APRIL UPDATES FROM FAM

It's almost time to vote yes!

​Voting for your union begins April 18 and continues through May 2. To count, your confidential ballot must be correctly filled out (please mark your vote with an X, not some other mark!) and mailed within this two-week window. Check the Election Countdown at famiami.org!

Vote in solidarity.

• The best way to show solidarity for your colleagues who cannot vote this spring is to VOTE YES so we can WIN BIG!
• Winning big will set a precedent for successful future organizing of librarians and visiting faculty. 
• Librarians have already filed for recognition as a collective bargaining unit.
• In a huge win for FAM, visiting faculty can still organize and are doing so. (Claiming visiting faculty were "seasonal and casual," Miami tried—but failed—to exclude visitors from the legal definition of a "public employee,” which would have deprived them of the right to organize under state law.) 
• A great contract gives you and your colleagues the opportunity to improve conditions for ALL faculty and negotiate to improve job security for VAPs. 

We are now and still remain ONE FACULTY and ONE FAM.

Stop Senate Bill 83!

Ohio Senate Bill 83, the so-called "The Higher Education Enhancement Act," was introduced on March 14. The bill would radically reshape higher education as we know it. Among other things, SB 83:

• forbids DEI efforts of all kinds
• mandates so-called "intellectual diversity" representing "the range of American opinion" in learning outcomes  
• climate change, DEI, immigration policy, foreign policy, marriage and abortion are so-called "controversial belief or policy" and our freedom to educate about them would be constrained
• mandates teaching loads of 30 credits for 12-month schedules (prorated to 22.5 credits for 9-month schedules)
• requires syllabuses and course evaluations to be posted online for public view
• forces burdensome unfunded bureaucratic mandates on our institutions
• prohibits relationships with academic institutions in China
• bans strikes by higher ed employees
  

Take Action on SB 83.

• Get clear on what SB 83 will do.
• Write your Ohio state senators.
• Watch FAM’s Theresa Kulbaga interviewed about SB 83 on WCPO 9 Cincinnati: 
• Vote union! Unions are our best pathway for organizing to fight ill-conceived legislation on higher ed.

FAM PROM is Friday!

FAM’s spring social, “FAM Prom: Solidarity Under the Sea” is Friday, April 7, from 6:00pm - 9:00pm at Kofenya in Oxford! Come as you are for refreshments, music, and to take amazing pics at our prom photo booth — props provided!

Social Media Highlights