Letter to CLA Dean GerShun Avilez requesting the reconsideration of pausing P&A multi-year contract process, April 7, 2025
On April 7, 2025 the AAUP executive committee of the Twin Cities chapter sent the following letter to CLA Dean GerShun Alivez.
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Dean GerShun Avilez
College of Liberal Arts
[email protected]
Dear Dean Avilez,
We are writing to express our concern and urge you to reconsider the pause to the CLA P&A Multi-Year Contract process. At a time of considerable economic uncertainty, it seems tremendously unfair to place the burden of flexibility on some of the most poorly compensated and vulnerable members of our community. The announcement of this pause noted that it impacts staff “who have made a long-term commitment to our academic mission and have an established record of strong performance,” but was necessary for “maintaining adequate flexibility and sound stewardship of our resources as a public institution.” It also noted that the college typically renews only seven multi-year contracts a year, which means that the potential savings of the pause are marginal compared to the uncertainty it would cause to individual employees.
We find it particularly notable that the pause was announced in the same week that the Board of Regents awarded a 6-year, $20 million contract to the new basketball coach. We realize that this comes from a source different from that for P&A salaries in CLA, but it still highlights the vast disparities in compensation within this University. We believe CLA can do better.
Please reconsider this decision and reinstate the P&A Multi-Year Contract process for this fiscal year.
Sincerely,
The Executive Committee of the UMN Twin Cities chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
William P. Jones, President
Heather Holcombe, Vice President
Teri Caraway, Treasurer
Gopalan Nadathur, Secretary
Nathaniel Mills, Member-at-Large
Ruth Shaw, Member-at-Large
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Dean GerShun Avilez
College of Liberal Arts
[email protected]
Dear Dean Avilez,
We are writing to express our concern and urge you to reconsider the pause to the CLA P&A Multi-Year Contract process. At a time of considerable economic uncertainty, it seems tremendously unfair to place the burden of flexibility on some of the most poorly compensated and vulnerable members of our community. The announcement of this pause noted that it impacts staff “who have made a long-term commitment to our academic mission and have an established record of strong performance,” but was necessary for “maintaining adequate flexibility and sound stewardship of our resources as a public institution.” It also noted that the college typically renews only seven multi-year contracts a year, which means that the potential savings of the pause are marginal compared to the uncertainty it would cause to individual employees.
We find it particularly notable that the pause was announced in the same week that the Board of Regents awarded a 6-year, $20 million contract to the new basketball coach. We realize that this comes from a source different from that for P&A salaries in CLA, but it still highlights the vast disparities in compensation within this University. We believe CLA can do better.
Please reconsider this decision and reinstate the P&A Multi-Year Contract process for this fiscal year.
Sincerely,
The Executive Committee of the UMN Twin Cities chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
William P. Jones, President
Heather Holcombe, Vice President
Teri Caraway, Treasurer
Gopalan Nadathur, Secretary
Nathaniel Mills, Member-at-Large
Ruth Shaw, Member-at-Large