Contact: Cory Wofford   (215) 418-5301

July 1, 2007

Protection of Benefits and Passing Higher Ed Act Top Agenda for NEA Members

Hundreds of Higher Education Faculty and Staff Gather in Philadelphia to Plan Strategy

Members of the National Council for Higher Education convene at the opening meeting of the annual meeting held during the NEA Representative Assembly. Kathy Sproles, NCHE president, addresses delegates about a number of issues including an action plan that was recently approved by the NEA Executive Committee to help part-time higher members obtain full benefits, like health insurance.

PHILADELPHIA -- Leaders from the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) met in Philadelphia, Pa., this week to examine the major challenges facing higher education faculty and staff and to plan how the Association will address those concerns. NCHE is an affiliate of the National Education Association and represents some 200,000 postsecondary education school employees nationwide.

Higher education faculty and staff are facing surprisingly similar problems on campuses all across the country. Employees are being denied organizing rights, benefit packages are being frozen or curtailed, and tenure protections are under attack.

While working locally but collectively to solve these ongoing problems, higher education faculty and staff are also lobbying members of Congress to fully fund the recently reauthorized Higher Education Act.

Following the NCHE national conference, many of the participants remain in Philadelphia to participate in  NEA’s annual Representative Assembly. While the NEA RA will develop the budget, establish the agenda, and create the priorities for the entire 3.2 million-member Association, higher education faculty and staff hope to leave the Annual Meeting with approval of a comprehensive action plan designed to protect workers rights through research, organizing, political advocacy and collective bargaining.
 
“The challenge for America is to keep college affordable for students, while at the same time making a career working in higher education an attractive choice for faculty and staff,” says NEA President Reg Weaver. “NEA is dedicated to making sure our higher education members have the support and respect they need and deserve. To a great degree, our national success rests with their individual success in educating the next generation.”

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The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators
and students preparing to become teachers.