Unforeseen forces are at work in higher education today. The purpose of this article is to explore the issues involved in the changing landscape. Decisions are and will be made that impact the intellectual property rights of faculty. It is important to be cognizant of the factors involved and alert to possible ramifications. The basics of the…

In 1968, New York City's unionized teachers participated in three separate strikes that spanned two school years. Teachers clashed with Black parents and activists who called for community control as both groups sought authority and recognition in the schools. Racialized assumptions in place before and extending beyond the labor skirmish infused…

In the modern era, the National Education Association (NEA) is committed to the rights of teachers and faculty members to teach, undertake research, and lead fully political lives without fear of retribution. This devotion can be seen in policy statements, legislative activities, and the pages of "Thought and Action," its journal devoted to higher…

In this essay, the author explains how teaching assistant (TA) unions work to the benefit not only of the graduate students who are their members but also of the writing programs that employ them. While university administrations understand unions to be bothersome at best and forces of evil at their worst, unions are essential to the maintenance…

This document provides a history of the relationship between higher education faculty and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Highlights include the first AFT higher education local formed in 1918, the role played by the union in the expansion of the G.I. Bill following World War II, increased activism in the 1950s and 1960s to win…

In conjunction with efforts to make more widely known the trend towards decomposition of the tenure system in American colleges and universities, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has examined conditions of full-time nontenure track faculty, part-time/adjunct faculty, graduate employees and new categories of academic professional staff…