By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Unless Rider University administrators and the American Association of University Professors, which represents faculty and staff, can come to an agreement, union members may go on strike in the middle of this semester.
Members of Rider’s chapter of the AAUP voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to authorize union leaders to call a strike. The current three-year contract expired Aug. 31, but has been extended to Sept. 30. Negotiations began in June.
The AAUP represents 621 members, including full- and part-time professors, librarians, coaches, athletic trainers and reading clinicians at the Lawrence Township campus and the Westminster Choir College campus in Princeton.
Among the major sticking points are the administration’s proposals to reduce the faculty’s voice in academic decisions and to create a new class of full-time contingent faculty made up of those who do not hold Ph.D. degrees.
The administration also has proposed reductions in benefits; a $6,800 decrease in the starting salary for new tenure-track professors; and a four-year wage freeze. "Tenure track" means a professor is eligible for tenure, or a permanent appointment, after a pre-determined number of years.
Rider officials, however, are confident that the two sides will reach agreement on the outstanding economic issues and avoid a strike. This is not the first time the AAUP has taken a strike authorization vote.
The school’s administration and the union "consistently have been able to successfully conclude negotiations without a strike," said John Lenox, assistant vice president of communications and marketing.
"The parties recently reached a tentative agreement on virtually all the non-economic issues pending approval of the economic discussions, and we are committed to continuing to work with the AAUP to resolve the remaining contract articles," Mr. Lenox said.
The administration’s goal in all of the negotiations is to allow Rider University to continue to maintain highly competitive compensation to attract and retain high quality faculty, while keeping a Rider education within students’ financial reach, Mr. Lenox said.

