We’ve all had this type of student: they may skim the reading and rush through the assignments, but they sure do enjoy talking in class. That’s what yesterday’s bargaining session — our twelfth since we started in November — felt like.
RSVP to observe bargaining
Wednesday, June 25, 2-5pm
Your elected bargaining committee brought five counter proposals, moving forward on core articles like Discipline and Dismissal, Respectful Work Environment, Health and Safety, Grievance and Arbitration, and Requests for Information. The administration’s team gave lengthy verbal “feedback” and brought a minor proposal, but they otherwise delivered only a fistful of NOs.
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No, they do not believe that NYU contract faculty should have academic freedom in our academic service to the university and to our professions.
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No, the administration does not want to give us a contractual guarantee that they won’t start using AI to write syllabi, course descriptions, or even teach classes.
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No, they will not commit to protecting our personal or professional data from leaks or misuse.
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No, they do not want to commit not to arrest us for protesting or other political activity.
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No, they did not come with responses to our proposals on Appointment, Reappointment, and Promotion; Shared Governance; or Union Security.
To be fair, they did bring us two yesses: YES, they have agreed to yet another committee — this one to discuss technology. While we know contract faculty members are always happy for further study and discussion, we also know that an advisory committee is no replacement for the protections we demand.
And, YES, after several weeks of consideration, they were willing to tell us that NYU does not censor library materials. (But they still won’t put a commitment not to censor library materials in the contract.)
Read all the proposals and counterproposals on our bargaining tracker.
Just as we are with students who struggle with their homework, we’re committed to helping NYU live up to its potential. CFU continues to fight for a strong first contract that will cement NYU as the world-leading university we know it’s capable of being. Through the power we built in our schools and departments, we won a groundbreaking election agreement that made us the nation’s largest private sector union of full-time, non-tenure track faculty. And we will continue to fight to break new ground and set new standards in higher ed contracts. That’s why we’re continuing to demand the administration go beyond the legal minimums and prohibit discrimination by caste, gender transition status, and political affiliation, activity, expression, and belief, as well as non-discriminatory abusive conduct. It’s why we’re keeping up the fight for contractual protections against rollbacks in antidiscrimination law; to meet the moment with strong academic freedom guarantees; to defend ourselves and our jobs from AI replacing us and our work; to control our own intellectual property; and to protect our non-citizen colleagues and guarantee them appropriate visas and a path to permanent residency.
But your bargaining committee can’t win these crucial protections — let alone the raises and benefits we deserve — alone. We can win what all of us fight for. Our next session is Wednesday, June 25, from 2-5pm. Come show the administration’s team that contract faculty stand united to make NYU the best university it can be.
In solidarity,
CFU-UAW BARGAINING COMMITTEE
Richard Dorritie (Rory Meyers College of Nursing)
Elisabeth Fay (Expository Writing Program, Arts & Science)
Robin Harvey (Teaching and Learning, Steinhardt)
Thomas Hill (Center for Global Affairs, SPS)
Peter Li (General Engineering, Tandon)
Benedetta Piantella (Technology, Culture, and Society, Tandon)
Jacob Remes (Gallatin School of Individualized Study)
Chris Chan Roberson (Undergraduate Film & TV, Tisch)
Jamie Root (French Literature, Thought and Culture, Arts & Science)
Fanny Shum (Mathematics, Courant Institute)
Heidi White (Liberal Studies)
