“Time for a Faculty Union”: The View from Oregon

This week, SDFA President Ivan Evans and Vice-President Luis Martin-Cabrera are heading up to Eugene to observe the current union card membership drive that is taking place at the University of Oregon (UO).  Prof. Gordon Lafer (shown here) of UO’s Labor Education and Research Center has recently written up a faculty perspective on why UO faculty should unionize.  His point: it’s not about money; is about privatization:

“academic departments are increasingly viewed as revenue centers — encouraged to promote big lecture classes and to avoid hard-to-grade writing asignments or other expensive forms of personal attention”

Sound familiar?

Read more at the Eugene Weekly:

http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2012/03/01/view1.html