Contract Agreement at Wright State

In late September, the AAUP chapter at Wright State University in Ohio signed its first contract and workload agreement with the university covering about 180 fulltime non-tenure-eligible faculty members, giving them unprecedented job security and other benefits.

Under the new contract, non-tenure-eligible faculty members have a “continuing appointment with no identified date of termination” once they reach their seventh year of service, and they can be dismissed only if appropriate criteria are met and due-process procedures are followed. The chapter characterized these criteria and procedures as providing tenure-like job security. The agreement also includes salary increases and specifications on workloads.

Rudy Fichtenbaum, president of the national AAUP and a professor of economics at Wright State, served as chief negotiator for the union. Fichtenbaum stated, “We are pleased that our non-tenure-eligible faculty will now have reasonable teaching loads and de facto tenure-like job security that tangibly protects their academic freedom; this protection in turn will certainly enhance the quality of education Wright State University provides to students.”