The following is the official statement released to the media on Friday by the Akron-AAUP in response to comments made by Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Jon Pavloff, after Thursday’s Vote of No Confidence by the Faculty Senate.
Akron-AAUP Disputes Statement that Overlap Between Union and Faculty Senate Influenced Thursday’s Vote of No Confidence
Of the 63 members in The University of Akron’s Faculty Senate, only three senators are also part of the Akron-AAUP leadership, two of whom were present for the Vote of No Confidence.
AKRON, Ohio – (February 5, 2016) – After the 50-2 Vote of No Confidence in President Scarborough by the University of Akron Faculty Senate yesterday, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Jon Pavloff referenced “overlapping membership” between the Faculty Senate and the Akron-AAUP, suggesting the vote was merely part of the ongoing union negotiations.
“The Chairman is mistaken. The two bodies are quite distinct in purpose and membership,” says John Zipp, Professor and Akron-AAUP Chapter President. Of the 63 members of Faculty Senate, only three members of the AAUP leadership are members of Faculty Senate, and of those, only two were present for the Vote of No Confidence on Thursday.
“It is neither helpful to negotiations, nor responsive to the concerns of Faculty Senate, to dismiss so lightly the issues leading to the Senate’s vote today,” says Zipp.
About the Akron-AAUP
The Akron-AAUP is The University of Akron’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. The Akron-AAUP has been the sole collective bargaining representative for faculty since 2003, and won the approval of their first collective bargaining agreement in 2005. In addition to advocating for the faculty and students of the institution, the Akron-AAUP is currently in negotiations for the fourth collective bargaining agreement for The University of Akron faculty.
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An additional note:
There have been difficult negotiations between Akron-AAUP and university administration in the past, but there has never been a Vote of No Confidence by the Faculty Senate. The Akron-AAUP Communications Committee has not been able to find a single incident of a Vote of No Confidence during university faculty union negotiations in Ohio.
The issues spelled out in the detailed resolution that drove the Faculty Senate to take the vote make no mention of compensation,benefits, intellectual property or distance and distributed learning the topics remaining in current union negotiations. Although Akron-AAUP has sent numerous communications to its members, it has never mentioned a Vote of No Confidence, and took no position on the Senate’s resolution.