Should Academic Unions Get Involved in Governance?

STANLEY ARONOWITZ Should Academic Unions Get Involved in Governance?

THE STEADY CORPORATIZATION of American the signs that some administrators are prepared higher education has threatened to relegate to use political and ideological criteria in tenure faculty governance, never strong, to the his- cases, and the thorny question of who owns torical archive. In the twentieth century, many the intellectual property generated by faculty scholars—notably Thorstein Veblen, Robert S. innovations? In short, how can we defend the FEATURED TOPIC Lynd, C. Wright Mills, and Richard Hofstadter— fragile institutions of academic freedom? The deplored the tendency conventional answer is faculty senates and for boards of trustees councils, of course. Didn’t the Harvard faculty and high-level administrators to concentrate succeed in driving its sitting president from The past quarter power in their own hands and for corporations office? Haven’t faculty assemblies and repre- century has and corporate foundations to play a more sentative bodies voted “no confidence” in errant prominent role in governance of some institu- and arrogant administrators who, when the witnessed a tions of higher learning. Nonetheless, this has pressure has been unbearable, occasionally powerful trend already come to pass. The past quarter century have chosen retirement or resignation rather toward the has witnessed a powerful trend toward the dis- than risking a costly and embarrassing struggle disenfranchisement enfranchisement of faculty. The introduction to keep their jobs? of online degrees in public and private colleges A close examination of these relatively rare of faculty and universities, the reshaping of curricula to instances of the exercise of faculty prerogatives meet particular corporate needs, the systematic through the senates’ collective action would starving of the liberal and fine arts amid the show that most of these occurred in research expansion of technical and business programs, universities and elite private colleges. But of and the increasing importance of competitive the more than four thousand institutions of sports are just some of the elements of the higher education in the United States, only vast transformation that has spared few insti- about three hundred fall into these categories. tutions. Added to these are the openly sanc- The rest are public colleges and universities tioned comparison between college presidents controlled directly by the state legislatures and corporate CEOs and the unembarrassed that appropriate budgets and must approve justification of paying academic presidents the appointment of all top administrators; high six-figure salaries. community colleges that often are subsumed Where are the forces that are prepared to under county legislatures, and sometimes are defend true higher learning? Who will address accountable to the state as well; and second- the new challenges to academic autonomy and third-tier private institutions that, in posed by proposals for periodic tenure review, some parts of the country, operate as fiefdoms often subject to the will of their respective STANLEY ARONOWITZ is Distinguished Professor boards of trustees and presidents. In these of Sociology at the Graduate Center of the City schools, academic freedom is sometimes a University of New York. state of being devoutly to be wished.

22 L IBERAL E DUCATION F ALL 2006 Graduate Center of the City University of New York FEATURED TOPIC Graduate Centerof the CityUniversity of NewYork in behalfofanaggrievedcandidate,butmost professional andbudgetcommittee,sometimes the presidenttooverturndecisionofa made byfaculty, itisnolongeruncommonfor morethan a“rubberstamp”ofdecisions little Where oncethisauthoritywasregardedas or hisadministrationshavefinalauthority. disguises therealitythatpresidentandher and tenurepromotiondecisionsbarely and appointcommitteesthatreviewcurricula ranks. Thatsenatesandcouncilsareelected of administration,butintendtoreturnthe faculty onleavetoperformthenecessarytasks onthefictionthattheyare executive bodies controlled byadministratorswhositontheir powerand,inmanycases,are institutional the administration;theypossessnoformal to senates areadvisorybodies whole, facultycouncilsand endangered tradition.Onthe moral authoritystemmingfrom best, theyhaveadegreeof powers offacultysenates.At quasi-juridical limitsofthe rooted intheinstitutional, of facultygovernanceis jority ofschools,theproblem 4L 24 At theoverwhelmingma- IBERAL E DUCATION F ALL 2006 of faculty governance of facultygovernance At theoverwhelming quasi-juridical limits majority ofschools, of facultysenates the institutional, of thepowers the problem the problem is rooted in is rooted from theranksof recruit theirtopandmiddleadministrators Although itisstilltruethatmostinstitutions able gulfbetweenfacultyandadministration. above thoseoffaculty, creatinganunbridge- trators’ payandperksatlevelssignificantly ecutive payplanssetmiddleandtopadminis- the declineoffacultygovernance:so-calledex- budget. Butthereisanotherfactorinfluencing such asdean, becomes formost,ifnotall,acareerthat tures toheadhuntingfirms.Administration the executivejobmarketand suming theirdutiesasaprofessor they enter when theirtermisover, inpreferencetore- fessoriate aftertheirterm(s)ofoffice.Instead, administrators returntotheranksofpro- provost, have absolutecontrolofthe trustees andtopadministrators academic sectorboardsof is thefactthatinprivate innovations. program or seektoimplement promotion ofthecandidate, that recommendtenureand and campus-wide often againstdepartmental faculty, onceinpositions Underlying theseconflicts and president, fewtop and president, trust theirfu- committees brings with it substantial financial rewards professors in most of the leading private and compared to faculty salaries. Broadly speaking public research universities, and private four- it may be argued that, in keeping with the year liberal arts colleges, although clerical, pro- corporate nature of the institution, academic fessional, and graduate student employees have administrators have become a part of the pro- significant union density in these institutions. fessional/managerial class. While it is still Prior to the 1980 Yeshiva decision of the convenient to pay lip service to what is now Supreme Court, which ruled that college pro- termed “shared governance,” since the bound- fessors in private institutions were managers ary between faculty and administration has because they participated in the governance continued to harden, it is no longer in their in- of the university or college and, for this reason, terest to empower faculty. were ineligible to receive the protections un- FEATURED TOPIC In public institutions, faculty disempower- der Labor Relations Act, union growth in the ment has been codified by law; legislatures, private academic sector was quite healthy. In the governor or county executive and their the 1960s and 1970s, faculty at Long Island staffs, or state boards of higher education re- University, St. John’s, Hofstra, Adelphi, and serve all rights, except those that have been other large universities won union recognition wrested by academic unions that, alone in the and continue to maintain their contracts. Un- academic community, still possess formal if til 2005, the National Labor Relations Board not substantive autonomy. The relative power- (NLRB) had ruled that graduate assistants at lessness of most faculty senates and the inde- private institutions of higher education were pendence of unions suggest that the time may not managers and that, in research and teach- be propitious to raise the possibility that, if ing tasks, they were employees, not students. unions choose on behalf of their members to Graduate assistants at Columbia, University become involved in governance issues, there of Pennsylvania, Brown, Yale, and New York is a chance to reverse the long-term trend University (NYU) joined thousands of gradu- toward faculty disempowerment. It is a long ate student employees in leading public uni- shot for a number of reasons, not the least of versities such as the Universities of California which is that private-sector faculty remain and Michigan to secure union organization. largely outside unions. Except for NYU, which initially recognized and bargained with the union, the other uni- The growth and consolidation versity administrations have declined to rec- of academic unionism ognize the graduate assistant unions, and have It is a little known fact that, since the 1970s, successfully resisted several strikes. But graduate academic unions have been among the few teaching and research assistant unionization sectors of the labor movement that have expe- suffered a blow in 2005 when the NLRB ruled rienced significant growth. As large sections of that they were students and not employees, the unionized manufacturing workplaces dis- even though they taught a fairly sizeable por- appeared, academic labor began to stir and to tion of the undergraduate courses and were unionize. In the past thirty-five years, the three paid. In 2005–6, graduate assistants at NYU major academic unions—the National Educa- conducted a losing strike when the adminis- tion Association (NEA), the American Feder- tration took advantage of the NLRB ruling ation of Teachers (AFT), and the American and refused to recognize the union unless it Association of University Professors (AAUP) forfeited most of the assistants’ rights. —have added more than 200,000 members During the period of growth and consolida- among the professoriate. Thousands of uni- tion, academic unionism faced a series of versity and college clerical and maintenance constraints dictated by state law and by its ac- employees have won union representation as ceptance of traditional trade union culture. well. Today, in terms of density—the propor- During the struggles for union recognition, tion of union members to the overall labor academic employees were obliged to accept a force—academic labor is among the highest deal written into the law of public labor rela- in the union movement. A third of the total tions according to which they forfeited their non-managerial academic labor force is repre- right to strike in return for the right to bargain sented by unions—most, but not all, in public over the terms and conditions of employment. institutions. Missing from the unionized are One of the most onerous, New York’s Taylor

F ALL 2006 LIBERAL E DUCATION 25 FEATURED TOPIC tration ofunionized State andCaliforniahavethehighestconcen- mandatory subjectsofbargaining.NewYork the lawspecifiesmandatoryandnon- cease anddesist.Moreover, fail toordertheirmembers prisonment ifunionleaders heavy finesandpossibleim- not consideredmandatory. tions ofemploymentexceptthoseconditions terms salaries, benefits,andother ment mustbargain nationaltotal.Manage- about aquarterofthe those suspected ofcooperating missal proceedings fordissentingprofessorsor the privateandpublicsectors; orundertakedis- that isalreadyineffectondozens ofcampusesin objections offacultyorganizations, a“reform” five-year tenurereviewforall facultyoverthe underrepresented ethnicgroups; institutea enrollments ofblacksandindividualsfrom standards” foradmissionthatresultindeclining 6L 26 invoke nance. Whilealloftheunionsfrequently Among thenon-mandatorysubjectsisgover- Governance as aviolation not withdrawal oflabor, evenif action thatresultsinthe Law, construesanyconcerted New York ( bachelor’s degree,astheCityUniversityof at Columbiainthe1990s;instituteanonline program, suchaslibraryscienceandgeography regarding intellectualproperty;closedowna a standwhenadministrationsdeviseprotocols of employment”isbecomingahottopic. tion ofwhatconstitutes“termsandconditions the prohibitionsofTaylor Law, theques- question atthebargainingtable.Incaseof but unionsarebarredfromaddressingthis latter, thesenatehas,atbest,advisorystatus, unions orfacultysenates.Inthecaseof over issuesofgovernance,whetherthrough institutionally sanctionedrighttonegotiate in thepublicsectordofacultyhavealegalor tional duties,therealityisthatalmostnowhere that sharedadministrativeaswellinstruc- was constitutedasacommunityofscholars conceptthathighereducation the premodern “shared governance,”itselfacompromisefrom Unions maybeinthebestpositiontotake sanctioned bytheunion, IBERAL the traditional E CUNY DUCATION punish ) hasdone;raise“academic with their employeesover with able by academics, accountingfor F ALL AAUP 2006 principle of with “te and condi- that haveexperienced have beenamongthe the labormovement significant growth Since the1970s, academic unions rror few sectorsof ists” demands toincludegovernanceissues. rights, theyshouldconsiderbroadeningtheir them. Whereunionsdohavebar r to on themedia,andamongstudents tors—and wageacampaigninthecommunity, less facultysenatesdominated or doneinconsultationwith students, andmaintenance employeeswould unions ofprofessional staff,clericals,graduate ers withsympathy. Inordertoachievethisgoal, receive therequestforbroadening facultypow- statelegislatures thatareunlikelyto including havetobewaged onseveralfronts, necessity win genuineparticipationingovernance. that thememberswillgotobarricades making theseradicaldemands,lackconfidence dispositions or, iftheygraspwhatisatstakein union leadershipwhosharethemembers’pre- And therewillbeproblemswiththoseinthe pally salaries,health,andpensionbenefits. princi- responsible for“deliveringthegoods,” bargaining committeeandtheleadershipare as theyconsideraninsurancecompany:the have beenhabituatedtoconsideringtheunion the facultysenatetoaddresstheseissuesor non-union, whoeitherretainconfidencein tion campaignamongfaculty, unionaswell dent that theywill“neveragree”tosuchanimpu- especially iftheothersidetakesposition institution islikelytobecomeastrikeissue, demand forpowerinthegovernanceof even morethansalaryandbenefitgains,the might besacrificedinthebargain.Moreover, membership concernthateconomicissues are reservedforadministrationswillencounter expanding therighttobargainoverissuesthat asa“non-economic”demand, iments. Coded of academicunions,therearepracticalimped- this admittedlynovelredefinitionoftherole trations, boardsoftrustees,andlegislaturesto Beyond theinevitableresistanceofadminis- Impediments In publicinstitutions,thefight wouldby demand. Itwouldtakeaseriouseduca- which aretypicallyunilateral effects oftheseactions— bargaining canpublicizethe for thepurposeofcollective recognized byadministrations Even thoseunionsthatarenot protections fortheaccused. observing otherdueprocess without profferingchargesor essentially power- by administra- gaining everse have to be recruited to the fight. But these Graduate Center of unions and their members might actually be- the City University lieve that shared governance is none of their of New York business. To convince them, faculty would be required to alter their own attitudes and hierar- chical values. Why should a registrar, a program assistant, an adjunct, or a maintenance mechanic be interested in governance? One re- ply is that, in this era of relentless cost cutting and budget shortfalls, the entire community is affected by planned downsizing, by weakening FEATURED TOPIC faculty and staff power, and by the structural changes that occur more frequently. Another is that, if working in the university is not just a job but a career choice for most employees, being concerned with broader policy issues may be a vital matter, not just for faculty but for all. Prior to accepting an appointment at CUNY’s Graduate Center, I worked at two major research universities—the University of California–Irvine (UCI) and Columbia. UCI has a very weak faculty union with no bargaining rights, but graduate assistants, clerical workers, and some administrative employees are unionized. Similarly, Columbia underwent a fierce struggle to organize maintenance workers in the 1940s and, twenty years later, clerical employees joined the ranks of orga- nized labor. But, in the main, faculty remain convinced that their interests are best served by relying on their individual merit. They sincerely believe that collective action may be appropriate for manual and white-collar workers, but as members of the informal academic elite, they are well advised to stay away I have no illusions that the most privileged from unions. among the professoriate are prepared as yet to In the past twenty years, however, faculty at recognize that they are really employees whose UCI, a public university, have been subject to powers within the institution are limited. Yet several budget crises that have affected their if academic unions were to raise the ante on salaries, but more to the point, occasionally the terms and conditions of academic employ- restricted access to research resources. Their ment to include questions of governance, more senate seems powerless to address these issues than salaries and benefits, they might begin to effectively. As a private institution, faculty at persuade even the most individualistic of the Columbia have few levers to restrain adminis- faculty that there is a chance for faculty and trative decisions to shut down, alter, or differ- staff empowerment. In any case, in public col- entially support various programs or to impose leges and universities, pursuing this perspective their own tenure recommendations on an is more than desirable: it is imperative. ■ administration whose major goal is to restrict tenure to senior scholars recruited from the To respond to this article, e-mail [email protected], outside. Like other Ivy League schools, Colum- with the author’s name on the subject line. bia regularly denies tenure to accomplished junior faculty on the theory that they should prove themselves elsewhere and come back as mature scholars.

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