Having trouble viewing this email? View as a webpage.

Provost Message E-Newsletter [Vanderbilt University]

April 2017

Dear colleagues, 

Last week, I sent a letter to your home regarding the then pending April 10th union election and the university’s position. In Vice Provost John Geer’s email update on April 6th, we updated you that the election had been cancelled for April 10th. 

We are now awaiting a decision by the National Labor Relations Board on an appropriate bargaining unit and the timing and means of any new potential election. 

Despite these changes, the points regarding the university’s position in my April 5th letter remain true.  I have included those below for your further reference.

From the April 5th Provost’s letter:

  • o   The university respects the right of our faculty to support or oppose unionization. Vanderbilt is not anti-union. We value the role of the labor movement, and since 1972 have had a constructive relationship with Laborers Local 386, which represents our dining, craft and maintenance employees.
  • o   The traditional lines between employer and employee are clear in many settings, such as manufacturing or dining services. However, this is not true for full-time faculty at a university – particularly at Vanderbilt – where academic administrators are faculty who cycle in and out of leadership roles.
  • We are deeply committed to faculty governance.
    • The COACHE survey and the Faculty Shared Governance committee were both launched to assess and enhance shared governance for all our full-time faculty.
    • Our current faculty career tracks allow all our full time faculty opportunities to take on leadership and administrative roles.
    • For example, full-time non-tenure track faculty hold positions as directors of undergraduate study, centers, programs and associate deans.
  • We worry about the impact unionization will have on our non-tenure track faculty, in particular, and our academic community, in general.
    • We are concerned that our shared governance and administrative leadership models will be weakened by segmenting some full-time faculty into a union.
    • We may not be able to give voice to the opinions of unionized faculty through our shared governance model.
    • Further, a faculty member who becomes a part of a collective bargaining unit will lose power to shape their own individual professional lives.
      • Grants and leaves; teaching loads; schedules and assignments; compensation and funding; and office space are areas that full-time non-tenure track faculty can currently control as individuals. In a union, the right to negotiate individually will be lost. It will be handed off to a third party with limited familiarity with university norms and values. 

I again appreciate your consideration and understanding, and ask you to continue to carefully consider the questions at hand. 

Sincerely,

Susan 

Susan R. Wente
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Office of the Provost  |  vanderbilt.edu/provost

Vanderbilt University is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.
Vanderbilt®, Vanderbilt University®, V Oak Leaf Design®, Star V Design® and Anchor Down® are trademarks of The Vanderbilt University. ©2024 Vanderbilt University. All rights reserved.