Find contract compromise

The university and the Temple Association of University Professionals have been trying to draft a contract for almost a year, but there is still disagreement on key issues like dues deductions and wages.

This lack of agreement is concerning given the contract for full-time faculty expires in October 2018. If TAUP and the university do not come to an agreement before then, this will complicate the contract process for full-time faculty as well. It will raise questions about how both parties will be able to devote the time and resources to handling two contract negotiations at once.

It is essential that all faculty members feel satisfied in their contract so they are able to focus their time and energy on their classes and students.

The Temple News hopes contract negotiations between the university and TAUP do not take until the full-time faculty’s contract expires. However, it seems like a possibility.

The university and TAUP have not even been able to agree on a  definition of a part-time faculty member this far into the process. Sharon Boyle, vice president of human resources and lead negotiator, and Steve Newman, vice president of TAUP, have both said they are close to agreeing on terms for this definition. We hope they are right.

As contract talks continue, we also hope that communication between adjuncts and the university is open and productive. But it seems like tension between the two parties may be affecting progress.

Boyle wrote a letter to the editor at the beginning of this month criticizing “numerous misstatements” the adjuncts told The Temple News for a February article.

And on Monday, The Temple News published a letter to the editor online from Wende Marshall, an adjunct in the Intellectual Heritage program, in which she wrote, “negotiations are not going well.”

The Temple News finds this disconnect between those at the negotiation table disconcerting. We hope the university and TAUP are able to actually sit down and discuss compromises on contract terms before this process becomes messier than it needs to be.