A blog by Rebecca Teed
Before I went on strike as a Wright State University faculty member, I budgeted how long I could go without pay, broke out my 16-year-old cold-weather field gear, made plans with the students in my lab to keep them working independently, and left my classes with detailed instructions to spare them a week of wasted time. Our trustees and administrators had siphoned over $120 million from Wright State University over the last few years and imposed a contract on us that was going to make it difficult for many of us to keep teaching there. 8% of our full-time faculty had already retired or moved elsewhere since 2016, and we weren’t going to be able to replace them with competent, committed people.
After the strike started, our students let us know that most classes were not being taught or were being taught by replacements who were obviously unqualified to teach them. Instead of accepting the union’s offer to return to work under our old contract while we negotiate a new one, the administration chose to collect tuition and wait us out. At this point, I’m convinced that most of our trustees would rather destroy Wright State University than leave the faculty union standing. I hoped someone would stop them: the governor to avoid embarrassment, or the Higher Learning Commission to uphold accreditation standards, or the national press, to take advantage of a lurid story of corporate and government corruption that has already been researched for them. But none of this has happened. If the authorities and powerful institutions who claim to protect democracy won’t do it, it’s up to those of us on the ground to fight for it.
My biggest discovery since going out on the picket line: It’s hard to think about anything else while you are on strike. Before it started, I packed up as much as I could from my office and carried books, files, and projects home. I haven’t gotten very far on any of them. Perhaps the best thing I can do for now is to focus on the lessons I’ve learned from the experience. Going on strike is hard work, but the support of students, colleagues, and the community reminds me that it’s worthwhile. Rather than getting discouraged, I’ve been surprised to find that I’m getting braver as it goes.
Social media has eaten lot of my time. I’m trying, one way or another, to get the word out to whoever is listening on the Internet about what is happening at Wright State. I also pore through the news for anything about the strike and go to meetings for updates from the negotiating team. The first thing I read each morning is Dr. McIlvenna’s daily message about the strike. Every picketing shift, I get a few photos of my colleagues and their signs, the students marching, the gifts people have brought to headquarters, and when I get home, I go through the photos, upload them to my desktop computer, and tear my hair out trying to think of captions before I put them out on Twitter and Facebook.
The fear and doubt are harder on me than the weather. Picketing has made staying on strike easier. I’ve met a lot of colleagues from other departments whose work interests me and matters to my students. I rarely see these folks unless we’re on a university committee together, and those don’t afford much chance to talk about collaboration, whether in terms of research, teaching, or just recommending comic books to each other.
The people who’ve really helped me understand the need for the strike are Wright State students. The Students for Faculty have organized their own picket shifts, social media, and protests. I’ve taught a couple their leaders and found them to be brilliant people, not only swift to master course content, but also leaders in the classroom. One of them attended one of my science courses for teachers, and another was part of a field trip to Mammoth Cave which I helped with. These students are an incredibly brave bunch, given that the administration has thrown at least one student out of a program and started cancelling classes that many need for their degrees. Their protests happen inside the picket lines, often within University Hall, and are much harder for the administration, the non-striking faculty, and the other students to ignore.
Students are making a big difference on the picket line, but so are drivers passing by it on Colonel Glenn Highway. Many of them honk as they pass; others wave. Occasionally, one will pull up to the corner, especially if they’re waiting for a red light, and roll down a window to give some encouragement. The other day, an older gentleman advised us to “Stand strong”. Another, young enough to be one of our students, shouted, “We appreciate you!” A lady even younger than the second gentleman said nothing, but handed the nearest protester a bag of homemade cookies. Other local union chapters, including AFSCME, Ironworkers, and the AFL-CIO, have sent protesters, food, people to clear the sidewalks, and money, and we’ve gotten support from faculty unions from as far away as Colorado. Alumni and community members have simply turned up to help. And the students have been great, even those who are not ready to stand on the picket lines. They’ve brought hot meals, hot chocolate, and coffee that we desperately need in the short-term and left behind notes of encouragement.
We’re on strike because we take our teaching seriously and we want Wright State University to last. University faculty members have all studied and done research for years to deepen our understanding of our subjects. That experience can be isolating, can give us the misconception that no-one else understands what we do or why we do it. The strike has caused us to suffer physically and financially, but it has reconnected many of us with our students, other unions, and the Miami Valley with regards to important issues that have nothing specific to our scholarship. We’re fighting for the future of higher education and for labor rights in Ohio, and we can’t give up now.
For more background:
- On our union chapter and the strike at Wright State University: https://aaup-wsu.org/
- Check out Twitter under the hashtags #fighting4wright (faculty protests) and #Fight4Wright (student protests)
