PSU: For AAUP at PSU, Wonderful End to Academic Year 2015-16

by José Padín, PSU-AAUP President

We are very pleased with the end of this academic year at PSU-AAUP and would share the following spring quarter highlights.

APRIL

After over 400 hours of bargaining over the course of a year, we concluded an excellent Collective Bargaining Agreement that runs November 2015 to November 2019.

MAY

The Graduate Employees Union of Portland State University (AFT/AAUP) on May 31 was certified by the Oregon Employment Relations Board, after an overwhelming majority signed authorization cards and filed petition for representation on May 5. Congratulations GEU-PSU!

JUNE

June 8 the Executive and Audit Committee of the PSU Board of Trustees expressed support for the idea of reports to Board subcommittees by PSU-AAUP. No concrete policy or commitment has been proposed, and we do not have a formal voice yet, but this could be a modest step towards instituting faculty principles of shared governance in the functioning of the Board.

On June 9, PSU-AAUP held a three-hour strategic planning meeting that led to a 2016-17 Association Plan covering the areas of organizing, collective bargaining, grievances, community solidarity, and legislative action.

José Padín (PSU-AAUP President) and and Ramin Farahmandpur (Legislative Action committee chair) attended the AAUP Annual Conference on the State of Higher Education in Washington, D.C. Prof. Padín acted as the delegate for PSU-AAUP and AAUP-Oregon. Prof. Farahmandpur presented a paper titled “Challenging Institutional Racism in the Pacific Northwest,” as part of the panels and sessions dedicated to the theme of racial justice in colleges and universities.