Good morning. I am Daniel Greene, Associate Professor of Information in College Park, where I have worked for 7 years. Before that, I worked at a small startup called Microsoft. I train the data scientists who go on to firms like Lockheed or Accenture, or the feds. I am here to speak on shared governance, as the Vice President of United Academics of Maryland UMD, the union for all faculty. The CUSF survey on today’s agenda today reveals broad dissatisfaction with shared governance. We push that button but nothing happens. This breeds resentment. Let me explain.
The most obvious violation of shared governance is in front of you. A supermajority of UMD graduate workers have signed union cards with the Graduate Labor Union. Earlier this year, in the Maryland Senate, our Dean of the Graduate School said that graduate workers did not want a union and when pressed about the stack of signed cards next to him replied, “I don’t know how those have been presented to students.” As if a supermajority of grads suffered mass delusion. Lobbying against your own employees breeds resentment.
For the sake of real shared governance, I urge UMD to recognize the graduate union. They just want to do their jobs. To afford rent, to have their visas delivered on time. You say they aren’t real employees, but you’re obviously hiring them to do the same work as me. From 2014 to 2022, UMD’s enrollment increased 10.7%, while the amount of tenure track faculty fell 6.9% and graduate TA’s rose 11%. Peer institutions from Pennsylvani to Florida to Michigan to Nebraska collectively bargain with graduate and faculty unions. Your refusal to live up to your peers’ examples breeds resentment.
Fighting our unions is just one way you create resentment. When I received tenure, UMD celebrated by canceling my health insurance and my first paycheck. This happened to about 20% of promotions. Including a colleague of mine in remission from cancer who had her medical care disrupted. Exceptional for tenured faculty like me, but not for grads, hundreds of whom miss paychecks each semester. Why? Because we balanced our budget by making clerical vacancies permanent. This disrespect to payroll staff, disproportionately Black women, breeds resentment among the faculty who rely upon them.
This resentment is why, according to President Pines’s climate survey, 70% of UMD faculty feel uncomfortable with the campus climate and 51%, including myself, have considered leaving UMD. 24% of faculty have experienced exclusionary conduct on campus. 36% of Black faculty. We keep one eye on the door because it’s uncomfortable and nothing changes. We get a blue-ribbon committee and a slideshow.
Vice President elect JD Vance has said, “the professors are the enemy.” We expect more attacks. Who knows whether the NSF will continue to fund my $3 million grant to increase Black men’s participation in data science. Right-wing activists have already targeted us, our students, and even President Pines and his family with vicious death threats. I am so sorry this happened, Dr. Pines. We want to help you build a stronger university where everyone belongs. Our grads seek union recognition to do just that. Our working conditions are students’ learning conditions. We are not the enemy but, on campus, we are treated like it. Do the right thing. Bargain with grads now and faculty when we’re ready. We should be able to sit down together at the same table, because if Florida or Texas are any guide they’re coming for us all.