At Northeastern University and around the country, full-time non-tenure-track faculty play an essential role in providing quality education for students and contributing to a vibrant academic life on campus. However, they are consistently denied transparency about decisions on working conditions, a meaningful voice in these decisions, and access to key benefits and protections, such as job stability.

Add your name to an open letter supporting Northeastern Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Faculty

We Stand With Northeastern Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Faculty

Joseph Aoun, President
Northeastern University
716 Columbus Place, Suite 620
Boston, MA 02120

At Northeastern University and around the country, full-time non-tenure-track faculty play an essential role in providing quality education for students and contributing to a vibrant academic life on campus. However, they are consistently denied transparency about decisions on working conditions, a meaningful voice in these decisions, and access to key benefits and protections, such as job stability.

With support in every school and college, Northeastern full-time non-tenure track faculty filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board on November 5, 2018. The administration responded by hiring one of the most notorious union-busting law firms and opposing the faculty’s eligibility for a free and fair election. By claiming that full-time non-tenure track faculty are managers, the administration is disregarding established legal precedent and the existence of full-time non-tenure track faculty unions at Tufts, Boston University, Lesley, Duke, Fordham, University of Chicago, and other universities around the country.

As members of the Northeastern community -- students, faculty, alumni, and other campus workers -- and members of communities around Boston, we stand with Northeastern full-time non-tenure track faculty in their efforts to form their union with SEIU Local 509.

At a time of growing attacks on workers nationwide, as well as increasing attention to voter disenfranchisement, the Administration’s position undermines the right to vote for hundreds of full-time non-tenure track faculty at Northeastern. The Administration effectively seeks President Trump’s appointees to set precedent and deny the rights of thousands of full-time non-tenure faculty around the country.

We urge President Aoun to respect the rights of full-time non-tenure-track faculty by no longer opposing their efforts to form a union and remaining neutral so that they can have a free and fair union election. We know that a stronger voice and more stable working conditions for full-time non-tenure track faculty will benefit all of us.