Nasty faculty will fight back.

Provost Linda Bell and Associate Provost Patricia Denison joined SGA last night to discuss Barnard’s most recent negotiations with the Barnard Contingent Faculty Union and to field student questions regarding the College’s proposals. Bell spoke frankly and openly to the Rep Council and the forty-some students assembled in support of the BCF-UAW.

Bell began by summarizing the administration’s stance in the negotiations, as had been enumerated in an email sent out to Barnard’s student body earlier in the day. The BCF-UAW has announced a strike deadline of February 21st. If the union and Barnard’s administration cannot reach an agreement by that date, union members will go on strike, potentially leaving many students without instructors. Negotiations have been held over the past twelve months, with each side presenting proposals regarding regarding job security, wages, healthcare, and appointment policy for Barnard’s contingent faculty.

Bell emphasized that while she wishes the meetings between the administration and the union would have been more fruitful, she believes that progress has and will continue to be made, and that they remain well within the average timeframe for these kinds of negotiations. She also expressed a tentative positive in the strike deadline, saying that it could bring the two sides together. “I fundamentally believe that no one wants a strike,” she said, echoing the sentiment expressed by the BCF-UAW’s official statement. But she also warned that a strike would be unwise, as it would damage in the College in ways that could seriously impact both its daily functioning and its future management.

She then detailed the College’s recent proposal, which set new minimum wages for contingent faculty, as well as a guaranteed percentage increase of wages for the length of the new contracts. Bell also explained the College’s offer to allow part-time contingent faculty to buy in to Barnard’s healthcare plan, a benefit that most are currently ineligible for. “This is so incredibly important and this time and place in history,” she emphasized, She did acknowledge that the healthcare plan is pricey and would remain unaffordable for some faculty.
Bell expressed strong aversion for some of the non-economic portions of the union’s demands, notably those regarding appointment and seniority. The union wants contingent faculty who have taught a course for at least two semesters in a seven-year period be granted first dibs on teaching that course for all following semesters. Bell emphasized that department chairs should be allowed to make such decisions based on competence and the specific needs of a course, not seniority. Not doing so would undermine academic freedom, she said, and allowing this flexibility is “fundamental to our academic mission.” She remarked that though changing the College’s stance on appointments would not cost them any money, it would be a mistake. “I feel personally disparaged by the union’s inability to try to grasp that concept,” she admitted candidly.

Some students questioned the College’s sensitivity to the real needs of many of the contingent faculty, who are not receiving living wages. Bell seemed to agree with these sentiments, but pointed to the economic realities which she says restrict Barnard’s ability to meet the union’s economic demands. “I wish it were different,” she said in response to a particularly pointed student criticism. “I know it’s not worth anything to you, but I wish it were.”

At the close of the meeting, the student activists broke into chanting, promising to “stand up and fight back,” and, with a vague foreboding , “we’ll be back.”

Activism, protesting, and striking via Barnard