FACULTY UNION HIGHLIGHTS CHANCELLOR’S STATE SYSTEM REDESIGN COMMENTS

While not commenting officially on remarks by State System of Higher Education Chancellor Dan Greenstein at last week’s Board of Governors meeting, the union representing the faculty at the state-owned universities highlighted Greenstein’s comments on its social media channels, particularly his characterization of IUP’s NextGen as “very audacious, a very ambitious and actually a quite powerful strategy…which is really breathtaking in scope.”

IUP NextGen will eliminate five Fine Arts programs and make major changes in the teacher education program.  The university notified 81 tenured and tenure-track faculty members of “the possibility of the end of their employment’ in June of next year. APSCUF also points to Greenstein’s description of the State System Redesign as “profoundly inspiring stuff”, although he does acknowledge that there are “bumps, obviously, along the way.”

The union has vowed to work to find alternatives to faculty cuts.   The State System is approaching more deadlines for its phased retrenchment announcements.  Next Tuesday, the APSCUF contract requires notification of probationary non-tenured faculty beyond their second year.  Second-year probationary non-tenured faculty must be notified by December 15^th, and first-year probationary non-tenured faculty must be notified by March 1^st.