Two more deadlines to come
Dec. 2, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Kathryn Morton, or 717-236-7486
One non-tenured faculty member received a retrenchment letter Dec. 1, the second of four deadlines for Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities to issue notices to faculty members who may lose their jobs at the end of the 2021 spring semester. The recipient is a faculty member at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, one of five universities in Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education that have active possibilities of retrenchment — layoffs through no fault of the employee. Cheyney, Edinboro, Lock Haven and Mansfield Universities of Pennsylvania did not issue additional letters by this week’s deadline. California and Clarion Universities of Pennsylvania had possibilities of retrenchment but rescinded their warnings in November.
The faculty collective bargaining agreement sets Dec. 1 as the date by which the State System must alert probationary non-tenured faculty members beyond the second year, if they are in danger of being retrenched at the end of the academic year. APSCUF has been working to avoid job losses since the spring, when 10 universities issued notices of the possibility of retrenchment. Three of those universities — Bloomsburg, Kutztown and Millersville — rescinded their warnings.
Two additional deadlines remain for alerting faculty members that they could be retrenched. The APSCUF contract requires second-year probationary non-tenured faculty members to be sent letters by certified mail or hand delivery on or before Dec. 15, and first-year probationary non-tenured faculty members must be notified on or before March 1. The contract requires the State System to alert tenured faculty members by Oct. 30; 113 letters went out by that deadline. IUP rescinded one of those letters this week, but the rest remain active.
“We are still reeling from the news in October that more than 100 of our colleagues may lose their jobs and healthcare during a global pandemic,” said Dr. Jamie Martin, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, the union representing State System faculty and coaches. “We are relieved there was only one additional letter issued this week, but even one letter is one too many. We will continue to fight the letters that have been issued, and we will keep working to avoid additional letters this month and in March.”
Students, alumni, faculty and community supporters who want to advocate against retrenchment can learn how to take action by visiting https://www.apscuf.org/students/#Retrenchmentstudents.
APSCUF represents about 5,000 faculty and coaches at the State System universities: Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania.
This release has been updated to reflect that California and Clarion Universities rescinded their warnings in November.