Nicole Higgins DeSmet

Free Press Staff Writer

University of Vermont professors want full-time faculty wages and benefits to equal those of peer universities like the University of Maine and the University of New Hampshire.



"This correction will bring the trends of the university into alignment with the university's expressed goals and values and will ensure parity to comparable institutions in terms of workload, security, compensation, support and benefits," Dan Krymkowski, lead union negotiator and sociology professor said.

Krymkowski took UVM Provost David Rosowsky's welcome message, which lauded the university's teacher-scholar model as "a beacon to would-be students," as an indicator of the value that should be placed on professors during the current round of negotiations.

The current agreement between the union and the university is three years old and ends on June 30. The two parties met Monday in James M. Jeffords Hall to work on negotiating a new contract.

Before the meeting, university administrators release as statement saying they were looking forward to productive, good-faith negotiations leading to a new, mutually agreeable contract.

"Both the university and the union customarily agree not to engage in public discussion on any of the issues that will be appropriately dealt with at the bargaining table, and the university intends to honor that agreement," spokesman Enrique Corredera wrote in an email.

About 30 professors held signs outside the room where negotiators and union members met.

Professors of history, natural resources, psychology and other departments spoke about what they wanted out of the talks. "Resources," someone offered. "Chairs," a professor of Community Development and Applied Economics said. Some chairs in her classroom were broken.

Nancy Welch, a co-chair of the contract action team and English professor, described seeing the news over the weekend about UVM's announcement of an $80-million athletic complex renovation. She wanted money for the library as well as Patrick Gym.

"For me that’s what these negotiations are about, putting the money back in education and making sure UVM is prioritizing education over the marketing — the glitz — that looks attractive on a campus tour," Welch said.

The union provided documents from an ongoing study by the American Association of University Professors which stated that university prioritized spending on executive, managerial and marketing positions. The union wants to shift 3 percent of the budget into academics to create more tenured-track positions rather than continue hiring adjunct lecturers.

Lecturers are paid less and have no promise of a future with the university. The union seeks to reverse what it sees is a university trend to replace retiring senior teacher-scholars with lecturers.

"If faculty don’t have resources to do our best, our students suffer, and that’s not right, particularly because of what they pay to come to the University of Vermont," John Forbes, a theater professor and United Academics representative, said before the negotiations started.

Forbes also said the faculty feel a responsibility to other university workers, because their contract sets the standard and drives healthcare decisions made by the university.

Half-a-dozen students on campus Monday afternoon said their professors deserved a raise.

"So long as it doesn't mean a hike in tuition," said one student who paused to answer as he exited the library.

CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of the story misstated the union's opinion of lecturers.

CORRECTION: Some lecturers have limited benefits.

Contact Nicole Higgins DeSmet, ndesmet@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1845. Follow her on Twitter @NicoleHDeSmet.