A tentative agreement has been reached!

After months of uncertainty, long negotiations, organizing, conversations, and real concern about what this would mean for our spring term and our ability to graduate, there is finally a path forward. 

This agreement provides a four year contract with defined salary increases, workload improvements, stronger job security protections, updated safety language, and clearer class size maximums. It includes cost of living adjustments each year, steps for eligible faculty, added longevity increases, pay parity improvements for part time faculty, and workload changes that better reflect the reality of lab and lecture instruction. These are not small details. These are the structural pieces that impact retention, stability, and the quality of our education.

While no contract is perfect and there were goals that could not be fully realized, this agreement represents meaningful progress. It reflects compromise, persistence, and the power of collective action.

I am deeply grateful to the bargaining team for staying at the table and fighting for a strong and fair contract. I am grateful to faculty who continued to show up for students without a contract, maintaining professionalism and commitment through uncertainty. I am grateful to students and community members who signed petitions, attended rallies, and refused to disengage. And I appreciate that the Board ultimately came to a tentative agreement that protects student outcomes and allows us to graduate this year.

This agreement brings stability back to our campus. It protects programs. It supports faculty retention. It reinforces that when a community stands together, progress is possible.

This feels like a huge relief. And it feels like hope. Thank you for caring enough about eachother to show up and do the right thing even when it was difficult. This is how every community should be. Proactive, peaceful, engaged, and willing to compromise. Together we raised the bar. Lets go Titans!!