Students and members of the Monmouth University Social Justice club shared their concerns about the University with Faculty at the April 10th FAMCO Meeting on Campus. Student’s learning conditions are faculty working conditions, and students have a vested interest in things the bargaining process deals with, particularly in the areas of:

Money: Tuition keeps going up. As students, they want more transparency in how its spent, particularly since it looks, to them, like athletics get most of the benefit, and non-student athletes are starting to feel overlooked by the administration. Students want rising tuition to translate to better conditions for all students and their faculty.

Classes: Low guarantees of tenured or even full-time faculty positions means the University is relying more on contingent, part-time faculty who teach at multiple schools and can’t be as available or personable to students because they are pulled in multiple directions already. Faculty also have less time for research, which improves and updates their teaching. Overall, it’s getting harder for students to find required classes for their majors and minors because academic departments are short-staffed.

Graduate Programs: The University has been cutting down graduate scholarship and assistantship funding, turning graduate study at MU something that only wealthier people take on. Advanced degrees increase earning potential and workforce value, and should be available to people from all walks of life.

Campus: In general, it seems like many sectors of campus are short-staffed. Besides the academic side, campus clerical and upkeep seems short staffed and underfunded, meaning dorms are deteriorating faster (especially since all students must live in dorms for two years). Building, grounds, and maintenance staff need more funding to hire more people.

Advising: Departments across campus have lost faculty in the last few years, and with the University administration reluctant to replace them, it’s getting harder for students to get ahold of their major advisers because faculty are spread thinner.

Overall, students said they feel like they are not being set up for success and missing out on foundational knowledge because their professors are not being set up for success.

Administrators may prefer to think students don’t notice or care about things like this, or that campuses are trapped in sitcoms or retro movies where students and teachers only care about antagonizing each other, but the truth is that students and teachers share the most time together on campus, and we want what’s best for each other. We’re all here to make a difference and do our best. These students want the Monmouth University Administration to improve faculty working conditions AND student learning conditions with an equitable contract!