Reclaim Rutgers

By Bob Boikess

When I arrived in New Brunswick in 1968, Rutgers was a sleepy little place. Its transformation into a major public AAU research university was due, in part, to the creation of an AAUP collective bargaining chapter in 1970. The economic status rating of our faculty went from a C to an A+ as Rutgers professors advanced to among the top tier of the highest paid faculties of public universities in the United States.…

Adam Clark, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Frustrated by contract talks that have dragged on for more than a year, Rutgers University professors have authorized union leaders to call for a strike, escalating the threat that they will walk off their jobs.

About 88 percent of union members, which includes 4,800 full-time professors and graduate workers, voted to authorize a strike, according the union.…

Catherine Carrera, North Jersey Record

“This is not about salary. It’s really about equality for women, equity among the three campuses, more full-time faculty for our students and fighting to increase the base pay of our lowest-paid graduate teaching assistants,” Kumar said.

According to research done by the union, faculty on the New Brunswick campus are paid at a higher rate than their peers at Camden and Newark.…

By Adam Clark, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Fed up with contract talks that have dragged on since last year, Rutgers University professors are one step closer to walking off the job.

The faculty union’s leaders on Thursday asked their members to give permission to call for a strike, if necessary.

“We have taken this step because it is important to defend quality public higher education,” said Deepa Kumar, president of the union representing more than 4,800 full-time faculty and graduate workers.…

Walton R. Johnson

In January, 2019, Rutgers kicked off a year of celebrations to mark 100 years since the graduation of our famous alum, Paul Robeson. Yet, despite the hoopla, the university continues to neglect the needs of African-Americans in our state in a manner that is openly contemptuous of Robeson’s core ideas.

In the past generation, there has been a precipitous decline in enrollment of African-Americans.…

Mary Hawkesworth

Rutgers faculty are calling for an investment from the university to promote real diversity. The faculty union has called for the establishment of a $15-million fund for recruitment and retention of faculty from historically underrepresented groups. Further, the union has proposed the creation of an additional 100 minority graduate fellowships.

When graduate workers have the opportunity for study and scholarship, it deepens the pool of candidates for faculty positions.…

Leah Mishkin, Correspondent, NJTV News

“We lost $47 million last year in athletics. For that same money, we could have actually made Rutgers more affordable,” Hughes said. “So, again, it’s unconscionable when there’s an available alternative.”

More …

Sargeant, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

​“The CSS report recommends even more spending, and even more raids on student fees and the academic budget,’’ Killingsworth said. “If President Barchi has a shred of integrity left, he will stand up for the academic mission of the university, and stop this move to take even more money from students and academic programs.…

James M. O’Neill, North Jersey Record

“Their plan robs from our educational mission, gouges our students and saddles them with greater debt to subsidize a mismanaged Athletics program,” said Deepa Kumar, president of the union that represents 7,700 Rutgers faculty and graduate students who teach. “We need to restore the balance, and re-prioritize the academic mission.”…

By Adam Clark, NJ Advance Media

“Giving money to the athletic program does not constitute expertise in higher education, and giving money to the athletic program does not actually help the primary mission of Rutgers at all,” Hughes said.

More >>…

Carly Sitrin, NJ Spotlight

Hundreds of faculty union members picketed meeting of university’s board of governors, frustrated with stagnant wages and months of fruitless bargaining

Members of several Rutgers faculty unions say they are “fed up” and are threatening to strike over ongoing contract negotiations with the university which they claim have been arduous and opaque.…

Adam Clark, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Tired of waiting for a new contract and fed up with an administration they claim is slow-walking negotiations, Rutgers University professors are threatening a strike.

Dozens of professors picketed before Thursday’s Board of Governors meeting in New Brunswick and later blasted President Robert Barchi’s handling of contract talks before the board.…

A Rutgers professor called the pay inequity between the Newark, Camden and New Brunswick campuses “obscene.”

Eric Kiefer, Patch Staff

NEWARK, NJ — Rutgers University professors who teach at the Newark and Camden campuses want to be paid the same as their peers in New Brunswick. And they’re willing to protest to make it happen, their union representatives say.…