professor, Sociology, Hunter College, CUNY, Paul Ortiz, University of Florida Chapter President, United Faculty of Florida NEA-AFT, Terri Givens, CEO and Founder, Center for Higher Education Leadership, Elijah Armstrong, Organizational Specialist in Human and Civil Rights, National Education Association, and Alethea Taylor, Doctoral Lecturer/Internship Site Developer, Hunter College - School of Education, Department of Educational Foundations and Counseling, Participant and Moderator.

Panel: Title IX Regulations: Bargaining Issues for Unions and Institutions with Rana Jaleel, Assistant Professor, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, University of California, Davis, Lance Houston, University EEO, Inc., Debra Osofsky, Negotiator, Educator and Contract Specialist, and Judi Burgess, Director of Labor Relations, Boston University, Moderator.

Panel: Affirmative Action in Higher Education, Post-Pandemic with Cara McClellan, Assistant Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Risa Lieberwitz, General Counsel, AAUP and Professor of Labor and Employment Law, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Victor Goode, Associate Professor, CUNY Law School, and Lili Palacios-Baldwin, Deputy General Counsel for Labor, Employment & Litigation, Tufts University, Moderator.

Panel: The Equal Rights Amendment and Higher Education with Julie Suk, Dean for Master’s Programs and Professor, Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center, Elizabeth Schneider, Rose L. Hoffer Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School, Jessica Neuwirth, Distinguished Lecturer and Rita E. Hauser Director, Human Rights Program, Roosevelt House, Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CUNY, and Wendi Lazar, Partner, Outten & Golden, Moderator.

Panel:The Old Wolf, Again: Latinx Faculty Negotiations, Recruitment, Retention, and Racism in the Academy with Theresa Montaño, California State University, Northridge, Chicana/o Studies, California Faculty Association, José Luis Morín, Chairperson, Department of Latin American and Latinx Studies, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, José Cintrón, Professor, College of Education, CSU Sacramento, California Faculty Association, and Michael Ortiz, Sul Ross University.

Panel: Mass Incarceration and Higher Education with Patrick Mitchell, Board Member, Community College Association, CTA, NEA, Michelle Jones, Doctoral Student, New York University, Vivian Nixon, Columbia University Teaching Fellow, and Bidhan Chandra Roy, College of Arts and Letters, California State University, Los Angeles, Participant and Moderator.

Panel: LGBTQ Labor Issues in Higher Education After Bostock v. Clayton County with Barbara J. Diamond, Diamond Law, Portland, Oregon, Mellissa Sortman, Director of Academic Human Resources, Michigan State University, Elizabeth S. Hough, Counsel to the President, United University Professions, and Elizabethe C. Payne, Founder and Director, Queering Education Research Institute (QuERI) and faculty at CUNY, Moderator.

Panel: Negotiating for Part-Time Faculty Equity with Will Silvio, President, Berklee College of Music Faculty Union, Jay Kennedy, Berklee College of Music Vice President for Academic Affairs/Vice Provost, Darryl Wood, NYSUT Labor Relations Specialist,

Panel: Retirement Plan Trends and the COVID-19 Pandemic with Christina Cutlip, TIAA, Senior Managing Director, Institutional Relationships, Facilitator, Gary Herzlich, Senior Director, Associate General Counsel, TIAA, Patricia McConnell, Levy, Ratner, PC, and Susan E. Bernstein, Schulte, Roth & Zabel LLP.

Panel: Higher Education Funding After the Pandemic with Fred Floss, Professor and Chair, Department of Economics and Finance, SUNY Buffalo State University and Fiscal Policy Institute, Senior Fellow, Thomas Anderson, Executive Director, Union of Part-Time Faculty, AFT Local 477, AFL-CIO, Thomas L. Harnisch, Vice President for Government Relations, and Sophia Laderman, Senior Policy Analyst, State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO).

Panel: Contingent Faculty, Job Security, and Academic Freedom with Carl Levine, Levy Ratner P.C., Keila Tennant, Associate General Counsel and VP for Labor Relations, The New School, Sonam Singh, former Unit Chair, BCF-UAW Local 2110, and Barry Miller, Senior Policy Advisor on Labour Relations, Office of the Provost, York University, Moderator.

Panel: Reasonable Accommodations for Faculty and Teaching Assistants with Alexandra (Sascha) Matish, Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Senior Director, Academic Human Resources, University of Michigan, John Rose, Dean for Diversity, Hunter College, CUNY, Barbara Aloni, Disability & Productivity Consultant, The Standard Insurance Company, Laura Yvonne Bulk, President, CUPE Local 2278 (Canadian Union of Public Employees), PhD Candidate, Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of British Columbia, and Jamie Daniel, Former National Field Service Representative, AAUP, Participant and Moderator.

LERA Higher Education Industry Council Panel: The Changing Place of Labor Studies in Higher Education with Marissa Brookes, University of California, Riverside, Tobias Schulze-Cleven, Rutgers University, Cedric de Leon, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Ruth Milkman, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, Moderator.

Panel: Collective Bargaining from All Sides: Unionism, the Faculty Senate, Contingent Faculty, and Academic Administration with Jon E. Bekken, Albright College, David Hamilton Golland, Governors State University, Nelson Ouellet, Université de Moncton, Naomi R Williams, Rutgers University, and Theodore Curry, Associate Provost, Associate VP, Michigan State University, Participant and Moderator.

Panel: Unemployment Insurance Policies and Practices: Adjunct Faculty, COVID-19, and Beyond with Michele Evermore, Senior Research and Policy Analyst, National Employment Law Project, George Wentworth, Of Counsel, National Employment Law Project, Arnab Datta, Senior Legislative Counsel, Employ America, and Francisco Diez, Worker Justice Policy Advocate, Center for Popular Democracy, Participant and Moderator.

Panel: Labor as Contingent as Free Speech? An Analysis of Recent Adjunct Faculty First Amendment Cases with Nora Devlin, Doctoral Candidate, Rutgers Graduate School of Education, Stacy Hawkins, Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School, Commentator, Martin Malin, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Institute for Law and the Workplace, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, Commentator, and Christopher Simeone, AAUP, Moderator.

Panel: Health and Safety Issues and COVID-19 with Deborah Berkowitz, Worker Safety and Health Program Director, National Employment Law Project, and Amy Bahruth, Assistant Director for Health and Safety, AFT (panel in formation).

Between May and August 2020, the National Center hosted a series of webinars. Below are links to six of those webinars and related materials:

Labor and Employment Legal Issues Resulting from the Pandemic with Henry Morris Jr., Partner, Arent Fox LLP, Aaron Nisenson, Senior Legal Counsel, Christian Gobel, and William A. Herbert, National Center, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator. The webinar was held on August 20, 2020.

Description: This webinar was the National Center’s annual legal update panel, which examined issues and cases over the past year including legal subjects related to the pandemic.

The Future of Privatization in Higher Education: Post-Pandemic with Rima Brusi, Distinguished Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, and Writer in Residence at the Center for Human Rights and Peace Studies, Lehman College, CUNY, Shahrzad Habibi, Research and Policy Director, In the Public Interest, Robert Shireman, Director of Higher Education Excellence and a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation and William A. Herbert, National Center, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator. The webinar was held on June 25, 2020.

Description: This webinar examined the future of privatization in higher education following the devastation caused by COVID-19. The speakers examined the privatization and resistance at the University of Puerto Rico, the challenges to privatization at California State University, the use of public-private partnerships on campus, and the renewed federal promotion of the for-profit higher education industry. The panel was organized in conjunction with the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CUNY and In the Public Interest, a research and policy center on privatization.

Collective Bargaining and Online Technologies in the Age of a Pandemic with Joseph McConnell, Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP, Cynthia Eaton, Secretary, Faculty Association, Suffolk County Community College, Gary Rhoades, Professor of Higher Education, University of Arizona, and Co-Editor, Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, Ellen Grachek, University of Michigan, Molly Brookfield, University of Michigan/GEO, and William A. Herbert, National Center, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator. The webinar was held on June 18, 2020.

Description: This webinar included presentations by the three panelists who examined collective bargaining and online technologies, which was followed by Q & A, and information sharing about bargaining issues and experiences from around the country. The following are some of the issues that were discussed during the webinar: the use of online technology for the conduct of bargaining; specific negotiation topics related to online learning during the pandemic; how collective bargaining can alleviate the negative consequences of the digital and economic divide in our communities; and how the expansion of online teaching in higher education might impact the shape of collective bargaining. The panel was organized in conjunction with the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CUNY.

Reading Material: Negotiating the Distance and Beyond, Bargaining Contract and Policy Language for Distance Education and Intellectual Property.

The Gig Academy and COVID-19: Implications for the Future with Adrianna Kezar, Endowed Professor and Dean's Professor of Leadership, USC, Director of the Pullias Center, and Director Delphi Project, Daniel Greenstein, Chancellor, Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, Henry Reichman, Chair, Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, AAUP, Maria Maisto, New Faculty Majority, and William A. Herbert, National Center, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator. The webinar was held on June 9, 2020.

Description: In a recently published book, The Gig Academy: Mapping Labor in the Neoliberal University, Adrianna Kezar and her co-authors describe and critique the restructuring of labor relations in higher education over the past few decades that included a massive increase in precarious employment in the form of contingent faculty positions, post-doctoral appointments, and the use of graduate assistants for teaching and research. Today, non-tenure track faculty make up 70% of college instructors nationwide. During this webinar, the panel discussed the book's insights and recommendations as well as their relevance for post-pandemic colleges and universities.The panel was organized in conjunction with the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CUNY.

Online Learning: Policies, Practices, and its Future in the Face of COVID-19 with Stephanie Hall, Fellow, The Century Foundation, Anthony G. Picciano Professor, Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center, School of Education, Di Xu, Associate Professor University of California Irvine, and William A. Herbert, National Center, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator. The webinar was held on May 19, 2020.

Description: Over the past two decades, the prevalence of online learning in U.S. colleges and universities has grown considerably. University administrators, educators, and students have regarded this form of education with both excitement and suspicion. Distance learning holds the promise of greater educational inclusion and increased revenue generation for higher education institutions, yet has been the subject of critiques by its various stakeholders. This panel provided a multifaceted examination of online learning from three distinct, yet interrelated perspectives. Di Xu reviewed existing research on the impact of online learning on access and student performance in U.S. higher education, and discussed instances where online educational programs have been most successfully implemented. Stephanie Hall examined the theoretical and policy implications of online degree programs, using the results of a Century Foundation analysis of university contracts with for-profit online program managers. Last, Anthony Picciano discussed both the implications of online learning on faculty, with a focus on collective bargaining, professional identity, and university administration, and concluded the panel discussion with an exploration of how future technological innovations in online education may redefine the professional roles of tomorrow’s teachers, administrators, and researchers. This panel was organized in conjunction with the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CUNY.

Higher Ed Collective Bargaining and Shared Governance in Responding to COVID-19 with Theodore H. (Terry) Curry, Michigan State University, Risa L. Lieberwitz, Cornell University ILR and AAUP, Jamie Dangler, UUP, Rebecca Givan, Rutgers AAUP-AFT, Dale Kapla, Northern Michigan University, Julie Schmid, AAUP, and Michael Eagen, UMass Amherst, and William A. Herbert, National Center, Hunter College, CUNY, Presenter and Moderator. The webinar was held on May 14, 2020.

Description: This labor-management panel examined the role of collective bargaining and shared governance in resolving the many serious higher education labor relations, policy, and legal issues that have arisen because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The panelists provided an overview of collective bargaining and shared governance along with examples of their use and non-use on campuses around the country since the pandemic began. The panel was organized in conjunction with the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, CUNY, and the Labor and Employment Relations Association's Higher Education Industry Council.

To assist with this research project, we request institutions of higher education and unions representing faculty, graduate assistants, and other campus workers to upload copies of any written agreements reached in response to the pandemic. Questions concerning this research inquiry can be emailed here.

Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit v. National Labor Relations Board, United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Case Nos. 18-063 and 18-1078

On September 17, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an order denying a request by the United Steel Workers (USW) for reconsideration of a January 28, 2020, decision rejecting the legal standards applied by the NLRB when it decided to assert jurisdiction over a representation case and certified USW to represent a unit of adjunct faculty at Duquesne University. The NLRB had applied the legal standards set forth in Pacific Lutheran University, 361 NLRB No. 157 (2014).

In its January decision, the federal appellate court ruled the proper legal test for determining whether the NLRB can assert jurisdiction over a religiously-affiliated institution consistent with the First Amendment is whether the institution holds itself out to the public as a religious institution, is a non-profit, and is religiously affiliated. This test was originally formulated in University of Great Falls v. NLRB, 278 F.3d 1335 (D.C. Cir. 2002) and stems from a landmark Supreme Court's decision involving labor relations in parochial education: NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 440 U.S. 490 (1979).

In a concurrence to the denial of rehearing, Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard raised the possibility that the court might be open to a future challenge to the "holding out" approach in University of Great Falls and other cases based, in part, on the analysis by the Supreme Court in its recent decision: Our Lady of Guadalupe Sch. v. Morrissey-Berru, 140 S.Ct. 2049 (2020). In Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Supreme Court considered the actual religious duties performed by teachers in finding that the application of federal anti-discrimination laws would violate the religious freedoms protected by the First Amendment.

There are at least two other cases pending in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in which religiously-affiliated higher educaiton institutions are challenging the NLRB's assertion of jurisdiction: Manhattan College v. NLRB, Docket No. 18-1113 and Saint Xavier University v. NLRB, Docket No 18-1076.

Medaille College, NLRB Case No. 03-RC-265905

On September 11, 2020, New York State United Teachers, AFT-NEA filed a representation petition seeking to represent 72 faculty members at Medaille College, which is located in Western New York.

American University: SEIU Files to Represent Provost Office Staff

American University Office of the Provost, NLRB Case Number: 05-RC-266608

Included: AII full time and regular part-time professional and non-professional employees employed below the level of Associate Director in the Academic Affairs Division by American University in Washington, D.C.

Excluded: All other employees, faculty, students at the University, employees who are working in positions funded partly or totally through external sources where the University does not control their wages, confidential employees, managers, guards, and supervisors as defined by the National Labor Relations Act.

University of the Arts, NLRB Case No.: 04-RC-265984

Included: Non-tenure track full time faculty, lecturers, senior lecturers, master lecturers, adjuncts, adjunct assistants, and adjunct associates employed by University of the Arts.

Excluded: All tenured full-time faculty, guest lecturers, visiting artists, accompanists, professional and clerical administrative staff, all managerial employees, including department chairs and program directors, confidential employees and supervisors as defined by the Act.

Kean University, 47 NJPER ¶ 30 (2020)

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law an amendment to California’s wage and hour law concerning adjunct faculty working for private independent colleges and universities in that state. 

The NYU 73rd Annual Conference on Labor:

Pay Equity and Issues of Inequality at Work

FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT: labor.conference@nyu.edu

Below are links to articles that appear in Volume 11 of the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, our peer review multi-disciplinary journal co-edited by Jeffrey Cross, Eastern Illinois University (Emeritus), and Gary Rhoades, University of Arizona.

Daniel J. Julius, Revitalizing Scholarship on Academic Collective Bargaining

James Castagnera, Organizing of Teaching Faculty in Private Higher Education Bucks a Long-Standing Historical Trend in American Unionization

William A. Herbert and Joseph van der Naald, A Different Set of Rules? NLRB Proposed Rule Making and Student Worker Unionization Rights

Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas, Laurel Smith-Doerr, Henry Renski, and Laras Sekarasih,

Stephen J. Jacquemin, Christine R. Junker, and Mark Cubberley, Does a Prolonged Faculty Strike in Higher Education Affect Student Achievement in First Year General Education Courses?

Laura Murphy and Leah M. Akins, Maintaining peer-based faculty evaluation: a case study involving student surveys of teaching

Louis Shedd, Stephen G. Katsinas, and Nathaniel Bray, Examining the Employment Profile of Institutions Under the Mission-Driven Classification System and the Impact of Collective Bargaining

Barry Miller, Strong Fusion of Social Unionism and Normative Contract Negotiations: A Square Peg in a Round Hole?

Jennifer Eagan, The California Faculty Association: Keeping Racial and Economic Justice at the Forefront

Deirdre M. Frontczak, Adjuncts and the Chimera of Academic Freedom

We encourage scholars and practitioners in the fields of collective bargaining, labor relations, and labor history to submit articles for potential publication for Volume 12 of the Journal.

The Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy is supported, in part, by a generous contribution from TIAA and is hosted by the institutional repository of Eastern Illinois University.