By Mike Urbancic

I’m an economics professor at the University of Oregon, but you don’t need a Ph.D. to see the problem here. The state should be investing more in UO, its faculty and students given the optimistic forecast that it is expected to take in $6 billion more in revenue over the next two years.

My fellow 1,850 faculty members at UO and I continue to teach tens of thousands of students each year, diligently and skillfully guiding them along their higher education path toward a successful career, despite wages that continue to fall well below inflation. Many of us work in cutting-edge research that puts UO on the map for innovative discoveries in medicine and other areas. 

But we’ve just about reached our limit and are about to say to the university — partner with us on a fair contract by March 31 or we walk out.

We’ve consistently been asking for decent compensation and respect for the work we do for our students and the university, but we are rejected. The university’s administration has refused to bargain in good faith for over a year, setting itself up for a first-time-ever strike by full-time and part-time faculty. This is not what we ever wanted, but unless the university’s administrators come to the table soon with serious intentions, we will strike. 

This distressing situation says a lot about where we stand in the university’s overall view of its educational mission. From what we’ve seen and heard at the bargaining table, we’re not being prioritized. It has already caused distressing turnover in many departments in which faculty members have left for positions at other institutions that pay better. Retention and recruitment are critical to providing students with talented faculty, offering a diversity of courses and keeping class sizes and workloads for faculty at reasonable levels.

The stunning thing about the university’s resistance to a fair contract is that enrollment is up by about 3 percent and the state’s chief economist estimates there will be nearly $6 billion more in state revenue over the next two years. So why are they nickel-and-diming us when we aren’t even earning a livable wage? 

We are the heart and soul of the university, yet they aren’t willing to treat us as such.

This comes at a very challenging time for UO. There is great uncertainty about continuation of federal grants. It is now more important than ever that administrators and state leaders step up and invest in the people who are educating and training the next generation of Oregonians. This is an investment in the future of our students, the state and its economy.

Parents who send their children to UO expect faculty to be treated well so that they’ll stay at the university and enjoy their work. No matter what the occupation or employer — when workers aren’t respected with fair compensation and a voice in the workplace, they’ll look elsewhere where they are treated better.

There’s still time left for UO administrators to decide that it would be better to work with the faculty as partners, not antagonists. We are hoping that will come in short order so we can avoid walking out. 

Mike Urbancic is president of United Academics of the University of Oregon.