Survey Findings
We are releasing the results of our faculty survey, you can see the infographic here. The survey, completed by over 85% of Akron-AAUP members, bears out faculty agreement on the administration’s lack of financial transparency, lack of shared sacrifice, and athletics spending decisions that continue to threaten the academic mission of the institution.
According to the survey, 80% of participating faculty agree that the University should release its monthly cash-flow statements so that the faculty, students, and Akron community have a clear view of the finances. Regarding athletics spending, 81% agree that reducing spending on athletics’ programs (for example, by dropping to Division II) is better for students, the University, and the Akron community than firing full-time faculty. In terms of shared sacrifice, 82% of participating faculty agree that any concessions by the union must be tied to pay cuts and/or furloughs for administrators and coaches earning over $150K annually.
Faculty are united around alternative solutions to financial challenges at the University that will sustain, rather than shutter, academic programs.
Filing of Arbitration Brief
Our legal team has been working intensively on the brief we will file this Friday with the arbitrator. We will post the brief as soon as the few items the Administration has insisted are covered by the NDA are redacted. Mostly, the redacted items concern the latest enrollment numbers and some financial information. We believe these should be shared as they show that the University’s financial condition is in much better shape than predicted earlier this summer, underscoring the lack of necessity for the Administration to lay off any faculty.
In Solidarity,
The Communications Committee of Akron-AAUP