With hours remaining until a walkout of up to 560 faculty members at Wright State University, students, faculty members and administrators are preparing for substitute teachers to take over classes.

There’s still no end in sight to the labor dispute between the university’s Board of Trustees and members of the American Association of University Professors. They have been unable to reach a deal on a new contract, disagreeing on issues like compensation, workload and benefits.

Some of the students stuck in the middle of the dispute are taking action. Several have formed a student-run group supporting the faculty members set to strike.

“I just want to do my courses,” said Jordan Buffington, a junior who is a member of the group, Students for Faculty.

Some students in the group plan to join their professors on the picket line.

“Those faculty – they’re the ones who have invested time in me, have invested time in my education, the curriculum that they’ve fine-tuned for years,” said Sarah Marsh, another junior.

With a strike looming at Wright State University, substitute teachers are set to take over for faculty members who don’t show up to class.

Union officer Noeleen McIlvenna, who is also a history professor at Wright State, said she told her students she wants to be back in the classroom as soon as possible.

“I think students should complain if they feel they’re not getting what they paid for,” McIlvenna said.

An offer from the university administration remains on the table to negotiate the 2020 contract, said Cheryl Schrader, president of Wright State University.

“We have done everything in our power to avoid a strike,” Schrader said.

Students are expected to go to class during the strike, Schrader said. Students and faculty members should not be concerned about security on campus during the strike, Schrader said, and all classes without a professor will be covered by other faculty members and administrators, including herself.

“If there is a strike – and I certainly hope, again, that the union will choose not to do so – but I will have that chance to reconnect with our students,” Schrader said.

According to a Wright State spokesperon, about one-third of the faculty members represented by the union have told the university they intend to teach their classes. A union officer told 2 NEWS that may not necessarily mean they’ll do so.

Students for Faculty is in the process of writing and collecting letters to send to the unionized faculty members and the administration, Marsh said.

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