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Dear President Poon,
We, the members of Fordham University AAUP (American Association of University Professors), write to strongly urge Loyola Marymount University’s Board of Trustees to retract their invocation of a “religious exemption” and return to negotiations with the non-tenure-track faculty union.
As at LMU, educators at Fordham are heir to a long and distinguished heritage of Jesuit pedagogy and Ignatian spirituality that prioritizes care for whole persons, social justice, attention to those in need, and respect for human rights and dignity. These values, affirmed by Catholic tradition, bring together people of diverse beliefs, practices, and affiliations amongst the faculty who represent the heart of the educational mission at Fordham–and no doubt at Loyola Marymount University.
The LMU Trustees’ refusal to recognize the bonds of labor that the non-tenure-track faculty have invoked calls into question the credibility of LMU’s claims of a commitment to Jesuit values, and will only strengthen the coalition of thousands of faculty who labor in Jesuit-heritage institutions.
Busting unions is not the way toward Jesuit university distinction. We have been down this road at Fordham, and the union and its allies eventually prevailed. Fordham’s Administration eventually realized that the reputational price of such blatant disregard for their faculty was simply too high. They recognized our contingent faculty union. LMU can do the same.
The lesson here is that institutions can amend their mistakes and work toward regaining credibility. Now is the time to return to the bargaining table. We at Fordham will stand united with the non-tenure-track faculty of LMU until that time, and beyond.
Fordham University AAUP