It helps to know what you are talking about before you post. The one that the strike was voted about was worse. In particular it would have been harder on junior faculty with children. In addition it was much more vague in critical areas.
I am laughing right now at the ignorance of these comments. We professors work more than 40 hours per week. To count only the hours that we are physically standing in front of a class is like counting only the number of words in a news article times the typing speed of the reporter that wrote it as the total time "working" by that reporter.
Similarly the work week of a firefighter is more than the number of hours that that firefighter is physically fighting a fire, and the work week of a policeman more than the time spent chasing and arresting a suspect.
For those SB5 supporters who want the state to simply pay less and less to the people who provide important services, and to decrease their benefits as the governor and legislators (who vote in nice fat raises for themselves) so desire, try moving to a developing country where that sort of thing is standard. Experience the results of low wages for the people who provide public services, which is poor services. If you think higher degrees are worthless, by all means don't bother to get any.
I suspect that some here have indeed not bothered with education as they think that 0% salary increase, a decrease in summer teaching money and higher health care costs are a "raise".
If you want those of us who have expertise, years of experience and take our jobs very seriously to leave and go to places where we can be paid more competitively, I almost hope that you get your wish. May you end up living in a place where services are terrible, any local educational opportunities are worthless, and the community has no forward thinking people. Take it all into the toilet in your desire to pay employees as little as you can.
I hope your children have better fortune and manage to become better educated and more thoughtful though.
In the meantime I'd better get back to preparing my lectures.
@Jerry, Look up the word "professional" also look up "Union of professional". "Union" and "Professional" are not antonyms. There are a wide assortment of unions of professionals including lawyers and doctors, architects and opera singers, airline pilots and athletes.
@sickstudent, I am a notoriously slow grader! It is my biggest problem as a professor. I spend way too much time per paper/homework/quiz/ determining a point given here but not there. I have also messed up dates on syllabi, though entirely by accident not because I was just printing the same old thing out ;-)
In any case it looks like the strike is off for the moment. I hope the admin bargains in good faith this time and releases that money to the students!
The fact remains, we are one of the lowest paid faculties in the state of Ohio, our teaching load is one of the highest. In a typical term I am so busy with my lectures, my research students, and other University related obligations that I do not have time for my test/homework/quiz writing and grading until after I go home. I typically pull three to four all-nighters at my office and lab, and another few at home trying to keep abreast of my grading. I have yet to meet another academic scientist outside of my colleagues at YSU who has the teaching load that we have as well as the expectation that we will manage to produce enough scientific findings to publish as well as train graduate students. When I was hired I was told I would be teaching two classes a term, which seemed like a lot compared to all the institutions I had been at, but I thought it was doable. That two turned into three, four, or five. That is not so doable. It takes around three hours to prepare a one hour lecture if you have good materials to work with and a good level of expertise. So if you are presenting 10 hours of lecture in a week, that's 40 hours right there. Add in 5 hours of office hours (few Universities require so much) and running a research lab, writing and grading and it is no wonder I have no time.
I sometimes miss the days of being a technician, just doing lab work, being paid peanuts, but working only 9-5 and being done when I left work. At least for part of the summer I only have to train my research students and don't have much grading, outside of research related writing. Then again I am technically working for free during that part of summer. It is a necessity to do that to keep up with scholarship and to get the Masters students through their thesis research. This is the life I chose. I am not in danger of losing my house or not having money for food or utilities (unless the strike goes on too long).
In short, I think I and my fellow faculty members are worth more than what the Admin has offered us. The University is NOT in deep financial distress. We are highly trained hard working professionals. Is 70K too much money for a PhD with years of experience and many years on the job? I think not. We are not slaves to the almighty dollar, but we deserve more respect that we have been offered. I will see you all from the picket line tomorrow morning.
We all opted into academia because it is what we wanted to do, not because we wanted to be rich. We could all earn more in the private sector. However, it is much harder to get a tenure track-professor job than a position in the private sector. Some people do not understand that money is not everything and totally miss the point of being an educator. None of us are out to get rich. We do not drive BMWs. We do not own second houses.
So if we don't care so much about money why are we striking? Some junior faculty may indeed be having a hard time making ends meet. I remember that I had a few very hard years when I was first here. But the bigger question is, what are we worth? What is our expertise worth? Do we want to place a decent value on education? Do we want people to take pride in their work? It appears that the majority of us have said that we are being given a resounding NO by the administration. We are worth no more than a 0% raise this year and next with a 20% reduction in summer teaching pay, an increase of an unknown dollar amount in healthcare (the admin says 15% of a "premium" which they have declined to put a dollar value on) as well as increases in all our co-pays and other out of pocket charges. It will be a noticeable decrease in take home pay for me. How much? I don't really know, but since I teach a summer class, and do not have to pay for family health coverage, my guess is 3-5K depending on what the Admin decides a "premium" is.
After much thought I actually voted FOR this contract, as it did (finally) reduce the health care % for junior faculty and instructors who make less money and are often still paying off their student loans. I could not stomach the previous one which would hurt the new, young, bright, faculty with young families the hardest. It was still a punitive contract and the majority of us voted against it. I am not displeased by this though I am sad to have to be on strike and very sad that the Admin will continue to punish the students while we are striking.
That other thing that caused me to vote for the contract, the students. The admin CHOSE to withhold their financial aid. It was NOT required by law. We had a legal term start date. We were not on strike when the Admin chose to withhold the funds. We were not fined for disbursing those funds 5 years ago. My understanding is that even in the unlikely case that the government decided that those funds should not have been given out to the students, the penalty would be something like $2/ student. Peanuts for an Admin that chose to give Dr. Anderson a 100K pay raise. The students need to buy their books, pay their tuition and fees, pay their rent deposits. I think that the Admin did that to make us vote for an unnecessarily punitive contract. It worked for me. I hate to see people with the least means, who are trying to better themselves, get penalized by those who have plenty.
What is expertise worth? Who deserves to be middle class? I am a science Professor. When I was young I picked beans at a local field fro 2.25 cents a pound. A day's work gave me some spending money. I held an assortment of jobs through college (University of Chicago) and used that money and loans to pay for my degree. I then worked as a technician in my field for 7 years, never making more than 18K/year. Then I went to grad school (Columbia University in NY) I studied, taught, tutored, and did research for five years. I received a stipend of 12K/year, then finally 14k/year. I was living in Manhattan. I managed, living very cheaply, sharing an apartment in a bad neighborhood with a bunch of people. When you are working 60+ hours per week you don't need much money for recreation, you do not have time for it. I turned 30 there, working on my PhD, living in poverty. Then I went to Seattle (U. of Washington) where I did more research and teaching and earned a post-doctoral fellowship from the American Cancer Society. In 1996 when I left I was making 22K Woo Hoo!
The job hunt was hard in spite of my nice academic pedigree, publications in prestigious journals, and the fellowships that I wrote for and had been awarded. There were jobs I applied to that had over 600 applicants, all with PhDs in Molecular Biology, Microbiology, or Molecular Genetics. I was fortunate enough to get offered a position at YSU, my first choice of the places I interviewed at, a place where I could do teaching, run a research lab, and really make a difference in student's lives. I would have the opportunity to help bring students, who might be the first in their family to go to college, up to a level to compete globally in a rapidly advancing, high-demand field.
A number of my students have become doctors, dentists, pharmacists, or research scientists. Many of my students are giving back to our community now. Others are making a difference in other communities. Some are in academia, more are in the private sector. Others may not have been science majors but may be able to make more informed decisions about their lives and their healthcare due to my and my colleagues efforts. One of my students who learned research doing a Masters in my lab has become a tenure track Professor herself. I am very proud of her. I am not unusual at YSU. Their are a lot of highly trained people who want to make a difference.
So, you could teach Virology? Genetics? Immunology? Calculus? Biochemistry? No? What about Computer programming? Accounting Information Systems? Pediatric Emergency Care? Advanced Arabic? Chemical Engineering thermodynamics? Construction surveying? Clinical Hematology? Criminal Law? Applied Neuroscience for Physical Therapy? Shall I go on? Do you have any idea of the breadth and depth of subjects taught at YSU or how their mastery can effect the professional opportunities for our graduates as well as the welfare of our society? Somehow, by your comments, I doubt it.
A PhD is not sacred, but it (along with other supporting background information) indicates an advanced mastery of a field of knowledge. It requires many years of hard work, study and training to achieve this level of mastery. Teaching advanced topics requires advanced understanding. People who have that level of expertise often opt for higher paying fields than academia.
I know that I could earn two to three times the amount that I am paid as a YSU Professor (I am a Geneticist/Molecular Biologist) in the private sector. Teaching and basic research are more important to me than a six-figure income though, so here I am. The same is true for most Professors at YSU. We are even reluctantly willing to take cuts in our take home salary for the sake of our students and our University, but there is no sense in asking us to take less and less, increasingly less than other Professors in Ohio, when the Administration gives itself fat raises and takes more money from students who can often ill afford it. In particular, the offered contract is punitive on newer Professors and Instructors with families. Do we want to chase new talent away?
We should value training the next generation of professionals. We should value enhancing the skills and knowledge of members of our community.
This is a silly poll as YSU's faculty have asked for a 0% increase in salary and have added some givebacks as well that will reduce take home pay. This offered REDUCTION was not good enough for the admin.
YSU's educators OK pact with university
Veleuk,
It helps to know what you are talking about before you post. The one that the strike was voted about was worse. In particular it would have been harder on junior faculty with children. In addition it was much more vague in critical areas.
October 4, 2011 at 9:03 p.m. permalink suggest removal
Strike threat shows need for SB5
I am laughing right now at the ignorance of these comments. We professors work more than 40 hours per week. To count only the hours that we are physically standing in front of a class is like counting only the number of words in a news article times the typing speed of the reporter that wrote it as the total time "working" by that reporter.
Similarly the work week of a firefighter is more than the number of hours that that firefighter is physically fighting a fire, and the work week of a policeman more than the time spent chasing and arresting a suspect.
For those SB5 supporters who want the state to simply pay less and less to the people who provide important services, and to decrease their benefits as the governor and legislators (who vote in nice fat raises for themselves) so desire, try moving to a developing country where that sort of thing is standard. Experience the results of low wages for the people who provide public services, which is poor services. If you think higher degrees are worthless, by all means don't bother to get any.
I suspect that some here have indeed not bothered with education as they think that 0% salary increase, a decrease in summer teaching money and higher health care costs are a "raise".
If you want those of us who have expertise, years of experience and take our jobs very seriously to leave and go to places where we can be paid more competitively, I almost hope that you get your wish. May you end up living in a place where services are terrible, any local educational opportunities are worthless, and the community has no forward thinking people. Take it all into the toilet in your desire to pay employees as little as you can.
I hope your children have better fortune and manage to become better educated and more thoughtful though.
In the meantime I'd better get back to preparing my lectures.
August 26, 2011 at 3:19 p.m. permalink suggest removal
YSU faculty calls off planned strike
"YSU faculty calls off planned striked" I wonder how long it will take the Vindy to fix the typo in their headline.
August 26, 2011 at 1:08 a.m. permalink suggest removal
YSU faculty calls off planned strike
@Jerry, Look up the word "professional" also look up "Union of professional". "Union" and "Professional" are not antonyms. There are a wide assortment of unions of professionals including lawyers and doctors, architects and opera singers, airline pilots and athletes.
August 25, 2011 at 11:20 p.m. permalink suggest removal
YSU faculty calls off planned strike
@sickstudent, I am a notoriously slow grader! It is my biggest problem as a professor. I spend way too much time per paper/homework/quiz/ determining a point given here but not there. I have also messed up dates on syllabi, though entirely by accident not because I was just printing the same old thing out ;-)
In any case it looks like the strike is off for the moment. I hope the admin bargains in good faith this time and releases that money to the students!
August 25, 2011 at 10:35 p.m. permalink suggest removal
YSU faculty calls off planned strike
The fact remains, we are one of the lowest paid faculties in the state of Ohio, our teaching load is one of the highest. In a typical term I am so busy with my lectures, my research students, and other University related obligations that I do not have time for my test/homework/quiz writing and grading until after I go home. I typically pull three to four all-nighters at my office and lab, and another few at home trying to keep abreast of my grading. I have yet to meet another academic scientist outside of my colleagues at YSU who has the teaching load that we have as well as the expectation that we will manage to produce enough scientific findings to publish as well as train graduate students. When I was hired I was told I would be teaching two classes a term, which seemed like a lot compared to all the institutions I had been at, but I thought it was doable. That two turned into three, four, or five. That is not so doable. It takes around three hours to prepare a one hour lecture if you have good materials to work with and a good level of expertise. So if you are presenting 10 hours of lecture in a week, that's 40 hours right there. Add in 5 hours of office hours (few Universities require so much) and running a research lab, writing and grading and it is no wonder I have no time.
I sometimes miss the days of being a technician, just doing lab work, being paid peanuts, but working only 9-5 and being done when I left work. At least for part of the summer I only have to train my research students and don't have much grading, outside of research related writing. Then again I am technically working for free during that part of summer. It is a necessity to do that to keep up with scholarship and to get the Masters students through their thesis research. This is the life I chose. I am not in danger of losing my house or not having money for food or utilities (unless the strike goes on too long).
In short, I think I and my fellow faculty members are worth more than what the Admin has offered us. The University is NOT in deep financial distress. We are highly trained hard working professionals. Is 70K too much money for a PhD with years of experience and many years on the job? I think not. We are not slaves to the almighty dollar, but we deserve more respect that we have been offered. I will see you all from the picket line tomorrow morning.
August 25, 2011 at 10:19 p.m. permalink suggest removal
YSU faculty calls off planned strike
We all opted into academia because it is what we wanted to do, not because we wanted to be rich. We could all earn more in the private sector. However, it is much harder to get a tenure track-professor job than a position in the private sector. Some people do not understand that money is not everything and totally miss the point of being an educator. None of us are out to get rich. We do not drive BMWs. We do not own second houses.
So if we don't care so much about money why are we striking? Some junior faculty may indeed be having a hard time making ends meet. I remember that I had a few very hard years when I was first here. But the bigger question is, what are we worth? What is our expertise worth? Do we want to place a decent value on education? Do we want people to take pride in their work? It appears that the majority of us have said that we are being given a resounding NO by the administration. We are worth no more than a 0% raise this year and next with a 20% reduction in summer teaching pay, an increase of an unknown dollar amount in healthcare (the admin says 15% of a "premium" which they have declined to put a dollar value on) as well as increases in all our co-pays and other out of pocket charges. It will be a noticeable decrease in take home pay for me. How much? I don't really know, but since I teach a summer class, and do not have to pay for family health coverage, my guess is 3-5K depending on what the Admin decides a "premium" is.
After much thought I actually voted FOR this contract, as it did (finally) reduce the health care % for junior faculty and instructors who make less money and are often still paying off their student loans. I could not stomach the previous one which would hurt the new, young, bright, faculty with young families the hardest. It was still a punitive contract and the majority of us voted against it. I am not displeased by this though I am sad to have to be on strike and very sad that the Admin will continue to punish the students while we are striking.
That other thing that caused me to vote for the contract, the students. The admin CHOSE to withhold their financial aid. It was NOT required by law. We had a legal term start date. We were not on strike when the Admin chose to withhold the funds. We were not fined for disbursing those funds 5 years ago. My understanding is that even in the unlikely case that the government decided that those funds should not have been given out to the students, the penalty would be something like $2/ student. Peanuts for an Admin that chose to give Dr. Anderson a 100K pay raise. The students need to buy their books, pay their tuition and fees, pay their rent deposits. I think that the Admin did that to make us vote for an unnecessarily punitive contract. It worked for me. I hate to see people with the least means, who are trying to better themselves, get penalized by those who have plenty.
August 25, 2011 at 10:18 p.m. permalink suggest removal
YSU faculty calls off planned strike
I apologize in advance for this ramble:
What is expertise worth? Who deserves to be middle class? I am a science Professor. When I was young I picked beans at a local field fro 2.25 cents a pound. A day's work gave me some spending money. I held an assortment of jobs through college (University of Chicago) and used that money and loans to pay for my degree. I then worked as a technician in my field for 7 years, never making more than 18K/year. Then I went to grad school (Columbia University in NY) I studied, taught, tutored, and did research for five years. I received a stipend of 12K/year, then finally 14k/year. I was living in Manhattan. I managed, living very cheaply, sharing an apartment in a bad neighborhood with a bunch of people. When you are working 60+ hours per week you don't need much money for recreation, you do not have time for it. I turned 30 there, working on my PhD, living in poverty. Then I went to Seattle (U. of Washington) where I did more research and teaching and earned a post-doctoral fellowship from the American Cancer Society. In 1996 when I left I was making 22K Woo Hoo!
The job hunt was hard in spite of my nice academic pedigree, publications in prestigious journals, and the fellowships that I wrote for and had been awarded. There were jobs I applied to that had over 600 applicants, all with PhDs in Molecular Biology, Microbiology, or Molecular Genetics. I was fortunate enough to get offered a position at YSU, my first choice of the places I interviewed at, a place where I could do teaching, run a research lab, and really make a difference in student's lives. I would have the opportunity to help bring students, who might be the first in their family to go to college, up to a level to compete globally in a rapidly advancing, high-demand field.
A number of my students have become doctors, dentists, pharmacists, or research scientists. Many of my students are giving back to our community now. Others are making a difference in other communities. Some are in academia, more are in the private sector. Others may not have been science majors but may be able to make more informed decisions about their lives and their healthcare due to my and my colleagues efforts. One of my students who learned research doing a Masters in my lab has become a tenure track Professor herself. I am very proud of her. I am not unusual at YSU. Their are a lot of highly trained people who want to make a difference.
August 25, 2011 at 10:15 p.m. permalink suggest removal
Union says it has YSU’s final, best offer
@unionshateamerica
So, you could teach Virology? Genetics? Immunology? Calculus? Biochemistry? No? What about Computer programming? Accounting Information Systems? Pediatric Emergency Care? Advanced Arabic? Chemical Engineering thermodynamics? Construction surveying? Clinical Hematology? Criminal Law? Applied Neuroscience for Physical Therapy? Shall I go on? Do you have any idea of the breadth and depth of subjects taught at YSU or how their mastery can effect the professional opportunities for our graduates as well as the welfare of our society? Somehow, by your comments, I doubt it.
A PhD is not sacred, but it (along with other supporting background information) indicates an advanced mastery of a field of knowledge. It requires many years of hard work, study and training to achieve this level of mastery. Teaching advanced topics requires advanced understanding. People who have that level of expertise often opt for higher paying fields than academia.
I know that I could earn two to three times the amount that I am paid as a YSU Professor (I am a Geneticist/Molecular Biologist) in the private sector. Teaching and basic research are more important to me than a six-figure income though, so here I am. The same is true for most Professors at YSU. We are even reluctantly willing to take cuts in our take home salary for the sake of our students and our University, but there is no sense in asking us to take less and less, increasingly less than other Professors in Ohio, when the Administration gives itself fat raises and takes more money from students who can often ill afford it. In particular, the offered contract is punitive on newer Professors and Instructors with families. Do we want to chase new talent away?
We should value training the next generation of professionals. We should value enhancing the skills and knowledge of members of our community.
August 25, 2011 at 1:08 a.m. permalink suggest removal
Should Youngstown State University faculty go on strike if they don’t get pay raises?
This is a silly poll as YSU's faculty have asked for a 0% increase in salary and have added some givebacks as well that will reduce take home pay. This offered REDUCTION was not good enough for the admin.
August 18, 2011 at 10:30 p.m. permalink suggest removal