UMD AAUP

Between November 3rd and 7th UMD AAUP members voted on whether to move forward with a campaign for collective bargaining rights for all faculty (including librarians and postdoctoral associates) in the University System of Maryland, Morgan State University (MSU), and St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM). Out of 151 votes tallied and one abstention, 146 […]

Our survey of our members at the start of the Fall 2022 semester revealed a high level of concern regarding classroom transmission of COVID19, and the unilateral decision by UMD administration to not require masking in instructional settings (covered here). Many of us have no control over the air quality and ventilation in instructional settings. […]

We received an overwhelming response from our members last month when we surveyed you on the university leadership’s abrupt decision to drop classroom mask protections. As we outline in our open letter to UMD leadership, we believe this decision to be out of step with the science and the practice of other local universities, plus […]

On April 22nd, 2022, UMD AAUP presented the results of our comprehensive independent financial analysis of the University of Maryland, College Park. Led by university finance expert Professor Howard Bunsis, we reviewed the data on the university’s financial situation. (A video of this presentation is above, linked here too.) The results were shocking and present […]

We are excited to present the results of the UMD AAUP-commissioned comprehensive financial analysis of UMD College Park on Friday, April 22nd at 2pm. Professor Howard Bunsis, a distinguished professor of accounting and expert on university finances, will lead us through his analysis. All attendees much register in advance for this event. Please email us […]

17 January 2022 Dear President Pines, Provost Rice, and Chief Medical Officer Marinopoulos: As officers of our campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors, we write to express our appreciation that UMD has taken some crucial steps to mitigate the spread of COVID19 and also to express our concerns.  We are concerned mainly […]

You are invited to a gathering (yes in person!) to discuss AAUP priorities here at UMD-College Park and to meet each other. It will take place at The Hall on Friday, November 12, 5-7pm.   The Hall is a new restaurant behind The Hotel in College Park, with great outdoor space and spacious indoor rooms, […]

Have you ever wondered how UMD spends all its money? Or why there always seems to be money available for athletics, fancy new buildings, and the sky-high salaries of university upper administrators, but the university pleads poverty when we ask for living wages for staff and graduate students, meaningful childcare support, new faculty lines, or […]

[We experienced some technical issues with our prior email account, and we are re-sending this message. If you are interested in contributing to the UMD AAUP vision, please send us a reply to our new account [email protected]] The UMD AAUP Chapter is gearing up for an eventful year. President Pines has hired the Huron Consulting […]

11 October 2021 Dear Provost Rice, We write in reference to the Strategic Planning process that you announced to the UMD community in your recent email on 23 September 2021. We recognize the importance of this periodic exercise, especially given the new leadership on our campus. We are concerned about some aspects of the process, […]

We are excited to write and invite you to the Labor Solidarity Picnic, which is being put on by the staff union AFSCME Local 1072 and the student organization USAS Local 54. UMD AAUP will also be participating and speaking at the event, and we encourage you all to consider coming. We believe strongly that […]

The UMD AAUP Chapter is gearing up for an eventful year. As you may have heard, President Pines has hired the Huron Consulting Group to draft a Ten Year Strategic Plan for UMD. Our past strategic plans have reflected the recommendations of a committee representing the broader UMD community. Huron by contrast has earned a […]

We hope you all have had a wonderful summer! We have been busy over the summer on a number of fronts and we will be in touch with more details on several exciting initiatives. But, in the meantime, there is an urgent issue we would like to draw your attention to and organize around. The […]

Dear Colleagues, We write to alert you to the Strategic Plan that is currently being outsourced by the University System of Maryland (USM) to the for-profit Huron Consulting Group. Huron has also been hired by UMD-College Park to facilitate the creation of UMD-CP’s own strategic plan this year. Why is this important? The USM plan is central to defining the role of Maryland’s public universities, and it […]

Thank you to everyone who joined us on April 16th for our General Meeting and to everyone who couldn’t attend, but who got in touch with us. We are excited to recap our conversation and to lay out ways that everyone can get involved–at whatever level of engagement makes best sense to each of you.  […]

Dear Colleagues, Are you troubled by the direction that the University of Maryland has headed in recent years?  We are.  In March 2021, we relaunched the University of Maryland Chapter of the American Association of University Faculty (UMD AAUP) because we believe a different university is possible.  If you too believe in a more just, […]

Dear colleagues, UMD AAUP has some very exciting news to share soon—so be on the lookout for another email from us soon!—but in the meantime there is a very important issue that we would like to ask you to take action on.Did you know that UMD graduate student stipends, when adjusted for the staggeringly high […]

Dear UMD AAUP members, We are writing to ask you to consider taking action on two important pieces of legislation that directly impact members of the UMD campus community. The first is SB0658—a bill advanced by the Fearless Student Employees (FSE) of UMD that would grant graduate students the right to collectively bargain with the […]