The Board of Trustees’ team offers no protection against loss of further faculty positions beyond assembling an advisory committee with no power. The Board’s team has rejected any ratio of faculty/term or faculty/student numbers at a time when Chancellor Wendler has instructed college deans to decrease their already lean budgets yet another 5 percent now and another 5 percent through structural changes in the next four years.

For job security, the Board’s position is this:”Board has the right to lay off Faculty due to:enrollment declines, financial considerations, or other legitimate considerations.” In another item:”The Board is required to give only 60 days written notice of layoff” for the reasons listed above. What are “legitimate considerations?” Writing a letter to the Daily Egyptian, perhaps? The Board is assuming to itself even greater rights than those granted under financial exigency without having to declare a financial exigency. Faculty have more rights striking under the old contract than working under the proposed one.

Why is the Board’s team bargaining these positions? Do they want to see if faculty will agree to anything, even to their own loss of program, and essentially, the loss of tenure in any meaningful sense, to prevent a strike? Is Chancellor Wendler aware of what his own team is doing? Is he going to take charge of his team to prevent what already is a deplorable situation on campus? The Faculty Association has faith that students will understand these issues and lend faculty their support. It isn’t just about money.