The Rutgers University Teacher’s Union, AAUP-AFT, Wants You!
Editors Note: The following editorial is an NJ Spark group project written by Alissa Godwin, Peter Lopez, Samuel O. Ludescher and Naimi Patel.
At a time when higher education is being targeted by political structures and faculty and staff of higher education are possessed as pawns by administrative sectors, protecting the rights and values of public higher education finds its way to forefront of social concern. The Rutgers American Association of University Professors and American Federation of Teachers (AAUP-AFT) aim to “uphold, promote, and defend values of public higher education,” such as maintaining “academic freedom, tenure, shared governance, due process, access to education, research funding and diversity.” The AAUP-AFT really focuses on the role that components of higher education play in their effectiveness of enriching students and the people of New Jersey, However, this goal has become more difficult due to decreased funding by the state and recent large budget cuts. These unfortunate financial burdens have adversely affected the higher education at Rutgers, in the form of a “greater use of contingent faculty, larger classes, enrollment caps, physical deterioration of a number of facilities and substantial increases in tuition.” With that said, AAUP-AFT hosts a wide range of campaigns and initiatives to involve students, faculty, and administrators to foster their mission of better public higher education.
Rutgers’ American Association of University Professors workers union is battling many issues to protect educators from injustice. But with that said, students equally should get involved and fight for their faculty members against the injustices they face. Since tuition is so high in the United States, and is still rising, it’s common to assume that professors are part of same rich elite when the reality is much more disturbing. The Huffington Post reports that 22 percent of adjunct professors live below the poverty line, and the universities they are working for tend to take advantage of their labor.
Students need to be involved in protecting their professors if they want professors to protect them. We are living in an age when students are outrageously in debt and professors are in poverty, and this is not right. Workers unions are the only ones who are looking out for people in teaching positions as the United States increasingly doesn’t respect the profession. A university shouldn’t be run as a company looking to exploit both the workers and students.
So what are the ways in which students can get involved — by supporting the events promoted by the AAUP-AFT. They are currently promoting the March for Science campaign taking place in Washington D.C., a campaign that is important for the funding of research and an important chunk of what Rutgers is all about. This is one of many events that are about protecting workers that students can be a part of.
The AAUP-AFT has made in a point to get out there and get the word out. The organization has jumped behind several initiatives and has even created their own movements to promote the quality of higher education and protect the employees and people of this union. According to their website, the AAUP-AFT makes up more than 6,600 full-time faculty, part-time lecturers, graduate student employees, counselors and postdoctoral scholars at Rutgers University. With a population this large, they have been able to spread themselves out among various causes and make their presence known in 2017. Notably, they have taken a stance in the March on Washington in January of this year to protest the Trump agenda and promote equality for all people. Several members of the union bused down to Washington DC to take part in the cause. Additionally, they have provided resistance actions, speak outs and resources toward the Muslim Ban throughout the passing months. They have made it a point to spread awareness and education by fully standing behind the message of International Women’s Day on March 8th and sharing ways to participate in the movement. Lastly, they are looking forward to their latest initiative that was mentioned previously, which is the March for Science. People are encouraged to join the Rutgers faculty, staff and students in this cause and to encourage science that upholds the common good for the public. This march is also a call for political leaders and policymakers to put into place legislation and policies with evidence to back it up. To attend the march, tickets are available on the organization’s website and can be purchased for $30. The March for Science will take place on April 22 in Washington DC and I’m sure this will not be the last of the union’s initiatives. Seemingly, the work of the AAUP-AFT is just getting started for the new year, and notably, this has been off to an early and strong start.
The AAUP-AFT has a stake in many different groups across Rutgers campuses. Student needs have not been lost on the union. Rutgers One, a coalition of students, faculty, staff and alumni, partnered with AAUP-AFT to propose a 2.50% tuition rollback in 2016, in honor of Rutgers’ landmark 250th anniversary. The campaign was a celebratory gesture to those that keep Rutgers open, its students. Rutgers One and AAUP-AFT put the request before the Board of Governors at the Open Hearing on Tuition, Fees, and the Budget on April 21st, 2016. The room was filled with students and union activists. But, when the Board of Governors set tuition in July, they marked a 1.7% tuition hike. Tuition went from $11,217 in spring 2016 to $11,408 in fall 2016.
On the surface, it doesn’t seem all that drastic. The increase was actually among the smallest since 1991. Only in 2011 was it smaller, at 1.55%, which means the campaign might have been heard to some degree. It wasn’t, however, taken to heart.
The Open Hearing on the University’s Tuition, Fees, and Housing and Dining Charges for 2017–2018 took place on Wednesday, April 19, from 6:30–8:30 p.m. It was another chance to make the Board of Governors notice before they set tuition for 2017–18 in July. But, only four students showed. Rutgers Students should wait with baited breath, as any increase in tuition this year will negate the smaller made in 2016.
Rutgers administration deemed the 2016 increase “modest,” but it’s by no means a discount. Tuition is getting more expensive each year. What is keeping the university from freezing or rolling back tuition as a show of gratitude? In fact, President Barchi’s 2016 Report to the University Senate shed some light on how feasible a tuition roll-back can be.
“We will be able to report a small, but real, positive operating margin for the year, which includes a significant improvement of RBHS from a budgeted $18 million deficit to an actual surplus. It’s important to remember that just three years ago the RBHS annual deficit was more than $40 million. This margin will allow us to invest in new academic programs, increased student support, and augmented faculty recruitment,” said the report.
The profit may go to Rutgers programs, or into Rutgers’ unrestricted reserves, which now totals over $600 million, according to Professor of Accounting, Dr. Howard Bunsis (Eastern Michigan University), who presented an in-depth financial analysis of Rutgers University budget and financial data in 2014.
Rutgers is not without operating capital. The aforementioned $40 million deficit is in reference to Rutgers’ Big Ten merger in 2014. Rutgers has been able to maneuver itself into a positive operating margin just three years after the merger, citing its first full year under the Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) budget model. The upward trend is hopeful and gleans well for the university. But, will its students reap any monetary benefit from the profits they grant the institution?
Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) was a budgeting model proposed by Rutgers University President Robert L. Barchi in 2014. The premise of RCM is to decentralize revenue streams. Departments use the revenue they generate to fund themselves. With RCM, Rutgers will rely less on state-assistance and more on profit from “tuition, fees, facility and administration (F&A) return, and other sources,” said the RU Senate Report and Recommendations on Implementation of Responsibility Center Management (RCM). The budget model has been harrowed by critics as “Revenue Centered Management” because of its notorious way of creating budget battles between departments, as it did at the University of Michigan in the ’90s. UMich President James Duderstadt was happy to transform the university from a state school into a state-assisted school, and called it the University of Michigan, Inc. But, departments began to fight over cross-sectional funding and create major requirements out of thin air to generate more revenue. The values of the institution became lost on administration until a new university president cleaned up the mess.
The success of Rutgers as an academic institution while operating in a profit driven system will rely on President Barchi’s vision. We must hope he puts education first.
“I happen to think that public education is a public good and not a private endearment and I don’t think that the cost should be shifted to the students,” said Barchi after the Open Hearing.
Rutgers students paid $382 more dollars to go to school in 2016–17. RCM is trending up. But, under RCM, administration may continue to hike tuition until students demand otherwise. Now that the university is operating in the positive after its Big Ten merger, a tuition roll-back isn’t out of the question. Let’s not forget the piece of the pie Rutgers will get from Big Ten media rights over the next four years.
Rutgers is not without revenue streams. Students are a big contributor, but not the only one. It’s about time they receive a show of good faith. A dedicated tuition freeze will save them more than $1,500 over four years. A roll-back, even more. Tack on student loans and interest, then ask yourself whether Rutgers can take a pay cut. Students can also contact their state representatives to inquire and pressure about what state funding can be allotted to Rutgers.
The AAUP-AFT has committed itself to upholding the values of public higher education. The union is all encompassing, representing not only faculty and staff, but students and alumni. It is the first teacher’s union in higher education to include students in its organization. There is much students can learn from their teaching body, and vice versa. The inclusive nature of the union makes it a strong advocate for initiatives that affect all members of Rutgers University. With greater support, great things can be accomplished in the coming years.
