The roughly 120,000 students at the 14 state-owned universities have a lot on their minds — term papers, final exams, Christmas gift-buying and a possible strike by their professors.
Members of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties recently voted to authorize a strike if negotiations do not result in a new contract.
Professors in the State System of Higher Education have been working without a contract since June 2011. Negotiations since have yielded little in the way of an agreement and the week before Thanksgiving, fully 95 percent of the 6,000 professors and coaches who voted authorized their union chapter presidents to strike should the two sides fail to reach a contract. A walkout requires the approval of 10 of the 14 chapter presidents.
Although the state system initially proposed, then withdrew, a 35 percent pay cut for temporary faculty, wages do not pose an obstacle to negotiations, according to reports. The system has proposed a wage freeze for 2011-12, with a total four percent increase for the next three years, based on seniority.
Instead, other issues, including health care coverage, full-time staffing and compensation for distance learning via computer are in dispute.
In some respects, these contract negotiations could not have come at a worse time.
Changes in technology — especially regarding distance learning — have changed the face of higher education. And with the Affordable Care Act soon to become a reality, state-owned universities must be able to cover a potential increase in health insurance costs at a time when the health insurance landscape is changing.
That adds an air of uncertainty to contract talks.
While some increase in student fees and tuition is inevitable, both sides need to take into consideration students' ability to pay.
Pennsylvania college students have the second-highest amount of college debt in the nation. According to the Institute for College Access and Success Project on Student Debt, Pennsylvania students graduated with $29,959 in debt in 2011. Graduates of Indiana University of Pennsylvania — one of the 14 state-owned schools — had an average debt of $32,416 in 2011.
There has never been a strike in the 30 years since the state system has been in existence. A spokeswoman for APSCUF said the union delayed voting on the strike authorization for 16 months in an attempt to work out a deal.
Although two negotiating sessions are scheduled in December, it is possible that the union could walk out before this semester's classes conclude on Dec. 7. That, to our way of thinking, would be a disaster. It would disrupt student schedules and this semester's graduation and would constitute a public relations nightmare for faculty. A strike would alienate students, faculty and taxpayers.
The frustration on the part of faculty is understandable, but no one stands to gain from a work stoppage. It doesn't require a Ph.D. to recognize that.
