Contract negotiations between Oakland University's faculty have been ongoing since late spring. Administration has been reluctant to agree to terms laid out by OU's American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and has proposed egregious offers and counter-offers which include, but are not limited to:

• Cutting retirement benefits by four percentage points.
• No or low annual raises for full-time faculty 
• Cutting faculty pay by 14%
• Raising the cost of health insurance available to full-time faculty
• Removing dental and optical insurance
• Eliminating faculty choice when it comes to online instruction  

All of this and more while at the same time raising tuition for students and raising administrator pay.

Our faculty's list of requests is not unreasonable, especially given the circumstances of this past year. OU has also failed to be transparent with students when it comes to providing their reasoning as to why they cannot accommodate these requests from our faculty and why an agreement cannot be struck. Updates that have been sent to students and parents appear to have been carefully and intentionally worded in a way to imply that faculty are striking illegally. To clarify, the AAUP strike is perfectly legal since the protest is not considered a public sector strike. They are effectively showing their true colors and they are using their students and OUR education as a bargaining chip.

Many students have personally witnessed how hard our faculty has worked during our time as students at Oakland University. Their demands are reasonable and warranted and if OU administration truly cares about its students and its faculty, they will comply with these demands so that our education can continue as soon as possible. 

More Information:

OU Executive Administration Benefits Summary (this plan does not apply to professors and other faculty members)

AAUP Bargaining Diary