| Great News From our President, Susan Moeller 1-13-10 |
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Dear EMU Faculty: We received wonderful news from our attorney, Harvey Wax, today. The EMU Board of Regents does NOT have the "unfettered" right to deny any faculty member tenure. They must follow the contract they agreed to uphold in 2006. The arbitrator submitted a 10 page brief explaining his ruling. In the brief he stated that "if the Board of Regents were free to disregard recommendations emerging from the contractual tenure review process and summarily deny tenure without explanation and without such action being reviewable under the grievance procedure, it could make a mockery of the rules and rights so painstakingly negotiated into the collective bargaining agreement." The EMU-AAUP had argued this from the beginning of the case, but the EMU Regents and Administration did not agree they had to follow the contract. The arbitrator also said, "...both the denial of tenure by the Board of Regents and the actions of the Interim Provost (Bob Neely) and President (Sue Martin) that led to the denial are subject to review under the grievance procedure." The EMU-AAUP had argued this also from the beginning of the case, but the EMU Regents and Administration had argued they could ignore the contract and deny any faculty member tenure at any time and they did not even have to arbitrate it. Our faculty member's rights to due process were violated under our collective bargaining agreement. This ruling is a major victory for faculty unions, not only ours, but across the State of Michigan and the country. If you have any questions please let me know. And thank you all for your support during the last six months. Our contract remains in place and protected. Susan Moeller, President of the EMU-AAUP On behalf of the EMU-AAUP Executive Committee |