Don’t Give Up: Shared Governance and Shared Sacrifice

Over the last ten days, over 300 members of our community signed a petition, “Shared Governance and Shared Sacrifice during the Coronavirus Crisis,” agreeing that “amid the uncertainties generated by this crisis, the need for real shared governance, unfettered academic freedom, and economic security for faculty remains unchanged.”

Sadly, AAUP’s advice that “principles of shared governance apply no matter how exigent the situation” has not yet been heeded at Miami. The provost takes the opposite view, saying that “unfortunately, economic and budgetary crises do not respect, nor respond to, shared governance” — implying that shared governance is a luxury that managers may at times indulge in, rather than a foundation for strong leadership and a principle to be guided by, especially in difficult times.

This week—although Senate (which continues to meet weekly during the pandemic) has not been given a chance to review budget rationales or propose alternative plans for cost-cutting—the majority of full-time contingent faculty were told that their contracts will not be renewed in fall.

This harsh decision will put our colleagues out of work and deprive them of health insurance during a pandemic and a recession. We urge the administration to reconsider in a new petition we are circulating in the wake of the non-renewals: “Find Alternatives to Contingent Faculty Cuts.” Please support our valued contingent colleagues by signing.

In the meantime, we are grateful to the many faculty who signed our previous Shared Governance & Shared Sacrifice petition. We are proud to see Miami faculty coming together in solidarity, standing together across the ranks and categories that sometimes serve – harmfully – to divide us. One thing that this crisis has made crystal clear: precarity is dangerous to our academic mission.

An increase in faculty solidarity means that even if we lose the current battle, we will succeed in the long term to build shared governance and improve conditions of economic security and academic freedom for faculty.

Meantime, we will continue to do whatever we can to mitigate the vulnerability of our contingent colleagues. Please consider helping by making a donation to this emergency fund.