OPINION: Several Senate committee chairs speak out in support of union

Dear colleagues, 

We are faculty who volunteer our time to serve as officers and committee chairs in the University and regional campus Senates. We each plan to vote “yes” in the upcoming union election. We are confident that unionizing will strengthen shared governance across the University.  

We support the union as individuals, but our decision is informed in part by our long experience participating in shared governance in the Senate as well as in our departments, divisions, campuses, schools and library systems. 

We recognize that there are a range of views about unionizing among the faculty as a whole and among those elected to the Faculty Assembly and Senate committees, and that some faculty have not yet made up their minds. If you are interested in learning about why a diverse group of your colleagues support unionizing, many of them have shared their individual reasons here

Sincerely, 

Mark Lynn Anderson, associate professor of English and co-chair of the University Senate Libraries Committee

Tyler Bickford, associate professor of English and chair of the University Senate Budget Policies Committee

Nicholas Bircher, professor of Nurse Anesthesia and chair of the University Senate Bylaws and Procedures Committee

Lauren Collister, director of the Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing and co-chair of the University Senate Libraries Committee 

Lorraine Denman, senior lecturer, Department of French and Italian, and co-chair of the University Senate Faculty Affairs Committee 

Sybil Streeter, director of Undergraduate Advising in Psychology and co-chair of the University Senate Student Admissions, Aid and Affairs Committee

John Stoner, senior lecturer in History and co-chair of the University Senate Educational Policies Committee

Don Ulin, associate professor of English and secretary of the Pitt-Bradford Faculty Senate