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Thursday, May 16, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
OPINION
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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
ERIN WHITE
Editorial Page Editor
Zack Blumberg
Emma Chang
Joel Danilewitz
Emily Huhman
Tara Jayaram
Jeremy Kaplan
Magdalena Mihaylova
Ellery Rosenzweig
Jason Rowland
Anu Roy-Chaudhury
Alex Satola
Timothy Spurlin
Nicholas Tomaino
Erin White
Ashley Zhang
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board.
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
CASSANDRA MANSUETTI
Editor in Chief
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
A
s two long-serving lecturers
at
the
University
of
Michigan, we understand
the importance of building a legacy
for generations of students to
come. For the past 20 and 32 years,
we’ve taken pride in working for a
University that stands for what is
right, that prioritizes its students
over profits and that respects
faculty and its obligation to honor
contractual agreements with all
employees. Over the past few
months, however, the administration
of the University’s School of Music,
Theatre, and Dance has shown a
reckless disregard for all three.
It
is
therefore
with
great
disappointment that we write this
letter outlining a series of deceptions,
stonewalls and contract violations
coming from the SMTD we know
and love — because we know our
University is better than this.
Last July, the Lecturers’ Employee
Organization
(LEO)
ratified
a
new contract with the University
administration. The contract gave
us the salary increases and health
benefits many of us needed to live
and work effectively. It also required
SMTD to pay the two of us a higher
salary to fairly compensate for our
depth of experience and outstanding
results.
Rather than pay us our worth and
give students the instruction they
deserve, SMTD chose instead to cut
our course load by 50 percent and
66 percent for the next academic
year. This in itself is a travesty:
The University prioritized profits
over giving its students a quality
education. Even more disappointing,
however, was the series of events
which took place in the process of
issuing these layoffs.
First
and
foremost,
SMTD
violated our contract when it failed
to forewarn us about the layoffs,
choosing instead to wait until we
approached them with questions
about class cuts.
Secondly, SMTD lied both to us
and The Michigan Daily when it
denied LEO’s new contract as the
reason for the layoffs. On February
20, the Chair of the Dance Program
sent an email to Missy Beck stating,
“Because of the large increase in
LEO salaries, the administration
would like to move as many LEO
courses as possible to tenure track
faculty.” When prompted by The
Daily, however, the chair denied
the email existed and said she was
“amazed at how many invented
facts are circulating.” This disregard
for honesty and accountability is
unacceptable.
Thirdly, SMTD continues to
change its reasons for laying both
of us off. Over the last few months,
they have cited lack of qualification
and low enrollment as rationale for
these changes. More recently, the
reasons have been “wanting to go in
a different direction,” and that our
job loss is “necessary (italics added)
to offer additional opportunities and
expand the learning experiences for
our students.” Having taught here
for decades with nothing short of
outstanding results and consistent
enrollment, however, we know none
of these to be true — and are greatly
disappointed
by
the
deception
and delays in providing rational
explanations for these actions.
Over a dozen lecturers and other
allies gathered last week to speak
out against these shameful tactics.
Some of SMTD’s most successful
alumni have turned out in droves to
write letters and film videos urging
them to reconsider this decision.
But SMTD continues to ignore
the pleas of their alumni who are
Tony nominees and winners, Oscar
nominees and winners, professional
dancers, heads of dance programs
in
higher
education,
Broadway
performers, producers and so much
more, all of whom have insisted our
work has been integral to their success.
Students, alumni, lecturers and
community members are coming
together to demand better from a
university to which we give so much.
It is truly disheartening to see
this University treat us with such
disregard after we have devoted
our entire professional lives to our
students with such outstanding
results. The University of Michigan
prides itself in providing a world-
class education for its students and
an excellent working environment
for its staff. We call on SMTD to live
up to this creed and treat its long-
serving lecturers with the respect
they deserve.
MISSY BECK AND JEAN CLAUDE BIZA SOMPA | OP-ED
Missy Beck and Jean Claude Biza
Sompa are members of the Lecturers’
Employee Organization (AFT Local
6244), the union of all non-tenure
track faculty at all three campuses of
the University of Michigan.
SMTD needs to prioritize students and lecturers, not profits and deception
EMILY CONSIDINE | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT EMCONSID@UMICH.EDU
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