Dear President Holloway,
We write to you as fellow Distinguished Professors at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, to ask you to embrace the goals that our union, Rutgers AAUP-AFT, has set out for a new contract and ask your negotiators to speedily reach an agreement that meets those goals—goals that center the common good of the whole Rutgers community.
Distinguished Professors have an important role to play in advocating for everyone at Rutgers. We are often presented to the public as the face of the University, and we play a leadership role in defending and enhancing Rutgers’ standing and our University mission of research, education, and community service.
Precisely because our own positions are secure and well-remunerated, we feel it is our duty to speak up for those in the academic community whose positions and livelihoods are precarious. By so doing, we are also defending the academic ecosystem that makes our research and educational goals achievable. That is why we identify our concerns with our graduate and undergraduate students, our staff colleagues, and vulnerable adjunct and non-tenure-track faculty. It is shameful that the institution to which we have devoted our careers pays some of our colleagues less than a livable salary, or just barely above one.
We are also troubled by the damage that continues to be done to the University by the self-defeating austerity policies favored by the previous administration and that continue under yours. The resulting decline in the University’s reputation makes it harder to attract and recruit excellent faculty and high-caliber doctoral students, which reflects on all of us.
Only fair and equitable treatment of all our colleagues—in support of the academic enterprise, not priorities we consider misguided, such as Rutgers Athletics—will help us reverse this damage. As Rutgers’ most visible and influential academic citizens, we are leading with our voices in defense of the core values that inspire the union’s proposals for a new contract.
As you know, 94 percent of the union members who cast a ballot voted to authorize a strike if the union decides it is the only way we will win a fair contract. No one wants a strike; we want to stay in our classrooms, our labs, and our libraries. We are not advocating a grade strike; we don’t want to risk sabotage to the careers of our students or the trajectories of our graduate students in achieving the milestones they must pass on their journeys.
But your administration must respond to the urgent needs of students, staff, and faculty that we have identified and addressed in our proposals for a new contract. President Holloway, we ask you to stand with the heart and soul of the University—its educators, students, and researchers. Instruct your negotiators to reach labor agreements that give real substance to the “beloved community” rhetoric that you so frequently invoke.
Sincerely,
Julianne Baird, Distinguished Professor, Music, Camden
Mark Baker, Distinguished Professor and Graduate Program Director, Linguistics, New Brunswick
Ross K. Baker, Distinguished Professor, Political Science, New Brunswick
Victoria Banyard, Distinguished Professor, School of Social Work, New Brunswick
Joseph R. Blasi, J. Robert Beyster Distinguished Professor, School of Management and Labor Relations, New Brunswick
Linda Bosniak, Distinguished Professor, School of Law, Camden
Raphael J. Caprio, Distinguished Professor, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, New Brunswick
Jolie A. Cizewski, Distinguished Professor and Undergraduate Program Director, Physics and Astronomy, New Brunswick
Todd Clear, Distinguished Professor, School of Criminal Justice, Newark
Daniel Cook, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Childhood Studies, Camden
François Cornilliat, Distinguished Professor, French, New Brunswick
James Delbourgo, James Westfall Thompson Distinguished Professor, History, New Brunswick
Charles Dismukes, Distinguished Professor, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, New Brunswick
Nancy DiTomaso, Distinguished Professor, Business School, Newark and New Brunswick
Mark Doty, Distinguished Professor, English, New Brunswick
Richard H. Ebright, Board of Governors Professor, Waksman Institute of Microbiology, New Brunswick
Belinda Edmundson, Distinguished Professor and Chair, English, Newark
Paul Falkowski, Board of Governors Distinguished Professor, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, New Brunswick
Daniel Friedan, Distinguished Professor, Physics and Astronomy, New Brunswick
William H. Galperin, Distinguished Professor, English, New Brunswick
Stephen Garofalini, Distinguished Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, New Brunswick
Gerald A. Goldin, Distinguished Professor, Graduate School of Education, New Brunswick
Lauren M.E. Goodlad, Distinguished Professor, English, New Brunswick
M.A. Rafey Habib, Distinguished Professor, English, Camden
Max Häggblom, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Biochemistry and Microbiology, New Brunswick
Jochen Hellbeck, Distinguished Professor, History, New Brunswick
Alan Hyde, Distinguished Professor, School of Law, Newark
Howard Jacobowitz, Distinguished Professor, Mathematics, Camden
John Keene, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Africana Studies and English, Newark
Jeffrey King, Distinguished Professor, Philosophy, New Brunswick
Lisa Klein, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Material Sciences and Engineering, New Brunswick
Barry Komisaruk, Distinguished Professor, Psychology, Newark
Douglas L. Kruse, Distinguished Professor, School of Management and Labor Relations, New Brunswick
Jackson Lears, Board of Governors Distinguished Professor, History, New Brunswick
Alan Leslie, Distinguished Professor, Psychology, New Brunswick
Barry Loewer, Distinguished Professor, Philosophy, New Brunswick
Carolyn A. Maher, Distinguished Professor, Graduate School of Education, New Brunswick
Lesley Mandel Morrow, Distinguished Professor, Graduate School of Education, New Brunswick
Jody Miller, Distinguished Professor, School of Criminal Justice, Newark
Kenneth G. Miller, Distinguished Professor and Graduate Program Director, Earth and Planetary Sciences, New Brunswick
Leah Price, Henry Rutgers Distinguished Professor, English, New Brunswick
Richard E. Riman, Distinguished Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, New Brunswick
Alan Robock, Distinguished Professor, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, New Brunswick
Yair Rosenthal, Distinguished Professor, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, New Brunswick
Kenneth Safir, Distinguished Professor, Linguistics, New Brunswick
Jonathan Schaffer, Distinguished Professor, Philosophy, New Brunswick
Jorge Reina Schement, Distinguished Professor, School of Communication and Information, New Brunswick
Susan J. Schurman, Distinguished Professor, School of Management and Labor Relations, New Brunswick
Evie Shockley, Zora Neale Hurston Distinguished Professor, English, New Brunswick
Carol Singley, Distinguished Professor, English, Camden
Marilyn Sneiderman, Distinguished Professor, School of Management and Labor Relations
Ted Sider, Distinguished Professor, Philosophy, New Brunswick
Arlene Stein, Distinguished Professor, Sociology, New Brunswick
Beth Stephens, Distinguished Professor, School of Law, Newark
Judith Storch, Distinguished Professor, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, New Brunswick
Lynne Vallone, Distinguished Professor, Childhood Studies, Camden
Carolyn Williams, Distinguished Professor, English, New Brunswick
Nancy Wolff, Distinguished Professor, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, New Brunswick
Carla Yanni, Distinguished Professor, Art History, New Brunswick
Dean Zimmerman, Distinguished Professor, Philosophy, New Brunswick
If you are a Rutgers Distinguished Professor and would like to add your name to this appeal, please fill out this form.