The WMU Administration’s reluctance to support its research mission: How Western faculty can respond

a message from WMU-AAUP President, Dr. Cathryn Bailey, and WMU-AAUP Vice President, Dr. Whitney DeCamp

We’re reaching out with time-sensitive information regarding the WMU-AAUP’s efforts to enforce the contract regarding funding for research travel. If you simply wish to learn more about what you can do to help restore travel funding, skip to the last section of this email. Otherwise, please review this full message to ensure that you’re fully up-to-date.

The backstory

As you may recall, in September of last year, we warned of draconian cuts by the WMU Administration that would result in absurdly low funding amounts, a shocking $133 per faculty member for the entire year. Although the Administration quickly rolled back part of this plan after a strong faculty reaction, it has continued to dispute faculty members’ contractual right to receive funding for two trips.

The Chapter’s position has always been that the contractual language regarding this matter is clear and unambiguous. Indeed, the most relevant sentence (in Article 34) states: “Faculty may receive travel support for up to two (2) professionally recognized meetings per year through the FRTF.” Nonetheless, the Administration denied the Chapter’s grievance filed in September regarding this matter, based, in part, on its (implausible) reasoning that “up to two” might be interpreted as just one (or even zero). When the Administration was unwilling to agree to follow the plain language of the contract, the Chapter submitted a demand for arbitration. This process includes review by a qualified third-party and would impose a legally binding solution on both parties.

While nearly everything about this process has been disappointing from our point of view—not the least the Administration’s dogged attempt to nickel and dime faculty who wish to fulfill their professional research obligations—we were further disillusioned by the university’s latest attempt to drag its feet. So, although the arbitration hearing was originally scheduled to take place this week, the Administration requested earlier this month that it be postponed. Although the Chapter objected to the delay, the delay was ultimately granted (and was accompanied by a steep rescheduling fee for the Administration). The summary, then, is that the Administration is continuing to drag its feet, creating ongoing hardship for faculty who need to plan and carry out professional travel.

What you can do

Reach Out to Faculty Senate Representatives: Even as the Chapter is following common-sense legal advice and eager to resolve this matter through arbitration, there is a memorandum of action (MOA-24/02) regarding this issue that is being proposed to be presented for a vote by the Faculty Senate at its meeting this Thursday. This MOA (among other concerns) contradicts our negotiated contract, which guarantees faculty the right to use the FRTF up to two times per year. There is nothing in the contract that makes the guarantee conditional on funding allocations set by the Administration, nor has that ever been the practice used in administering the FRTF. Although this MOA could not take effect without the signature of Chapter president—who has already indicated she will not approve it —we believe that it is unproductive for this MOA to even be considered at this time. Again, the WMU-AAUP is in the midst of legally-binding proceedings with the Administration to resolve this matter and so it would be untimely, at best, for a faculty body to vote on this MOA. With this in mind, we encourage you to reach out to your Faculty Senate representative to ensure that they are aware of all the facts regarding this matter. Encourage them to vote to table this MOA, if possible, until after the arbitration is resolved, or to vote no if necessary.

Preserve Documentation Regarding FRTF-Related Matters: We confirmed through the recent survey we conducted that many faculty have experienced a financial our-of-pocket impact of the changes to the FRTF amount and trip maximum. Even more have reported professional impacts that have caused them to change current or future travel plans as a result of the Administration’s unilateral changes to FRTF travel reimbursement. We are asking all faculty to preserve any documentation they might have about impacts, whether financial or professional (or both). This might mean documentation of expenses for non-reimbursed travel, evidence that other funding sources were unnecessarily drawn down to cover funding gaps, or even communications showing changes to research or travels plans (short-term or long-term). Please preserve these records, as they may be relevant if the arbitrator allows for compensation. The Chapter filed the grievance about this issue within days of the announcement, yet we will have waited nearly an entire academic year for a resolution as a result of the slowdowns forced on the process by the Administration.

As a faculty, we have many battles to fight to reverse the Administration’s shameful determination to decimate Western’s integrity as a research-intensive university. This contractual dispute is one such battle.