Dear Colleagues and Friends,

With Tuesday’s announcement of TAUP’s upcoming elections, I want to say a word about my role in the union going forward.

Two years ago, when I sought reelection as President of TAUP, I promised my wife, Keely, my daughter, Talia, and my son, Sasha, that I would not run for a third term since positions like the presidency demand a great deal of the families of those who serve.  So, although I will dearly miss working with you as president to shape our lives at Temple for the better, I will not be seeking re-election.  This has been a difficult four years for so many of our members and those we care about–above all, we are faced with the present danger and lingering effects of the pandemic.  But I make this decision with every confidence that our work together these past four years has put TAUP on an upward trajectory, with new leaders and a new energy that will allow us to meet the challenges we face.

Foremost in my mind as I reflect on the past four years is gratitude for the solidarity you have extended, essential to whatever we have accomplished. I can’t count how many times your commitment, your work, and your kind words have lifted my spirits after a particularly bruising negotiating session or at other difficult moments. Even when we have only partially achieved what we fought for, you have understood that these temporary setbacks, however painful, are the first chapters in progress we will achieve.  Thanks, too, for those who have offered constructive criticism. A union’s members must feel they have the right to voice opposing opinions; in fact, that’s the necessary first step to working together to address our unmet needs.

So, in the spirit of your generosity and the battles we have fought alongside each other, I want to offer a few specific thank-yous of my own, though not nearly as many as are deserved:

To my mentor and friend, Art Hochner, who taught me so much about how to be President and has always been responsive to my requests for help while giving me the space to chart my own path and make my own mistakes.

To our allies on campus, graduate and undergraduate students, especially the current Presidents of Temple Student Government, Quinn Litsinger, and Temple University Graduate Students Association, Bethany Kosmicki; and the President and Vice President of the Faculty Senate, Rafael Porrata-Doria and Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon.  Thank you for helping keep Temple true to its mission.

To our allies off campus: leaders and staff from AFTPA, AFT, and the Philly AFL-CIO; state officials like Rep. Joe Hohenstein, Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, Rep. Chris Rabb, and Deputy Attorney General Nancy Walker; and members of City Council like Kendra Brooks, Helen Gym, Isaiah Thomas, and their staffs; the Stadium Stompers, Rev. William Moore, and our other North Philly neighbors and allies.  Your support and commitment have disclosed a vision of what true solidarity brings.   We must build on this!

To those who have served on our Organizing Committees and ad-hoc committees (Childcare, Tuition Benefits, Health and Safety, Diversity), our Constituency Councils, and especially those on the Negotiating Teams and the Executive Committee.  This is where the energy emanates from, especially as we continue to make TAUP a more democratic and activist union.

To our staff, past and present: I am reminded every day that nothing in our union gets done without your expertise, intelligence, wit, imagination, and commitment:  Hammam Aldouri, Sam Allingham, Patricia Blakely, Abegail Bricker, John Campbell-Orde, John DiBenedetto, Dolly Hamilton, Jim McGinnis, Jenna Siegel, and Jennie Shanker.

To my fellow officers:  Norma Corrales-Martin (Treasurer), Jennie Shanker (Vice President, 2017-19), and Leanne Finnigan (Vice President, 2020-).   You have shouldered a heavy load these past four years, and I have known throughout that I could count on you for wise and honest counsel, steady leadership, brilliant ideas, and dedicated follow-through.  Special thanks to Jennie, who has done so many remarkable things for TAUP, and whom I have worked with most closely.

To Talia, Sasha, and, above all, my partner in every way, Keely:  Without your love and support, there’s no way I would have made it through these four wonderful but trying years.

Together, we have accomplished much.  I’ll be offering a State of the Union report toward the end of my term, but here are a few things we’ve done the past 4 years that I’m particularly proud to have been part of:

• Settling the first contract for adjunct faculty, which among other things included a 15% raise to the minimum, a grievance procedure and other significant rights that have not been extended in the past.

 

• Settling the first contract where part-time and full-time members bargained in solidarity with each other and engaged in open bargaining, gaining: raises for full-time members greater than projected inflation, limits on the use of Student Feedback Forms in personnel decisions, access to scholarships for tuition at other universities, new promotion procedures and a maternity leave bank for librarians, new leave and merit procedures for academic professionals, more job security for NTTs (though not enough!) and greater representation on promotion, merit, and sabbatical committees, and for adjuncts, new standards for ranks and rates of pay, guidelines for promotion and access to multi-semester appointments

 

• Working with allies to move the administration to change course on their COVID reopening plan in the Fall

 

• Supporting our neighbors in preventing the building of an on-campus football stadium

 

• Administering TAUP’s FAST Fund, established by Sara Goldrick-Rab, to help students in need

 

• Building stronger relationships with elected officials

 

• Enforcing the contract more actively by entering into productive dialogue with the administration and, when necessary, filing grievances and going to arbitration

 

• Establishing new Organizing Committees in every college and school and working with Academic Professionals and Librarians to increase members’ voice and democracy in our union

 

• Starting to center Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, though we have a long way to go.

 

• Increasing literacy among members in understanding the university’s finances, especially important as we question the administration’s priorities as they respond to our current financial challenges

Colleagues and friends, my decision not to run again does NOT mean I am stepping away from the union.  I will help in whatever ways the incoming leadership asks me to; I will remain an active member.

TAUP will continue to be an important part of my life, and I am as optimistic about what our union’s future holds as I am clear-eyed about the tests that await us. To help meet those tests,I encourage you to consider running for a position in the upcoming election to represent your colleagues, your school/college/library/advisors, and to continue to build on the strength of this union.

Thank you again for the honor of serving as TAUP’s President.