What’s the difference?
A faculty senate and a faculty union are compatible and not mutually exclusive entities. Their roles are somewhat different and many universities have both. A key distinction is that a faculty senate makes recommendations while a union contract is legally binding.
Many Chatham faculty support having both a senate and a union. A union contract can support shared governance provisions. Chatham Faculty United believes that a union contract that requires faculty to be treated as equal partners in the governance of the institution will lead to a stronger, healthier university.
| Faculty Senate | Faculty Union | |
| Members | ✓ Representatives elected from the full faculty. | ✓ All faculty members are members. |
| Leadership | ✓ Elected from the representatives. | ✓ Elected from the full faculty (such as bargaining committee). |
| Role | ✓ Makes recommendations on policy and other matters to administration. ✓ Advisory body. | ✓ Negotiates a contract ensuring compensation and benefits. ✓ Safeguards teaching and learning conditions. ✓ Provides members with institutional transparency (analyses of budgets, enrollment, etc). ✓ Reinforces collegiality. |
| Accountability & Transparency | ✓ Administration does not have to accept recommendations. ✓ No transparency of decision making required. | ✓ Contract is a legally enforceable document. ✓ Formalized grievance procedures. ✓ Transparency of union committee decision making with full faculty. |
| Shared Governance | ✓ Similar to current Chatham faculty meeting structure, with ability to discuss and advise on issues. | ✓ Faculty have contractual, legally enforceable voice in decision making. ✓ Shared governance can’t be taken away or ignored. |
More on the role of faculty unions from the American Association of University Professors …
Academic unions are the most recent in a long line of collegial structures forged to protect the rights and professional roles of academics. … Academic unions provide many benefits:
- Unions enable faculty and other members of the academic community to safeguard their teaching and working conditions by pooling their strengths.
- Unions make it possible for different sectors of the academic community to secure contractual, legally enforceable claims on college administrations and boards, at a time when reliance on traditional advice and consent has proved inadequate.
- Unions provide members with critical institutional analyses—of budget figures, enrollment trends, and policy formulations—that would be unavailable without the resources provided by member dues and national experts.
- Unions increase the legislative influence and political impact of the academic community as a whole by maintaining regular relations with state and federal governments and collaborating with affiliated labor organizations.
- Unions reinforce the collegiality necessary to preserve the vitality of academic life under such threats as deprofessionalization and fractionalization of the faculty, privatization of public services, and the expanding claims of managerial primacy in governance.
Status of a Faculty Senate at Chatham
In the fall 2023, the University Committee (UC) convened a sub-committee to explore ways to improve the operations and potentially develop a new shared governance system. At the faculty meeting in January 2024, the committee reported that their, “Deliberations revealed some consistent themes involving the nature of the mandate, composition of, and implementation of policy decisions reached by our standing and ad-hoc committees; identified policy areas which currently do not have relevant committees; and the potential need for an overarching new shared governance system. It also became clear that to make meaningful progress on addressing the issues identified a larger collection of stakeholders should be involved in the conversation.”
The sub-committee has recommended that a broader ad-hoc committee of administration, faculty, and staff be formed in the spring 2024 semester. This group will consider issues related to campus decision-making and existing governance structures with the goal of further identifying areas of improvement and establishing a timeline for the 2024-2025 AY.
Chatham Faculty United 