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Newsletter April/May 2021
President’s Message Saying the past fourteen months have been eventful is a woeful understatement. Even traumatic may not be a strong enough word. Starting in March of 2020, the entire Acienit id quatust ibustrum ese- world as we had known it was turned upside down with the onset of the qui pandemic. In a two-week period, our dem velles pro te que nis faculty ni- shifted from a typical semester to an entirely online one. Schools and childcare facilities closed, challenging parents everywhere. The news in the US and from around the world maxim illaborae in et resectat et seemed to get worse by the day. More cases, more deaths, more uncertainty. Economic and employment in freees as endus ut omnienfall. The rapid move que to theesti politicization of prevention measures such as masks and shutdowns added another edge to the pandemic. FINISH PG. 2 At KU, as READING well as at 10 ofON the 14 campuses in the system, we received a retrenchment letter last May. As a faculty union, we worked diligently with the University Senate and our administration to make sure that letter was rescinded, which it was. At many other campuses, the letters have remained in place up to now, and at least 48 faculty members across the state are still facing retrenchment as of the end of the semester. Last summer, the murder of George Floyd in police custody led to a surge in calls for police reform and civil rights protests—and counter-protests—again adding to the sense that the country was on a knife's edge. A contentious presidential election, followed by an even more contentious post-election period, led to the events of January 6th, including the attack on the US Capitol Building—the first since the War of 1812. Quite frankly, the entire series of events has been terrifying, exhausting, and disheartening. Finally, though, things are looking up. The miraculous development and rapid rollout of effective vaccines has led to newfound optimism that there is indeed a way out of this current situation. The murder conviction this week in the George Floyd case has led to hope that people in power will be held accountable. There are still challenges, to be sure: we are in a new wave of COVID infections around the country, and vaccine hesitancy and even outright misinformation about vaccines make herd immunity a very difficult goal to achieve. Moving towards more equitable treatment of people of color is different from actually achieving it. Hard work lies ahead. One of the most gratifying experiences of this period has been witnessing the incredible hard work, dedication, and flexibility all of us as faculty members and the university community have shown in facing these many challenges. Fortunately, Kutztown University has come out of this difficult period in a strong position. Some of our partner colleges in PASSHE have had a far more difficult time. At the State APSCUF Legislative Assembly held online last Friday, we received a report on the state of the system. As you are aware, there are 6 institutions of the 14 that are being combined into two sets of merged campuses. That continues apace. At this point, the presidencies of those universities are already being combined. Bloomsburg and Clarion are the lead campuses in each merger, and the presidents of each of those have effectively become the presidents of all three campuses in each group. The president of Edinboro has left for a new presidency, while the president of Cal has retired, putting those two under Clarion. The president of Lock Haven has left for a new position at PASSHE in Harrisburg. Mansfield's president is leaving to become the interim president of Shippensburg—not part of a merger—whose president has accepted a new presidency elsewhere. Eventually, the faculty at these 6 institutions will be combined into one faculty, with single departments spread across all three campuses. Once again, we are very fortunate not to be included in one of those mergers. Inevitably, these mergers may well lead to a sizable number of retrenchments at these campuses in the coming years. As difficult as the past 14 months have been, they have revealed that together, as a faculty and a campus community, we are stronger working together. With this semester coming to a close in just a couple of weeks, I thank you for your hard work and wish you all a safe and peaceful summer.
President, APSCUF-KU