el Don News
The faculty and the board have finally reached an agreement on a contract, for now.
After more than a year of unsuccessful negotiations, a mediator was called in to help the board and the faculty reach a compromise, because they couldn’t work things out among themselves.
The board claimed they were more than willing to cooperate and never refused a meeting with the faculty. The faculty made similar claims and attended meetings. However, when it came to the contract, no compromise was reached.
As students, we wish that they had been able to put their differences aside and settle the contract disagreement sooner. During this process, discourse on both sides got heated and personal, and communication between the board and the faculty became unprofessional. Both sides openly expressed their frustration after closed sessions, adding to the unprofessionalism of the situation.
The unprofessionalism faculty displayed during this process did not carry into their classrooms.
While their contract was being negotiated, faculty was still coming work, holding office hours, giving advice and teaching classes to students who are completely unaware of this issue and/ or don’t really care. As a staff, we thank you.
As students, we understand the difficulties of taking care of your responsibilities, while worrying about life’s other concerns. We recognize the challenge you faced in coming to work, while your health care bene ts and your raises were up in the air.
We hope that in the future the board and the faculty will let go of the animosity stemming from this period of negotiation and be able to settle the 2017-2018 contract without contention.
