COLUMN: Stand by the Faculty Association


Students should stand with the faculty and walk out of classes if no deal is reached with the administration's bargaining team.

It is apparent profit and financial gain is the only direction Central Michigan University is taking and it is because of the highest levels of CMU's administration. This school has money — don't let the president and financial powers try to spin it any other way. The administration has become quite comfortable within its own pay-grade, and suggesting an improvement for faculty contracts is apparently taboo.

As a journalism student, I have the responsibility to hold the people in power accountable and that includes reporting what each of them earns compared to our faculty. This information is available to students upon request at Park Library.

It all comes down to administration and the direction they want to take CMU. I believe they are going down the wrong road.

This is a call for all students, community members and alumni to stand by your faculty and demand they are given what they have asked for.

If not, then whatever decisions the FA makes we need to be right there with them. We need to show this administration that no more cuts or tuition raises will be tolerated until we see real action from the top on salary reduction and control of frivolous spending on this campus.

The consequences of unnecessary spending are now being passed down to our faculty by a threat of reduced benefits and unpaid promotions.

If the administration has its way, this university's classes will be taught by only adjuncts. CMU students might as well go to a community college. I don't want to insult temporary faculty or adjuncts as they are just as important, but my point is full-time faculty are a key component to this institution and should not be treated as a number that can be reduced to help the bottom line.

It is understandable the university is facing cuts in state aid, but these cuts should never be passed down to students and teachers. Cuts should always begin at the top. The faculty is just as important as George Ross and everyone else who makes decisions on the direction of CMU.

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