Recent comments by university officials indicate that the plan to build a 35000-seat on-campus football stadium continues to be considered, though reportedly no final decision has been made. It is possible that this will be a topic of discussion at the Board of Trustees meeting on October 10th.
This decision would have significant economic effects, thereby affecting the issues that TAUP negotiates over, and it would have profound effects of many kinds on the university our members serve. TAUP thus believes it is particularly important that faculty, librarians, and academic professionals make their views known now. While there have been meetings between administrators and faculty at many schools and with representatives from the Faculty Senate, there has no been no attempt to gauge the opinions of our members as a whole.
So we would appreciate it if you would respond to the following survey, which is designed to gauge the attitudes of all members of our bargaining unit, give faculty more of a voice in this discussion, and provide guidance to TAUP about our members’ concerns as we look toward bargaining a new contract in 2019. Responses will remain anonymous. We will report the findings in a future e-Bulletin.
An FAQ from the administration on the stadium, which makes a case for the project, can be found here. Some columns in The Faculty Herald raising questions about the wisdom of building a stadium can be found here. A recent story on The Stadium Stompers, a community group opposing the stadium, can be found here.
Responses will be collected by TAUP only and only aggregate responses and discursive responses with any identifying information stripped will be shared. You do not have to be a TAUP member to participate.
The survey link is http://www.surveyshare.com/
Use the full email address at which you received this message (e.g. firstname.lastna
Sincerely,
Steve Newman, President
Jennie Shanker, Vice President
Norma Corrales-Martin, Treasurer