Tulane instructors, lecturers, visiting professors, and professors of practice are excited to be a part of a nation-wide movement to unionize academic workers! We are inspired and encouraged by the successes of faculty in peer institutions who, through collective bargaining, have made great strides towards a more equitable and just higher education. Faculty unions offer university faculty–and particularly those in the most precarious positions–equity, stability, job security, and a voice in the operations of their universities. Faculty unions enable faculty to better serve their students and to advocate for the needs of their students, as well as the needs of their communities. Faculty working conditions are student learning conditions, and we know that we can improve both by uniting together

We seek to strengthen Tulane’s mission to enrich the capacity of our community to think, learn, act, and lead with integrity and wisdom. We know that this is only possible through a unionized Tulane Workers United.

We are a diverse group of non-tenured track contingent faculty across Tulane’s schools of Liberal Arts, Science and Engineering, Architecture, Professional Advancement, and Business, who dedicate our time, talent, and energy to build the strength of Tulane University. Nearly every undergraduate student’s experience is shaped by interactions with contingent faculty members both inside and outside of the classroom. We teach a broad range of classes across the university, including the core curriculum, required classes for majors, and service learning classes. We support students’ intellectual, professional, and emotional growth as both teachers and mentors. In addition to teaching, we enrich university life by elevating the research profile of the university, bringing in numerous grants, supporting extracurricular activities, and performing administrative duties.

Yet our treatment at Tulane often does not match the value we bring to the university, a discrepancy that catalyzed the formation of Tulane Workers United. We are underpaid and undervalued, and disenfranchised at almost every level of shared governance. Many of us hold precarious positions where job renewal is uncertain and promotion is nonexistent or subject to the whims of university administrators. Despite the value we bring to the university and to our students, we are given little say, if any, in shaping our own working conditions and, therefore, the learning conditions of our students. Our union is committed to working, as recognized partners, with the Tulane Administration to build an organization and a movement that truly fulfills Tulane’s mission and lives out its core values. Together, we will work to make Tulane a better place for faculty, students, and staff.