WAU at the April 26 Board of Governors

WAU members showed up at the April 26 Board of Governors meeting to stand together for our core demands. The room at the EACPHS was over capacity, and many waited outside.

WAU members outside the Board of Governors meeting.

The full text of WAU President Danielle Aubert’s public comment is below:

Good afternoon. 

I’m Danielle Aubert, President of the Wayne Academic Union. I’m here today with a number of my union comrades. Could everyone here with WAU please stand. There are at least 25 more WAU members outside this room who were unable to get in.

Last month we presented our core demands, which include wage increases for faculty and academic staff that reflect the rising cost of living, a flexible work policy, and an emergency program to address housing insecurity for our students.

Right now, we are in bargaining, and I came here today to talk about our salaries. But before I do that, I have to comment on what is happening across the country this week. Faculty everywhere are stepping up to defend their students. As members of AAUP, the American Association of University Professors, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the crackdowns on peaceful dissent occurring this week at campuses nationwide, and the broader attacks on academic freedom and student, staff, and faculty rights. 

We care about Wayne State. We care about our students. We understand the transformative power of education. Students are not “enrollment numbers” to us.  

But over the last three years, our faculty and academic staff have taken a big hit. 

When we settled our last contract we were still dealing with COVID. The university’s finances were uncertain and — because we believe in being “warrior strong” — we ratified a contract with no raise in the first year and minimal increases over the next two years. Days later, former President M. Roy Wilson turned around and announced a 2% increase to administrator salaries. 

Then, inflation went way up. Everything got a lot more expensive – energy, food, goods and services – and we lost ground. In real dollars, we experienced pay cuts.

We are told over and over that there’s no money at Wayne State — but we know this is not true. 

We know that the amount of money spent on administrator salaries shot up $16.8M since 2021, nearly 4 times more than what went toward 1700 faculty and academic staff salaries. We know that Moody’s Ratings, the corporation that does risk analysis on institutions, gave Wayne State a solid bond rating of Aa3. We just heard at this morning’s budget committee meeting that the university had a surplus of $93M last year.

As we move into negotiating economics, I’m going to quote UAW president Shawn Fein: “In this union, the members are the highest authority.” We are done losing ground, and we are done making sacrifices. We want a contract where faculty, staff, and students are valued. Our members vote on the contract, and our members will decide when we get there.

Thank you.