As you may already know, three days ago, President of Long Island University Kimberly R. Cline and the Board of Trustees locked out the faculty of the Long Island University (LIU) Brooklyn Campus. After contract negotiations on a new contract failed, the administration ended negotiations unilaterally. Such a lockout has never happened before in higher education in the United States. The administration not only locked out the faculty, but they also cut off their pay, their benefits, their health care, their university email, and access to their students. (For information see https://academeblog.org/2016/09/08/lockout-of-faculty-at-liu-looking-down-into-the-abyss/).
RFA believes this sets a dangerous precedent that could threaten academic freedom and shared governance elsewhere. We are convinced that this gross violation of labor relations and shared governance practices must be met with swift and resolute denunciation. CUCFA has sent a letter to President Cline http://cucfa.org/2016/09/letter-to-the-president-of-liu/ urging her to desist from this course of action and return to the negotiating table. We urge you to read the article at the link above (and pasted below) and take action against this outrageous lockout.
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September 7, 2016
Dear Dr. Cline:
The Council of University of California Faculty Associations is extremely alarmed by the “lock out” action taken by your administration against the faculty of LIU-Brooklyn.
The action has no precedent in higher education in this country and constitutes a grave assault on unions, labor negotiations, and faculty themselves.
We urge you to reconsider this tactic and return to the negotiating table to bargain in good faith.
To do otherwise is to antagonize hardworking and dedicated faculty for years to come, devastate the educational aspirations and expectations of your students, many of whom have overcome tremendous obstacles to arrive at your college gates, and produce pariah status for LIU-Brooklyn in American higher education.
This path has no future for your institution and we urge you to reconsider.
Sincerely,
The Board of the Council of UC Faculty Associations