Dive Brief:
- More than 400 members of the Long Island University Faculty Federation have been locked out of campus this week, after intense labor negotiations led to a standstill with administration.
- Talks over post-tenure review, work load and salary increases, which began in April, prompted administrators to post jobs for the would-be vacancies this summer.
- Some faculty members accuse university president Kimberly Cline of being obsessed with financial rightsizing and cuts across the university.
Dive Insight:
LIU faculty members are considering a no-confidence vote against their president, which in the weeks to come will take on a story of labor unrest between two invested parties and become a growing commentary on the state of higher education in New York. With CUNY's struggles with labor and executive spending, and now a massive lockout for LIU faculty, the stories are adding to an overall narrative about why higher education no longer works as an industrial model.
Both sides must approach negotiations with a shared understanding of how enrollment, federal and state funding and reductions all play a role in making sure students are educated and faculty remain employed, but they cannot come together in the middle of the semester with both sides so distant in their outcomes.