AAUP update: Oakland University faculty reach agreement, classes resume

Just a quick update -- early this morning, the AAUP chapter at Oakland University in Michigan reached an agreement with its administration and classes for the fall semester began as of this morning (one week later than scheduled.) Yesterday, the administration's request for a court order forcing the faculty back to work without a contract was rejected, leading to a final and successful round of negotiations last night.

Faculty agreed to forego raises for the current year and to allow some modest changes to the health care coverage for new hires, in exchange for assurances of 1% and 3% raises in coming years and retention of all other benefits. Moreover, on the crucial issues of tenure and faculty governance, the administration's attempt to hire most new faculty on contract without the possibility of tenure failed.

According to the Detroit Free Press:

Contract terms also substantially limit the number of faculty the school can hire on contract, allow union members to retain rights to intellectual property developed on their own time and give the union a say on university governance

The agreement will now need to be ratified by the faculty union members and the university's state-appointed Board of Trustees.