We hope you enjoy this issue of The AAUPdate! If you are a member of our chapter, you’ll get these updates regularly in your inbox. If you’re not a member, you are invited to subscribe to receive these updates by email. Please also feel free to forward this along to colleagues! Past issues of the newsletter are online.
★ We have another message to share from our colleagues in the Student Workers at Columbia (SWC), included at the bottom of this post
AAUP@CU Chapter Committee Activities:
★ The Advocacy Committee continues its work in New York Congressional District 17. For any AAUP members who live in that district, or who wish to support our work to back the democratic candidate who may unseat Mike Lawler [R], please consider attending two upcoming meetings with democratic candidates. CD-NY17 is considered one of the most highly contested races in the upcoming midterm elections, and we need your help to get the word out. We have scheduled 2 of 3 (so far) meetings to bring AAUP folks together with candidates.
On Tuesday, April 28th, from 4-5 pm, we will meet with Effie Phillips-Staley. On Tuesday, May 5th, from 5:30-6:30 pm, we will meet with Cait Conley. Zoom links to follow. If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].
★ This spring, the Organizing Committee (OC) has been focused on building organizing capacity for our chapter, expanding participation, and conducting personal outreach with members about our Board of Trustees Reform campaign. We are helping to follow up with faculty who have not renewed. A major priority has been cleaning our lists of faculty within each department, and expanding the liaison network by recruiting and supporting more departmental liaisons, especially uptown. The University Climate Survey is expected to be released imminently and we are developing material for liaisons to raise awareness about the report, and tapping into the Fall 2025 AAUP survey to complement this effort.
OC members also participated in AAUP National’s Organizing for Power sessions, which are monthly training sessions designed to give chapters the tools, support, and strategies to strengthen organizing and achieve chapter goals. These are meetings that include peers from Organizing Committees of other nearby AAUP chapters like Penn, Fordham, and other NY region universities, so ideas are shared and networking is happening!
★ From the Senate Committee: Thank you to everyone who attended the University Senate Academic Forums. More on this below from the Comms Committee. The next Senate plenary – the last of the semester unless we continue meeting into the summer – is on Friday, May 8th. Please register here. We have not yet received the Senate Review document (see “On Burying of Reviews and Reports”), and there is concern that the Board of Trustees may wait until the end of the term to make changes to the Senate's powers and/or structure, so we seek participation and support from across campus.
★ The Communications Committee took part in the two University Forums about the Campaign for Board Reform that took place in the Law School and on the medical campus March 26 and 31. A copy of the AAUP’s presentation at those forums may be found here. The Communications Committee also prepared and issued a statement “On the Burying of Reviews and Reports” that admonishes university leadership to release three reports that have long been promised, including the review of the University Senate, and stresses the importance of the release of these reports and a collaborative response to their recommendations as essential to shared governance. The Committee has also been working with the Organizing Committee to prepare more faculty videos related to the Board Reform Campaign. Finally, a member of the Communications Committee represented Columbia at the Working Group on University Governance, which is part of the Coalition for Action in Higher Education, on April 17, and spoke about our Board Reform campaign in which there is now considerable national interest.
Relevant News & Links:
Administrators defend undergraduate expansion at first University Senate plenary since finalizing decision (Spectator)
The Faculty Are the Problem, Apparently (Crimson)
★ ★ Below, a message from the SWC ★ ★
Hello AAUP! Here is a short update from the Student Workers of Columbia - UAW 2710 (SWC).
We are continuing to bargain with Columbia for a fair contract. Here are the highlights:
We have put our first article, Grievance and Arbitration, into a Tentative Agreement (TA).
Our Bargaining Committee (BC) is recommending that two more articles, Training and Employment Files, are at the point where they should be TA’ed as well. This represents some of the first major movement towards a contract that we have seen!
Columbia maintains that it is within its right to replace our labor with AI and that they are not interested in negotiating on that right.
In a win for non-citizen workers, Columbia agrees to allow people to work from abroad if they are unable to return to the US. However, the University still refuses to bargain over sanctuary campus and protections from federal agents like ICE and DHS.
We won improved access to arbitration for non-discrimination and harassment, but Columbia still refuses to discuss disability accommodations, power-based harassment, and gender/sexual identity protections
Columbia responds on transitional funding, proposing the same language as in our previous contract and rejecting our proposed language on transitional funding for moral and ethical objections. They verbally agreed that the proposed language may have merit in some situations.
Catch up on more bargaining updates on our bargaining blog.
Faculty Strikebreaking Pledge: We ask for your solidarity at this moment: we believe that faculty support for this potential strike could, as just occurred at Penn, make a very meaningful difference at the bargaining table. We would greatly appreciate your signatures on this open letter pledging to support our union!
Fundraising for our Hardship Fund: In anticipation of a possible strike, we are fundraising for our Hardship Fund (managed by the Student Worker Aid Collective). The strike fund will supplement UAW strike pay to make it possible for student workers to go on strike without risking their ability to make rent, pay for groceries, or forgo medical care. Please help show your solidarity with us: tinyurl.com/5ebfh423.
Statement from disciplined students: The students disciplined for alleged involvement in the Hind’s Hall protests have asked for our help sharing their statement with AAUP. They are seeking faculty support to put pressure on University administration, via the Senate and other means, to ensure that they are allowed to complete their studies following the court decision that overturned their discipline.
If you are interested in more updates, sign up for the SWC mailing list here!