The controversy surrounding the meaning of professionalism on American campuses is approached by examining the subject from an historical and trade union perspective. It is contended that faculty unions are compatible with professional needs and desires of faculty. The roots of the American college and university system are examined in conjunction…

Questions about the appropriateness and goals of academic collective bargaining and its historical foundations are discussed. It is contended that collective bargaining insures that the principles of academic governance are practiced democratically. European universities had been nurtured for centuries on the medieval tradition of faculty…