Dear President Friedman:


W
e, the undersigned adjunct faculty of Pace University, welcome you to your new position as President of Pace University. We realize that the current challenges before the University are significant. We are encouraged by your recent letter to the University community and applaud your early efforts to reach out to fulltime faculty.

We urge you to reach out now to part-time faculty.

Over three years ago we voted in overwhelming numbers to form a union because we deserve more respect as professional educators at Pace. We are the face of the University to our students. We are expected to provide the same excellent instruction in the classroom as fulltime faculty.We believe that our pay, benefits, and working conditions should reflect the valuable contribution we make to our students and the University.

We began contract negotiations with Pace administration nearly three years ago, and at every step of the bargaining process, the previous administration did whatever it could to delay reaching an agreement. These delays included presenting us with proposals that did not demonstrate a seriousness regarding our concerns as professors at Pace, as well as time consuming, and very expensive, legal maneuvers. With each and every legal tactic utilized by the previous Pace administration, the National Labor Relations Board ruled against Pace. Still, Pace refused to comply with the NLRB's rulings. Now, the University is being taken to court by the NLRB.

This is not the respectful treatment we deserve.

We urge you to direct your attorneys to immediately drop all legal appeals against the Union of Adjunct Faculty at Pace and to demonstrate your interest in improving our teaching conditions by directing your bargaining team to come to a fair agreement.

As you stated in your recent letter to the Pace community, now is the time to "put old battles behind us" and "heal wounds." We agree with you that now is the time to move toward a "shared vision of what Pace will be" in the future.

We believe that vision must include a fair contract for Pace adjunct faculty.

We look forward to hearing your response.

Sincerely,


If you are a member of the Pace community (faculty, student, parent, employee or alum) and you want your name to this petition, click here

If you are not a member of the Pace community but still want to show your support for the adjuncts, please click here