Unionized core faculty at Lesley University voted by “an overwhelming majority” in support of a strike, the school’s labor representatives at SEIU Local 509 said Thursday. Educators have been bargaining for a contract for nearly two years, they said.
Faculty say they are fighting for fair compensation and manageable workloads – and, significant at a time smaller colleges and universities are struggling, a successorship clause that would retain their union contract in the event of an acquisition or shutdown. Hampshire College in Amherst announced Tuesday that it is closing after 56 years amid financial struggles resulting from declining enrollment.
“The administration is over-enrolling classes, increasing our workload and compromising the quality of learning in their students’ classrooms. We have always been committed to our students and to Lesley’s mission. It’s time the university reflects that same commitment back to us by improving our working conditions,” said Kelvin Ramirez, an associate professor in the Division of Expressive Therapies.
A voicemail was left Thursday with a Lesley spokesperson. There was no immediate reply.
Lesley, founded in 1909, has been cutting programs, laying off faculty and selling property to eliminate a deficit and find sustainability as the country faces a “demographic cliff” – a drop-off in available students – and faltering economy. Lesley’s 5-acre campus across three Cambridge neighborhoods swelled in 2018 with the purchase of former Episcopal Divinity School property near Harvard Square. In its February town-gown report to Cambridge’s Planning Board, the school said it had 41 buildings, down from 58 a decade earlier.
President Janet Steinmayer, overseeing the turbulence, has been controversial, receiving three votes of no confidence from faculty and seeing a series of student protests in 2023 as programs were cut under a “Better Lesley” plan.
The vote to authorize a strike was among 80 percent of the school’s 82 core faculty members, said Natalia Berthet García, communications director of the labor chapter. Only four educators voted against the authorization. “There’s an overwhelming appetite to show the university our members are serious about working conditions,” García said.
Faculty unrest
In their press release, workers emphasize that their “demands are particularly important, given the university’s history of financial and operational mismanagement.” Administrators have cited success in shrinking the school’s budget deficits, though profits have been elusive despite cuts.
“Lesley faculty are being asked to do more with less while the university continues to make decisions that undermine working and learning conditions,” said Dave Foley, the SEIU 509 president. “Although the decision to strike is never easy, it demonstrates faculty’s commitment to fighting for the best possible educational experience for their students. We stand with our members as they take action to win a fair contract.”
The university has dragged out negotiations for two years, “putting us in a position where we feel we have no other choice but to strike,” Ramirez said.
Pam Vaughn, a temporary core instructor in the Lesley’s Threshold program for neurodivergent students, said in the press release that Lesley’s offer came to the bargaining table two years ago with a zero percent wage increase proposal and that “throughout this process, our concerns and demands have been repeatedly dismissed.”
“Bargaining has been extremely frustrating,” Vaughn said.
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