UPDATED: CMU to seek injunction against Faculty Association’s full work stoppage

University AND professors show their true colors! “CMU teachers deserve all of the support they need right now, they are the ones that help create a brighter future.” LOL! I hear so often that teachers do it for the students and this clearly shows that they’re just like everyone else, They do it for themselves…period! This is a joke…if I were to stand outside of my employers building with a sign in my hand, demanding more money and better incentives..they would have replaced me the next day! Welcome to the real world and the same should happen to you! Everyone can be replaced and if you threaten the hand that feeds you, you should be replaced! It’s a free country, if you don’t like what you make, leave and find another job (good luck with that). There are teachers out there that would love your job, and could do your job just as good, if not better, for your salary or less! It’s a shame the university (which operates like a Fortune 500 company) and the professors could not get it done prior to the start of the semester! I’m worried, and feel compassion for one group here, the students! Students lose! I will never donate a penny to this, or any university in the future.

If I understand the work stoppage correctly, the Faculty Association will be unable to use cmail and Blackboard as a result of the work stoppage, making it difficult to inform students that class will not meet. At least they’ve done what they can on Facebook and in the media while the administration has blatantly lied and said classes will start.

There’s debate about whether or not professors are technically state employees though. It has said before that they aren’t really, since only a portion of the university’s funding comes from the state, but now the administration is saying they are because it suits their purposes.

That is true, but as a public employee they should pay more of their healthcare.  That is what voters chose last fall.  Also, University and public employers spend up to 60% of the money they earn/have on salaries and healthcare.  How can anyone operate when that much money is used to support faculty?

Which is less than the expected rate of inflation, so actually the FA proposal amounts to a pay cut.

Read the documents.  They agreed to take 0% for the fall semester ONLY.  Then they ask for 1% or more, per semester, for the next 3 years.  That’s not exactly a pay freeze.

The proposal from the FA regarding tuition and pay was obviously rejected by the CMU Administration, which raised tuition by over 3 %.  The Administration wants to extract major reductions in pay and benefits from the faculty.  The timing, during a recession is supposed to be justified by the CMU’s financial position, but an examination of the University’s accounts indicates that this is a lie.  Students should realize that their tuition has been constantly increasing in recent years and that that money has overwhelmingly NOT been going to faculty – instead it has gone toward growing administration expenses, building, and the proposed MED SCHOOL.  

The tuition rate has more than tripled over the last decade at CMU! State appropriations have continued to decrease which means any increased benefits for the faculty and GAs will adversely effect the students in the form of further tuition hikes.  http://www.cmich.edu/Documents/OIR/tuition-history.pdf , http://www.cmich.edu/x1564.xml

I am impressed if you are actually a grandparent and use the word troll. Thumbs up!

I am impressed if you are actually a grandparent and use the word troll. Thumbs up!

1. Just because “you” didn’t get a pay increase and have been feeling the repercussions of your cut backs doesn’t mean that someone else should have to stand for it. Frankly, you shouldn’t have to stand for it either. And if you did all you could do to get it fairly and it failed, well I’m sorry, but try again. And don’t fault those you choose not to face the injustice. Someone has to take a stand, someone has to be first to say “NO” and to carry it out. Someone has to try. 

2. Students should stand up. You may think its an injustice to you but is it really? Or are you whining for the inconvenience it brings to you? As a student, I find this incredibly inconvenient, but I feel like the action is right. And if you’re going to complain about the faculty being greedy why don’t you look above them? Why aren’t you complaining about the higher administration who utilizes and benefits from the taxes and tuition you pay, just as the faculty do, but who aren’t facing the drawbacks? What have you seen your money go into that directly benefits you? Or your community? You are just as much effected. 

3. “The Voice of the Students” you are a voice for yourself and those that think like you so you should change your name. Students are people and if you look at people you will see thousands who complain but never take it far enough to do any action. That doesn’t mean they like it any less. That doesn’t mean they sucked it up and dealt with it. That just means they complained and didn’t do anything, most likely because they felt like they couldn’t or that no one would listen or that they hold no power. If they believed in themselves more they would be amazed at the power they have, just as the faculty is trying to display right now. 

Former CMU alumnus *and* former adjunct for the University here, saying “Go get ‘em, FA!” The administration was anti-union and anti-intellectual when I was there, and clearly they haven’t gotten any better since. Value education over sports, value education over pet projects, value education FIRST.

Kirk – I don’t know where you’re getting your numbers from, but according to CMU’s website, the “average” faculty salary ranges from $50,000 to $98,000, depending on rank (with those averaging $98,000 averaging 20 years of service).  Of course, these numbers are averages, so I would bet there are some outliers pulling the average up (meaning that more than half of the faculty in each rank make below the average), though I have not seen the actual data to assess that.  This means the “average” CMU prof does NOT make $100,000 plus per year.  Also, last time I checked Spring Break was only 1 week and as someone who has taught at the college level (though I am not a faculty member), a good chunk of the winter and summer breaks are spent grading, wrapping up end of the semester administrative duties, and preparing for the upcoming semester.  Summer “vacation” is also when many faculty members conduct research that is required for promotions.  Perhaps the administration should consider listening to these “malcontents” before they move on to jobs where they are more farily compensated, further decreasing our tax base and increasing unemployment (since the faculty use those hard-earned pay checks to pay for goods and services in our community).  CMU faculty can and ARE leaving for more lucrative career options.

The faculty agreed to no increase during the fall semester, with an increase beginning in the winter if there was a zero tuition increase.  This is hardly a pay freeze offer, meanwhile most if not all administrators have not received a raise the past 2 years.

Really??? You MMCC get paid as well as the FA members at CMU?  Then maybe they should just teach there.  Not even a comparable package.
Really?????????????

Cool story, faculty. 

The FA originally offered a pay freeze in exchange for a tuition freeze. Your tuition is higher, which is why you are here. Tuition will go up whether or not the faculty are given competitive compensation.

1% each semester will cause their salary to, be about matching of inflation average.

” CMU is, like the other state universities, autonomous under the state constitution and our employees are not state employees.” President George Ross, CMU Academic Senate, 2/15/11