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In
December of 1974, around sixty faculty members of the University of Detroit – including twenty-five
tenured faculty – were summarily fired.
This was contrary to national faculty efforts over three quarters of a
century to ensure that the academic community contributed to its
society. Over this time, the principle
of academic freedom was defined and the practice of tenure was implemented to
safeguard it.
To
understand the UDMPU as it exists today and the issues it confronts, it is
necessary to go back to the early 1970's when the University of Detroit and Mercy College of
Detroit were separate institutions and neither had a faculty union. There were active AAUP (American
Association of University Professors) Chapters on both campuses to oversee
the protection of academic freedom and its supporting tool, tenure.
There
had been two attempts to form a faculty union on the University of Detroit campus in which both the
AAUP and the MEA/NEA (Michigan Education Association/National Education
Association) were candidates for local affiliation. Elections were held under the control of
the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board).
Both elections failed (one by an extremely close vote).
Then
in December 1974, the University of Detroit administration announced
that it would “lay off” a significant proportion of the faculty, including
some who held tenure. The reason given
by the administration for this action was “financial exigency” although many
faculty felt that the real reason was to “downsize” the University. The review process to identify the faculty
to be “laid off” was completed in less than three weeks, and the terminated
faculty were informed that they were to be out of their offices and off
campus by the beginning of the January 1975 term.
The
University of Detroit faculty met and
essentially told the AAUP and the MEA/NEA to resolve their differences and
get together. They also decided to
file for a third union election. U-D
faculty raised $20,000 from among themselves for fighting the terminations
and for legal defense funds for those terminated.
The
AAUP started the process of negotiating with the administration, a process
which eventually led to the AAUP placing the University of Detroit on its list of censured
institutions. The AAUP also donated
funds to the U-D faculty - the most significant being $1000 from the AAUP
Chapter at MSU-O (now Oakland University).
The
MEA/NEA provided legal counsel for the terminated faculty and for efforts of
the remaining faculty to combat the administration's action and to
organize. An estimate of MEA/NEA
services at that time is at least $50,000 (and is perhaps several times that).
A
third unionization election was held and carried decisively. The UDPU (University of Detroit Professors’ Union) was formed. It affiliated with the MEA/NEA and the
local (U-D) chapter of the AAUP. The
AAUP later asked the UDPU to remove AAUP affiliation reference from its
documents.
The
union then started to negotiate its first contract. Not surprisingly, academic freedom and
tenure were at the heart of negotiations.
When the dust settled, there was a letter of agreement at the end of
the contract specifying that no faculty would be laid off during the term of
the contract. This letter has
continued to be part of every contract since then.
The
second major watershed event which defined the current UDMPU was the
“consolidation” of Mercy College of Detroit and the University of Detroit in 1990. The AAUP Chapter at Mercy wanted
affiliation of the union with the AAUP and so another election was held. The vote was very close, and resulted in
continued affiliation with the MEA/NEA.
The name of the union was changed to the UDMPU (University of Detroit Mercy
Professors’ Union).
Since
its inception, the Professors’ Union has worked to maintain and enhance quality
education in a higher education setting.
The University, continually concerned about its financial environment,
often makes decisions based exclusively on its own interpretation of present
economic conditions. The UDMPU
provides the administration with a perspective that accounts for quality
education.
Looking
at the present mission and vision of the University of Detroit Mercy, it is clear that the
only members of the University community dedicated and capable of working
toward the mission is the group of full-time faculty, most of whom are
members of the UDMPU. This fact is the
basis for the difference in perspectives found in the various stakeholders of
UDM. It also explains why the UDMPU
and the University have on-going issues at the bargaining table. Quality education requires the support of
the administration, but can only be accomplished by the UDMPU. Administrative support, however, requires
resources that the administration usually is unwilling or unable to
provide. That has made our job harder,
but remains the focus of UDMPU actions.
Today, we fight the same fight our
predecessor union fought: protecting
academic freedom to provide the best education this institution can provide
our students
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