- Target:
- University of Iowa
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- seiufacultyforward.org
Right now, non-tenure track (NTT) faculty at the University of Iowa face persistent job insecurity, few prospects for advancement, increasing course loads, and lack meaningful decision-making authority on campus. The efforts we make are often unaccounted for in terms of promotion, salary, and rehiring, and the seemingly arbitrary hiring, renewal and promotion processes have left many of us feeling expendable.
That's why a group of NTT faculty dedicated to upholding the high standards and quality of education at the University of Iowa has been organizing to win improvements to our working conditions and advocate for restored union rights for all public employees.
In doing so, we're joining a national movement supported by Faculty Forward and the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) fighting for long-term stability, transparency, improved support, compensation and benefits, and inclusion in academic communities. We strongly believe that creating more equitable and predictable employment conditions for non-tenure-track faculty will enhance the quality of our working conditions, and ultimately improve our students’ educational experiences. We also feel that this movement is important not only to our work at UI, but also to the long-term health and social purpose of the profession.
Stand with us in our fight for decent working conditions for NTT faculty at the University by joining us in calling on the University of Iowa to adequately support ALL of its faculty.
We are tenured and tenure-track faculty at the University of Iowa who support the ongoing organizing campaign of our non-tenure track faculty colleagues. We’re writing to urge President Harreld and the rest of the University administration to work with the Non-Tenure Track Faculty Organizing Committee to meet their demands for fairer and more secure working conditions, and not interfere with their efforts to organize for improvements and advocate for restored union rights.
We believe that, as a whole, this University only stands to gain from making the changes the non-tenure track faculty are demanding. The failure to adequately support all faculty is also a failure to adequately support their students, and lack of access to research and professional development opportunities for our non-tenure track colleagues deprives both this University and entire fields of study of their potential contributions. We will not permit the UI administration to divide us from our non-tenure track colleagues. Indeed, their tenuous position is a symptom of the assault on tenure itself. The fate of tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty are intertwined, and we stand with them.
We recognize that so-called “contingent faculty” are in fact essential to the functioning of this university--they teach, design curricula, advise students, and make substantial contributions to their fields, creative and scholarly. It’s unacceptable that so many of the non-tenure track faculty here struggle with basic issues like stagnant, low wages, job insecurity, and lack of access to healthcare and parental leave.
Despite, recent improvements, there's a lot left undone, and these issues have persisted for far too long. It’s time for the University of Iowa to treat all of its faculty with the respect the rest of this community knows that they deserve.
We the undersigned will be following your response closely.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Tenured and Tenure-track Faculty Support NTT Faculty petition to University of Iowa was written by Faculty Forward Iowa and is in the category Education at GoPetition.