Faculty and staff are fueling a union boom in higher education as they seek a more powerful voice. Among them are new NEA Higher Ed chapters in these three states.
New Mexico: Unionization carries a special resonance in Silver City, N.M., a community with a storied
labor history that includes the epic Empire Zinc mine strike in the early 1950s. Today, faculty at Western New Mexico University (WNMU) are organizing to counter a top-heavy, opaque administration and ensure their voices are listened to. Their hope? “That we can indeed improve the structure of our university and serve our students more effectively,” says WNMU Professor Andy Hernández.
Maryland: At Harford Community College—the first community college in the state to unionize—contract bargaining began early this year. “This is not just bargaining—it’s the fight for the future of higher education, for dignity, and for the power of unity. We’re making history!” says union secretary Elizabeth Holmes.
Meanwhile, at Anne Arundel Community College (AACC), a majority of faculty and staff have signed on to their new union, Riverhawks Educators United. “We want to make sure our voices get heard, so students can have the full advantage of our knowledge and experience,” Professor Suzanne Spoor told AACC’s newspaper, Campus Current.
New York: This spring, professional staff at Nazareth University, in Rochester, voted to unionize through NYSUT (New York State United Teachers). “I have seen far too many talented colleagues leave in favor of better pay and benefits, thus taking institutional knowledge with them. Having a union will mean that staff finally has a voice at this institution that we love,” says Devon Ash, an assistant director in the admissions office at Nazareth and a member of Nazareth United Professionals’ organizing committee.
NEA Research: The Funding Gap for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)
Over the past three decades, the University of Tennessee has received about $2.1 billion more in state funds than Tennessee State University, the state’s only publicly funded, historically Black university. In North Carolina, the gap is similar. How does it look in your state? Check out NEA’s latest research into HBCU funding at nea.org/HBCU-reports.
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