The University of Vermont and its faculty union are at an impasse in negotiations about the impact of the pandemic on the school’s teaching conditions.
UVM’s administration in late July agreed to come to the table to hash out a deal with faculty after the union filed its first-ever unfair labor practice charge with the Vermont Labor Relations Board. The complaint had charged that professors were largely locked out of the school’s planning process for the fall, and as part of the settlement, union representatives were appointed to the university’s reopening task forces.
Professors and the administration have come to agreement on a number of issues, including the suspension of pre-tenure reviews, daily health checks for faculty, and travel restrictions for employees.
But outstanding matters include whether to allow faculty to switch their classes to all-remote modalities if they have health concerns, the use of student course evaluations, and extra compensation for course preparation over the summer. The university is publicly releasing data about positive Covid-19 cases once a week, and faculty have demanded it do so daily instead, according to the union.
“Students are at the heart of our institution. The university has consistently placed our students’ educational needs at the center of its decision-making processes,” university officials said in a statement. “Likewise, student success, along with the safety of our entire community, have guided us throughout the bargaining process.”
United Academics president Julie Roberts, a professor of linguistics, said she did not doubt the university puts a premium on the student experience, but bristled at the implication that those who actually taught them did not.
“We have gone over and above to work for the best education possible for the students. And the fact that we also want faculty and the rest of the community to be safe, to be healthy, to not have their career completely derailed is something that should also be important,” she said.
University officials say they have already accommodated faculty requests to teach in-person or remotely, and cannot allow professors to change course mid-semester.
“It is not acceptable—nor is it fair to students—for faculty to independently, unilaterally, and permanently change course modality,” administrators said in their statement.
But Roberts said that ignores the legitimate health concerns that might unexpectedly arise, or the fact that professors might need to deal with child care and school closures.
“Some of the faculty who agreed to teach face-to-face are in fact in at-risk categories. So if there were an uptick … we would like those faculty to be able to say, you know, I just can’t do this,” she said.
The university is also holding firm to the position that student course evaluations submitted during the crisis be used to judge the work of the faculty, and administrators say they have offered professors “additional opportunities for faculty to contextualize and address student feedback.”
But course evaluations are high-stakes, Roberts said, and the union thinks it is unfair that professors might be potentially penalized for work done under unprecedented circumstances.
“The stressors on faculty were so great, we did not want them to not get tenure or not get reappointed or promoted because of their course evaluations during the pandemic,” she said.
The union has also demanded non-tenure-track faculty be paid for the extra work done over the summer to prepare for the fall. Roberts said the contract usually does provide for additional pay when work is outside contracted hours, but, given the pandemic, the union only insisted non-tenure-track faculty, who generally receive much lower salaries, be paid accordingly.
The union represents about 800 full- and part-time faculty. About 350 are non-tenure track, according to Roberts. The university has offered a little under $100,000, in total, for summer work. Roberts said what’s owed is probably two or three times that amount.
Negotiations will now continue with a mediator.
