Dear Colleagues:
Deans across campus are planning to send mass notices of non-renewal to all Lecturers and Senior Lecturers up for renewal this year. Those letters are being sent out now and must be mailed by 2/14/21, three months prior to the end of academic year appointments (for 9-month faculty) on 5/14/21. Speaking in my capacity as the elected Chair of the AAUP-AFT 6075 Lecturer Steering Committee, a member of the Union Executive Board and the current Union Bargaining Committee, I do not share the Deans' interpretation of the contractual process of sending blanket notices to everyone. The Union shares President Wilson’s interpretation of the contract which indicates that notices of non-renewal are required only when the intention is to not-renew those faculty. Sadly, the strong likelihood is that nearly every single Lecturer and Senior Lecturer will be renewed by the start of Fall 2021. So why do we do this terrible heartless exercise demeaning our colleagues? The average length of service for Lecturers up for renewal is 10 years; many have been serving closer to 20 years, and the longest has served for 40 years. This process is unfair and dishonors the commitment these faculty have made to our students.
I would encourage the University to take a different approach by doing a targeted analysis and identifying which Lecturers will be not-renewed rather than swinging a bludgeon across the entire cohort of Lecturers. We are expecting nearly 80 people to receive these notices this week. This policy -- premised on a misinterpretation of the contract -- does no one any good: it causes uncertainty, heartache, and very real stress for our Lecturer colleagues and it creates an unnecessary risk for the administration to lose talented and highly qualified lecturers due to the callous treatment imposed by these blanket notices. Indeed, among those receiving notices this week include Lecturers who are currently standing for the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (not to mention the numerous prior winners of that award, the CLAS Teaching award, and other accolades).
Universities who strive for greatness have already figured out how to adjust their faculty structure to incorporate teaching-intensive faculty (i.e., Lecturers) with meaningful job security. I am confident that we will achieve this goal in our current negotiations with the University, but we will need your support on this matter.
We invite you, your colleagues, your students, your friends, everyone who believes in the power and impact that Lecturers bear to undergraduate and graduate education to join us for a solidarity event on Tuesday February 16 at 4:30pm. Watch your e-mail for Zoom event meeting info.
Feel free to share this invite far and wide. Please let anyone on the Lecturer Steering Committee know if you have any questions or concerns, especially if you are one of those to receive one of these notices of non-renewal.
