OU.ADM.AAUP

Summary Information

Repository
Oakland University Archives and Special Collections
Title
American Association of University Professors Oakland University Chapter records
ID
OU.ADM.AAUP
Date
1976-2015
Extent
3.0 Linear feet
Language
English

Preferred Citation

Item, folder title, box no., American Association of University Professors Oakland University Chapter records, Oakland University Archives

Return to Table of Contents »


History

The faculty joined the American Association of University Professors within a year of the university opening and the chapter formally opened in January 1960. In September 1970, the faculty voted to request recognition as a bargaining unit and the chapter was soon certified as the collective bargaining representative for faculty. The first president was Joe DeMent, Chair of the English department. He and other OU professors led the unionization drive and the ensuing round of collective bargaining with OU in early 1971: James McKay, professor of mathematics, was one of the driving forces of the chapter; physics professor Robert Willamson was a former AAUP president; and English professor Marilyn wiliamson chaired the AAUP's first bargaining team. When the negotiations broke down in early September, the faculty went on strike – what a faculty member claims was “the first faculty strike in the history of American higher education.” (Brian Murphy, “Born and Born Again: 1969 and its Discords”, Oakland Journal 13 (2007): 109-113). In fact, it was the first strike at a four-year campus in the United States (Jack H. Schuster, "Faculty Unions and Academic Decision-Making: The Governance Experience on Six Campuses," Ph.D. diss., University of California Berkeley, 1977, p.Fo139). For over a week, the university was closed. The stalemate was broken by a state-appointed fact-finder and mediator from the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, who helped work out an agreement. In 1972, the AAUP membership agreed to a then unusual no-strike agreement with OU and a mediator for the Michigan Employment Relations Board issued binding recommendations. After a period of stabilization, tensions flared up again during the negotiations for OU's sixth contract in 1976. In September 1976, the faculty went on strike again and picketed for the first time. Eventually a 3-year contract (the university's first multi-year contract) was adopted.

Return to Table of Contents »


Scope and Contents note

The records of the American Association of University Professors OU Chapter document the life of the chapter and the issues they have faced since their creation. The collection is useful to study the emergence and development of unions and collective bargaining in public universities in Michigan in the 1970s. The collection is organized in three series: Administrative Files, Subject Files, and Contracts. The Administrative Files contains constitutions and bylaws as well as Executive Committee meeting minutes, memos, and newsletters for the 1960-2013 period. Subject Files include files on specific issues, such as the faculty status of librarians or the black faculty statement of 1973, as well as miscellaneous documents, memorabilia and reports issued or used by the OU AAUP chapter. The Contracts series includes all the contracts signed by Oakland University and its AAUP chapter from 1971 through 2015 and selected benefits summaries.

Return to Table of Contents »


Administrative Information

Publication Information

Oakland University Archives and Special Collections

Kresge Library
100 Library Drive
Rochester, MI, 48309

Access and Use

The records of the American Association of University Professors Oakland University Chapter are open for research except for certain records restricted by statute or university policy. The University Archives reserves the right to review files before allowing access.

Copyright

Copyright has not been transferred to Oakland University. Researchers are responsible for seeking copyright permissions before publishing items from the collection.

Processing

Processed by Linda Hildebrand and Dominique Daniel, January 2021.

Return to Table of Contents »


Collection Inventory

Administrative Files 

Box
1

Bylaws - Constitution - Handbook 1969-2008 

Membership Meetings - Flyers - Notices 1968-undated 

Memos - Meetings - 1960-1961 

Memos - Meetings - 1962-1969 

Memos - Meetings - 1970-1979 

Memos - Meetings - 1980-1989 

Memos - Meetings - 1990-1999 

Memos - Meetings - 2000-2013 

Executive Committee Minutes, 1988-2000 

Memos - undated 

Newsletter 1971-2012   3 folders.

News clippings 1972-2012 

Return to Table of Contents »


Subject Files 

Box

Bargaining Forum 1988, 1994 

1

Bargaining Update - 1985 1985 

1

Bargaining Update - 2000 

1

Bargaining Update - 2009 

1

Bargaining Update - 2012 

1

Black Faculty - Statement 1973 

1

Committee A - Memos 1995-1996 

1

Committee W - Memos 1971-1997 

1

Committee W - Reports 1971-1981 

1

Contract proposals - 1971-1974 

2

Contract proposals - Fact finding report 1972 

2

Contract proposals - 1975 

2

Contract proposals - 1976 

2

Contract proposals - Fact finding report 1976 

2

Contract proposals - 1979 

2

Contract proposals - 1999-2001 

2

Faculty handbooks 1966, 1995 

2

Faculty layoff - shift proposal 1976 

2

Faculty status - Librarians ca 1971, 1988 

2

Miscellaneous - Reports - Manuals 1970s 

2

Faculty strike - 1971 

2

Faculty strike - 1999 

2

Faculty strike - 2009 

2

Financial statements 1970s-1990s 

2

Memorabilia - buttons 

2

Grievances 1970s-1990s 

2

Salary surveys 1971, 1973 

2

Shapiro, Samuel - dismissal case 1962 

Access and Use note

Closed for 75 years after creation or death of subjects.

2

Workplace violence report 1998 

2

Michigan Conference - newsletters - brochures 1960s-2012 

2

National Office - correspondence - brochures - reports 1961-1963 

2

Return to Table of Contents »


Contracts 1971-2015 

Box
3

1971-1975 

1975/1976 

1976/1979 

1979/1982 

1983/1985 

1985/1988 

1988/1991 

1991-1997 

1997/2000 

2000/2003 

2003/2006 

2006/2009 

2009-2015 

Benefit summaries 1995-2013 

Return to Table of Contents »