8A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 14, 1999 HIG HER EDUCATION
Penn State fa cul strike postponed

Rain, rain go away

A

Mike Neibauer
e Quad
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (U-WIRE) -- Contract
negotiations between The Pennsylvania State
System of Higher Education and faculty union came
and went over the weekend with only minor progress
being made, and a promise from the union hierarchy
to postpone announcing a strike date for at least two
weeks.
"We had hoped to achieve more progress at the
table, however, it appeared to me that both teams
were physically exhausted at the end of the talks,"
union President William Fulmer said. "I am con-
cerned because there is still considerable work
which must be completed in the next bargaining
round."
The talks are scheduled to resume today.
New proposals were submitted by both sides dur-
ing the weekend, but the details of those proposals
have not yet been released.
The two-week strike moratorium imposed by the
Association of State College and University Faculty
came about after a meeting between Fulmerand
State Board of Governors chair F. Eugene Dixon.
Dixon - founding chair of the board and highly
respected by both the State and the union - until
late last week had been silent throughout the negoti-
ations process.

" I am concerned because there is still considerable
work which must be completed in the next

pargaining round."

- William Fulmer
Penn State faculty union president


"The State System of Higher Education remains
committed to our students and to our faculty,"
Dixon said last Thursday. "As we return to the bar-
gaining table, we pledge to work together with our
faculty union toward a resolution that will be fair
to our faculty and the state system, as well as to our
students, their families and the Commonwealth."
The entire state system was on the verge of a fac-
ulty walkout last Thursday, after negotiations once
again broke down over the issue of pay steps.
According to APSCUF, after last Wednesday's late
night session, the state negotiators were refusing to
return to the table if the union did not accept the
state's pay step plan.
"We are amazed that the Board of Governors
would refuse to bargain over a position that will
likely be declared illegal when the matter is heard
in Commonwealth Court next month," Fulmer

said.
"To cause a strike over such an issue truly defies
belief," he added.
Despite the two week moratorium, the union is
still gearing up for a faculty strike.
"Local APSCUF presidents and office secretaries
have been busy arranging for rental or office space,
new phone lines, and transportation of files, facsim-
ile machines and copiers," APSCUF said in a state-
ment released last week.
In a letter to faculty, Fulmer asked that professors
remove their grades and records from campus
offices. He is trying to ensure that the University
cannot replicate or hand those grades off to substi-
tute faculty.
"A strike means that you vacate your office and
not return to it or to any other campus building for
any reason for the duration," Fulmer said.

DANNY KALICK/Daily
The reflections of two University students appear in a puddle on the Diag
after yesterday's midday rain storm.


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Columbia
fellow up
for Nobel
Peace Prize.
By Alicia Stern
Columbia Daily Spectator
NEW YORK (U-WIRE) - Wei
Jingsheng, a prominent leader in
China's pro-democracy movement,
explained the precariousness of the
effort to implement democracy in
China at a dinner held to announce
his nomination for the Nobel Peace
Prize.
He pointed to both pro- and anti-
democratic forces within the nation's
complex sociopolitical structure in
discussing the uncertainty of China's
fate, while making clear his opti-
mism for the ultimate victory of
democracy.
A resident fellow at Columbia's
Journalism school, Jingsheng said the
Communist Party has built up a vehe-
ment hatred amongst its citizens that
people in the United States cannot
understand.
But he said the party is riddled with
internal problems that he thinks will
contribute to its demise.
"The Chinese Communist Party
doesn't need to be overthrown. It's
going to collapse by itself," Jingsheng
said.
"The real Communist Party hasn't
existed for a long time. The current
so-called Communist Party isn't a
group of idealists or politicians, but
rather a group of vested interests," he
said.
"They use beautiful ideals as a tool
of exploiting other people," he added.
Jingsheng also argued that a 10-year
pattern of Chinese communist leaders
sending their money and children
overseas is indicative of the fact that
they know their political power is
coming to an end.

_______________________________________ I

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