Reminder: SCSU pettition drive for retrenched librarians and professors

There is still time, if you haven't already, to add your voice to the petition from St. Cloud State University's Faculty Association to rescind the retrenchment (layoffs) of librarians as well as professors in the philosophy and theater department.

You can read the petition's statement in full at the petitions sight, but the closing paragraphs are well worth quoting at length:

We are here to bury the notion of disposable education, to show the administration of this university that our faculty, our staff, and our students are not disposable commodities that can be churned out.

We are here to call for transformative education, the education our local and global communities need. We call upon this administration to rescind their retrenchment decision and reaffirm their commitment to critical thinking, creativity, and the pursuit of knowledge. We call upon all of you to demand a transformative education for yourselves and others.

You can show your solidarity here:  https://www.change.org/p/scsu-president-robbyn-wacker-stop-faculty-layoffs-at-st-cloud-state-university

SCSU FA Action Committee launches petition against retrenchment

As readers of the Union Library Workers Blog may already know, St. Cloud State University has retrenched (i.e. laid off) 8 tenured positions including 4 library workers at the University.

Supporters of the retrenched workers are being asked by the SCSU FA Action Committee to add their names to the petition directed to SCSU's President and Provost asking the university to rescind their decision to retrench these positions.

Guest Post: Show solidarity with library workers under attack at St. Cloud State University

The following is a guest contribution from a Union Library Workers blog reader:

Since the previous post on August 30, St. Cloud State University has decided to move forward with the retrenchment of eight faculty, including four of the university’s remaining 12 faculty librarians. Official letters have been distributed to the faculty being laid off in the library and in the Philosophy and Theatre departments. (In order to lay off faculty at the end of the academic year in mid-May, the university is contractually obligated to inform them by the 15th workday of the semester, in mid-September.)

As the  “St. Cloud State University Faculty Association Response to Administration on Retrenchment” indicates, SCSU administrators still have not answered many questions about how they decided to retrench four librarians, including “What formula or metrics were used to reach the conclusion to retrench four faculty from the library? Given that the library does not use the same process as academic departments to determine productivity ratios, how did Administration arrive at their decision? How does this decision fit into a larger vision and strategic plan for the institution?”

Each of the units/departments with faculty being laid off had the opportunity to provide a written response to the administration’s “considerations” for retrenchment. All of these responses can be found in the Faculty Association response linked above. The SCSU University Library faculty’s response addresses the problematic and ill-informed arguments on which the library retrenchments were justified.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who responded to the request in the previous blog post. The many support letters received were inspiring and persuasive, but evidently the SCSU president and provost were not convinced. It’s time to make the case for sustaining an academic library to them in public venues.  

Public statements or resolutions (for a great example, see https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.mnlibraryassociation.org/resource/resmgr/arld/arld_scsuletter.pdf) , blog posts, articles, solidarity photos (such as https://twitter.com/Amy__Mars/status/1175121043335331841/photo/1) etc. are needed to continue to call attention to this disastrous attack on the library and to hold SCSU administrators accountable. One of the retrenched librarians is keeping track of all media coverage, blog posts, and public letters/statements (see https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YBmgOKm9SDWN3-HHz3osVtkvP7Sghylu/view?usp=sharing), so please read and share them, and make more of them!

Retweets (and original tweets!) are also very helpful. Follow the hashtag #SaveSCSU_Library for news and updates on solidarity actions to promote and participate in. Tag @stcloudstate, @DrRobbynWacker, @SCSU_Library, and @rhuisman in tweets asking tough questions. SCSU people and those familiar with the situation here are encouraged to suggest relevant questions in the comments on this post.

Guest Post: Appeal for support for SCSU library workers

The following is a guest contribution from a Union Library Workers reader:

St. Cloud State University recently announced that it intends to lay off (retrench) four faculty librarians (out of a total of twelve still working in the library after years of positions lost through attrition), along with three faculty from the Philosophy Department and one from Theatre. (See a post about the retrenchments in Philosophy here: https://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2019/08/philosophy-and-tenured-faculty-jobs-under-threat-at-st-cloud-state-university.html)

The four librarians the administration is proposing be laid off are all tenured and have worked at SCSU for more than 11 years. The only two permanent, full-time library employees (not counting student workers) who are people of color are among those targeted for retrenchment. (Retrenchment happens in seniority order.)

The SCSU administrators behind this decision do not appear to understand the role or value of a modern academic library (and they are clearly not listening to the librarians at their own institution).

The university’s “considerations” for targeting the library can be found on page 41 of this document: http://www.scsufa.org/minutes/2019-2020/19-20%20MC%20Minutes/MC190815packet.pdf.

Here’s a quote:

“Because faculty and students are the primary users or library services, a corresponding decrease in the demand for library services has resulted. This decreased demand is evidenced in a number of ways. The total number of reference inquiries decreased 20.5% from FY18 (3,022) to FY19 (2,401). The circulation of print books decreased (90%) from 163,000 in 1993 to less than 16,000 in 2016. Spending on print resources, due to diminishing demand, decreased 94.6% from FY13 ($154,933) to FY18 ($8,242)**.”

This justification looks exclusively at library services that have declined, and ignores all of the services that have increased or been newly implemented over the same period. (Yes, circulation of print books is down, but electronic resources… hello?)

Library colleagues and supporters, please email the SCSU administration and debunk this obsolete picture of an academic library that is focused on circulating print books and reference desk transactions.

address to:

SCSU President Robbyn Wacker rrwacker@stcloudstate.edu 

SCSU Provost Daniel Gregory ddgregory@stcloudstate.edu

and CC:

University Library Dean Rhonda Huisman rkhuisman@stcloudstate.edu

SCSU Faculty Association President Frances Kayona fakayona@stcloudstate.edu 

Thank you!

**Because of severe cuts to the library’s budget for the past several years, there has been NO regular budget for print monographs for the past three academic years because all available funds were used up by existing e-resources subscription commitments. (Doesn’t it seem like the dearth of new print materials might have something to do with dwindling circulation?) The $8,242 that was spent on print resources in FY18 was money scrounged up at end of the academic year, and in no way correlates to demand.

Ontario College Faculty Issue Strike Vote

Their contract expires September 30 and so, after ten weeks of negotiations with no movement from management, 68% of union members vote to strike if a settlement isn't reached. Twelve-thousand college faculty members, including librarians, are represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

https://www.simcoe.com/news-story/7564115-ontario-college-faculty-hand-bargaining-team-strike-mandate/