Preperations for Bargaining Have Begun

Faculty members interested in participating on the bargaining team have been participating in bargaining training for the past two weeks,and will continue this week. The training is being provided by New Mexico AFT.

Meanwhile, an additional group of faculty members have been meeting to discuss salary issues, and to draft a section on salary for our proposed contract. If you would like to contribute to this effort, or to any of the work on the draft contract, please contact Jean Hill.

The Association has sent out a survey to all tenured/tenure-track faculty to solicit their input regarding the draft contract. If you did not receive the survey, please contact an Association officer as soon as possible. We absolutely need everyone's input, so please complete the survey as soon as possible. It may be helpful to review the Faculty Handbook while you are completeing the survey. You can find a link to the Handbook on the NMHU web page at http://www.nmhu.edu/facultysenate/.

The more input we have, the better our contract will serve all of our needs. Please work with us on these efforts!

We Won!

The NMHU Faculty Association achieved an overwhelming endorsement from the tenured/tenure track faculty in November with 90% of the voting faculty supporting the union. Of the faculty eligible to vote, 92% did so, an amazing turnout that demonstrates how important collective bargaining is to the Highlands' Faculty.

Thank You Everyone!

Chairs Are In The Union!

Also at their Monday, October 17th meeting, the LLRB voted unanimously in favor of including Department Chairs in the bargaining unit. We are extremely pleased with this decision, since it will extend the protections of the contract to the six department chairs.

Regents Postpone Consideration of Post-Tenure Review Policy

The Regents have agreed to postpone consideration of the new Post-Tenure Review Policy pending the outcome of the vote on the collective bargaining unit. We consider this both a result of the strength of the union in representing faculty interests, and the recent willingness of the Regents and administration to listen to faculty concerns.

We still expect at least some aspects of the administration's proposal to appear during collective bargaining, so please familiarize yourself with what they proposed.

A copy of the Post-Tenure Review Policy drafted by the administration for the regents is available here. The NMHU Faculty Association has significant concerns about this document, and about the process by which it was developed and is being adopted. You can read our reponse to the draft policy here.

The AAUP has recently voted to censure the administration of Virginia State Unversity after investigating two cases of faculty dismissal after post-tenure review. You can read the report, which the AAUP calls "our first such report that directly addresses the issue of post-tenure review", here. You can also see a list of all administrations censured by the AAUP here, and a history of the AAUP's Censure List here.

Help Us Draft A Contract

We are doing everything we can to get to the bargaining table, and we want to be ready when we get there. We have a draft contract, based extensively on the Faculty Handbook, that we are going to present during collective bargaining. However, the draft needs review and modifications. If you would like to help with this process, just let us know.

The Faculty Letter to NCA

Twenty tenured members of the Highlands faculty signed a letter to NCA outlining our concerns with the current administration. This letter was a project of the faculty involved, not just members of the Faculty Association. As you are probably aware, the letter has received widespread attention in the local press, as well as the Chronicle of Higher Education. To see the complete text of the letter, click here.

What Else is the Union Doing?

Faculty morale at Highlands is at an all-time low. The administration has shown a complete disregard for the concept of shared governance, or for the concerns of the Faculty. And faculty members want to know what the union is doing about it.

• NEA-NM has been aggressively defending the rights of individual faculty members who are under attack, and they will continue to do so. This decision is not the end. Just ask anyone who has been involved in the on-going tenure process.
• NMFEE/AFT has been aggressively pushing the issue of collective bargaining. They have repeatedly responded to actions of the administration that could be in violation of the collective bargaining act (such as the substantially changed contract the administration wished to release at the end of the fall semester) and they have been doing everything legally possible to ensure that we get to the bargaining table as quickly as possible.
• Representatives of both union organizations have been a visible and continual presence at the University for the past several weeks. As just one example, NEA-NM had both their representative to Highlands (Pat Chavez) and their lawyer (Ben Baur) representing Highlands faculty at the Board of Regents meeting in Santa Fe. They spoke with both the President and the members of the Board of Regents, strongly advocating the Faculty position.

In the meantime, we need to discuss what else the Faculty can do.

Have You Signed An Authorization Card?

Do you support collective bargaining, but feel like you just can't join the union at this time? There is another way to support the process and strengthen our bargaining position. Sign an Authorization Card. These cards do not obligate you to join the union, or pay dues. However, they do help us to demonstrate our support among the bargaining unit. Contact a member of the Faculty Association, or get a copy of the latest newsletter, and sign a card today!

Next Meeting
Our next meeting has not yet been scheduled, but we will be sure and let you know when it is!

Archieved News
Are you looking for one of our old news items? You can find them here:

• Is Tenure Given Out Like "Dinner Mints" at Highlands?
• Ethnicity of Tenured Faculty
• The Dean Searches

If you have questions or comments about the NMHU Faculty Association or the collective bargaining process, you can email our President, Tom Ward, at