{"id":661,"date":"2025-02-25T12:01:44","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T13:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/?p=661"},"modified":"2025-03-03T14:38:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T14:38:18","slug":"insulting-contract-faculty-call-for-stronger-nyu-response-to-trump-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/25\/insulting-contract-faculty-call-for-stronger-nyu-response-to-trump-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Insulting\u2019: Contract faculty call for stronger NYU response to Trump administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The union representing full-time contract faculty at NYU doubled down on its goals to combat President Donald Trump\u2019s crackdown on immigration and diversity initiatives at its negotiations session last Thursday \u2014 with union members calling the university\u2019s counterproposals \u201cinsulting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In its <\/span>most recent proposal<\/span><\/a> for a working agreement, the union \u2014 Contract Faculty United \u2014 urged senior leadership to prohibit discrimination and harassment against present and future employees at NYU on the basis of health, political views and criminal history. At the Feb. 20 meeting, university administrators <\/span>agreed to provide<\/span><\/a> union members pregnancy-related accommodations but failed to address the union\u2019s other proposed amendments. NYU also proposed a one-year probationary period, which would eliminate faculty protections during their first year of employment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI found it insulting,\u201d CFU representative Jacob Remes told WSN. \u201cWhat they\u2019re proposing would be moving backwards from the policy right now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Since Trump\u2019s reelection, the union <\/span>has braced for potential changes<\/span><\/a> to NYU\u2019s immigration policies by requesting that administrators guide and support faculty members through paid leave for employees who are unable to work due to immigration-related barriers, assistance with the visa renewal process and regular meetings with international faculty to discuss policy developments. At the most recent negotiations session, administrators offered to \u201cnot voluntarily aid\u201d on-campus deportation efforts if the union dropped other proposals relating to vaccination mandates and data privacy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“NYU is committed to achieving an agreement with the contract faculty bargaining unit that fairly reflects their many contributions to the University,” NYU spokesperson John Beckman said. “We look forward to our next face-to-face session with them at the negotiating table, which is where the University focuses its bargaining efforts.”<\/p>\n

Remes said that the union\u2019s proposal mirrored <\/span>an agreement<\/span><\/a> between the university and its graduate student worker union, GSOC-UAW Local 2110, in 2021 in the wake of Trump\u2019s first term. The agreement stipulated that administrators \u201cvoluntarily provide information\u201d that could assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts to deport or detain international students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to pit us against ourselves, against the needs that everybody has a healthy work working environment,\u201d Remes said. <\/span>\u201cIt was insulting to imply that we should be choosing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

University administrators said it would include a clause protecting \u201cnon-citizen colleagues and students\u201d from detention or deportation efforts if the union drops its current call for stricter data privacy and security policies. The proposals rose from fears that immigration-related personal data from websites like Brightspace, Albert and the university\u2019s payroll system following Trump\u2019s <\/span>executive order calling on universities to identify all \u201c<\/span>foreign students and faculty that support Hamas<\/span><\/a>\u201d amid protests against Israel\u2019s war in Gaza.<\/span><\/p>\n

Administrators also contended that the union ceased its calls for the university to verify that it will maintain its vaccination policy. Remes said that administrators proposed a committee dedicated to health and safety, but union members believe it would not address core issues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to have a health and safety committee that can look at occupational health and safety and the hazards that we face and can think about how to solve them,\u201d Remes said. \u201cThe goal has to be a workplace where people are vaccinated against infectious disease and can engage in our jobs without threat of arrest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Elisabeth Fay, a member of the union\u2019s bargaining committee, told WSN that non-union faculty also expressed concerns over academic freedom, one of the union\u2019s <\/span>primary focuses<\/span><\/a> since it <\/span>formed in 2020<\/span><\/a>. One professor, whose name Fay did not disclose, discussed their course on decolonization, which included dialogue about the war in Gaza and led to an investigation by the Office of Equal Opportunity last year. A pro-Israeli professor also testified, recalling a similar experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Concerns surrounding academic freedom have <\/span>heightened over the past year<\/span><\/a>, with the union demanding that administrators adopt contracts with <\/span>stronger job security<\/span><\/a>. Members recommended a minimum three-year contract for first appointments and automatic renewal of full-time contracts after two successful reappointments \u2014 a threshold Fay said was based on the contract of tenure professors, where job security is granted after two successful reappointments as assistant professors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are talking about issues that students feel passionately about and many faculty have strong beliefs founded in their subject matter expertise,\u201d Fay said. \u201cFaculty under these kinds of investigations are at risk of having their academic freedom violated. It\u2019s very easy to find yourself in a really complicated and stressful situation that makes them feel like they cannot teach the subjects.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Update, Feb. 25: This article was updated with a statement from an NYU spokesperson.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Contact Amanda Chen at achen@nyunews.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

This story \u2018Insulting\u2019: Contract faculty call for stronger NYU response to Trump administration<\/a> appeared first on Washington Square News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The union representing full-time contract faculty at NYU doubled down on its goals to combat President Donald Trump\u2019s crackdown on immigration and diversity initiatives at its negotiations session last Thursday \u2014 with union members calling the university\u2019s counterproposals \u201cinsulting.\u201d In its most recent proposal for a working agreement, the union \u2014 Contract Faculty United \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":664,"href":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661\/revisions\/664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entouragecover.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}