No one can predict a negotiated agreement in advance. Contracts won by faculty at hundreds of U.S. universities show what organized faculty can protect and improve.
Unionization across higher education
Faculty unions exist at nearly 500 U.S. universities and represent more than 280,000 faculty. Faculty at most Michigan universities are unionized, as are faculty at many major research institutions.
- Rutgers; Stony Brook; Buffalo; Binghamton; Albany; and the CUNY Graduate Center
- Florida; Florida International; Florida State; Central Florida; South Florida; and Florida Atlantic
- Oregon; Oregon State; Pittsburgh; Temple; Cincinnati; Connecticut; Delaware; and New Hampshire
- Montana State; Montana; New Jersey Institute of Technology; Hawaii at Manoa; Illinois Chicago; Kansas; Massachusetts Amherst; New Mexico; Wayne State; Kent State; and Maine
Academic freedom and intellectual property
University policies can be changed unilaterally and with little warning. A contract can preserve academic freedom, instruction, research, publication, and intellectual-property rights while shielding them from political shifts or unilateral employer action.
Hofstra faculty incorporated university policy into their agreement. Contracts at SUNY Buffalo and Stony Brook, Oregon, and Florida protect academic freedom; Florida’s agreement also contains extensive intellectual-property provisions. Contract rights are backed by union enforcement and legal resources, rather than leaving an individual faculty member to fund a challenge alone.
Academic governance and faculty voice
Faculty unions and senates can work together. At Eastern Michigan, the union filed a grievance when the university failed to follow decision-making guidelines on behalf of the Faculty Senate. At Florida State, faculty negotiated a role in hiring and reappointing administrators who supervise faculty.
Recognition gives elected faculty representatives a seat at the bargaining table and the legal ability to require relevant information from the administration. Before recognition, faculty could request information and action, but those requests were not enforceable.
Salary and retirement
Rutgers faculty contracts include merit pools, across-the-board increases, and salary floors. Florida Atlantic faculty won base-wage, promotional, and salary-floor increases. Both agreements provide routes for additional increases tied to special achievement, outside offers, market conditions, recruitment, and retention.
Ferris State faculty receive an automatic 12% employer retirement contribution, and Oakland faculty receive 14%, without requiring an employee match. That structure is especially valuable to early-career faculty, people carrying student debt, and caregivers. In the SUNY system, eligible faculty may retain retiree health coverage after ten years of state service.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
At Rutgers, faculty and graduate employees negotiated a University Committee on Diversity, Race, and Gender with a $500,000 starting budget. It can develop initiatives for training, recruitment, retention, mentoring, and professional development, organizes an annual conference, and oversees the president’s $20 million diversity fund for hiring and retaining faculty of color.
Florida State faculty negotiated a requirement that departments disclose salary ranges to new hires before initial salary negotiations.
Working conditions
Florida faculty cannot be required to teach an overload course. Rutgers faculty can grieve workloads that exceed university or department standards. Oregon faculty use written policies assigning professional responsibilities, including new-course preparation, administrative work, publication deadlines, and grant applications.
Delta College’s contract generally requires full-time faculty positions to be tenure track. Oakland University’s agreement specifies a student-to-faculty ratio. These provisions show how contracts can turn workload and staffing standards into enforceable commitments.
Caregiver support
MSU currently provides eligible faculty six weeks of paid parental leave. UMass Amherst faculty negotiated a full semester of paid parental leave upon hire. Wayne State faculty negotiated an annual $160,000 fund to reimburse child-care expenses.
Harassment and discrimination
Oregon’s faculty contract recognizes sexual harassment as unlawful discrimination. Florida State faculty negotiated a process for investigating harassment and discrimination claims. Because these rules are contractual, faculty may use the grievance procedure when the university does not follow them.
Other negotiated benefits
SUNY faculty negotiated no-cost campus parking. At the University of Florida, full-time faculty, domestic partners, and dependents receive tuition waivers for a designated number of credits.