Happy fall semester to everyone whose work powers Colorado State University. As usual, CSU’s administration is celebrating our shared achievements, especially our progress on a series of construction projects and our first season competing in the Pac-12 athletic conference. These achievements are real, but they also fall short of what we could do with the resources we have. Our chapter of the AAUP is committed to improving the lives of faculty, instructors, researchers, and academic professionals at CSU. We are convinced that democratizing CSU and improving pay and benefits, would advance not just our interests, but the interests of our students and the people of Colorado.
Working at CSU is frustrating because important decisions are made with little or no input from workers. CSU’s administration gives lip service to “shared governance,” but it runs this University from the top down. Last year, CSU’s administration announced it would eliminate 178 full-time equivalent positions just two days before laying off scores of longtime colleagues. This year, we have been told to expect more cuts, without any indication of whose jobs are on the line. Although we are supposedly in our second “parallel year” of CSU’s new budget model, the administration has still not shared its formulas for determining College budgets. Increasing transparency and accountability at CSU will benefit faculty, staff, and students.
Living in Fort Collins is also increasingly unaffordable for CSU workers, because many do not earn a living wage and our raises do not keep pace with the cost of living. The average “merit” raise for faculty and administrative professionals this year is 3.0%, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that inflation will come in at 3.6%. That means that most of us are a bit poorer than we were last year. Moreover the AAUP’s online calculator shows that these raises leave us about 13% worse off than we were a decade ago. Paltry raises make it difficult for CSU to retain faculty and staff. Guaranteeing all workers decent wages and annual cost of living adjustments would allow us to put down roots in Fort Collins and invest in our jobs at CSU.
Our chapter of the AAUP has two main strategies for making CSU more democratic and equitable. First, we leverage Faculty Council’s existing powers to hold CSU’s leadership to account. This year we are working to get AAUP members on every Faculty Council committee to set an agenda that advances our interests. Our member Prof. Kari Anderson is now representing faculty on CSU’s Board of Governors, and we will also be campaigning to make that Board a more transparent and accountable institution. Second, we organize to unionize CSU faculty, instructors, researchers, and academic professionals. Colorado labor law still excludes most public sector workers from unionization, but the time is ripe to change that. This year we will be working with our allies in UCW, COWINS, and other public sector unions to pass legislation that grants us the right to bargain collectively with CSU over our wages and working conditions. Our power comes from our union.
We need you to achieve our goals. Please join our general meetings, which are open to all CSU workers. All of our meetings are posted on our website and you can add them to your calendar by clicking this link. And please join the AAUP to fight for higher education at CSU and beyond. Together, we can make CSU a better university.
Anders Fremstad, President, AAUP-CSU
AAUP-CSU Executive Committee
