OSU: advocating for improvements for contingent faculty, fossil fuel divestment

by Tony Vogt, OSU-AAUP activist

The advocacy chapter at Oregon State University continues our alliance with students, staff, as well as other faculty through The Alliance for a Socially Just University. We are putting our efforts into publicizing the forthcoming visit with Howard Bunsis on February 24. Meanwhile, we are following up on a request for information from the Administration on the ways they have acted on recommendations related to a survey of contingent faculty. We had requested information by early February, and were assured it was forthcoming, but it never materialized. We did get an email saying it was being worked upon. We will continue to request this information. Some of us in our chapter participated in an OSU Divest rally and march, that included a little bit of theater (an oil spill on the MU quad made of recycled black plastic – a meeting between someone with a President Ed Ray mask and someone representing a CEO of a major oil company, shaking hand dripping with oil/ molasses; Ed raises his hand to his nose, takes a deep whiff, and exclaims, “Ah! the smell of money!”), followed by thoughtful testimonies. Both the Faculty Senate and the ASOSU student organization have backed the call to divest from fossil fuels, but the Administration and OSU Foundation have not followed through on the overwhelming mandate from faculty and students to divest. The struggle continues.