AAUP Report on Florida

by | May 27, 2023 | Bargaining, Did You Know, Leadership, Membership, News

The AAUP released their Preliminary Report of the Special Committee on Academic Freedom and Florida. The full report is coming in the fall. The report notes that, “The Florida legislature has passed a series of bills that, taken collectively, constitute a systematic effort to dictate and enforce conformity with a narrow and reactionary political and ideological agenda throughout the state’s higher education system. These efforts grievously undermine basic and long-standing principles of academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance.”

Another conclusion of this report found that, “Academic administrators throughout Florida’s public university and college systems, from the highest to the lowest levels not only have failed to contest these attacks but have too frequently been complicit in and, in some cases, explicitly supported them. While some individuals are leaving as a matter of conscience, those who remain face the prospect of serving as pawns in DeSantis’s corrupt patronage system.”

Read the full report: AAUP Florida Report

DYK: Tuition for Faculty

by | Sep 24, 2020 | Did You Know

Did You Know?

As a state employee, you are eligible for free tuition at UCF.

Under Florida Statute 2009.26(3), “A university board of trustees is authorized to permit full-time university employees who meet academic requirements to enroll for up to 6 credit hours of tuition-free courses per term on a space-available basis.”

UCF bargaining unit members who wish to take advantage of the program should act quickly to reserve seats – forms and instructions are posted on the Human Resources website.

Like other universities, UFF-UCF has negotiated for the ability to transfer these credits to family members!

Unfortunately, we have yet to secure access to the Tuition Exchange Program like our colleagues at UNF and UF. The Tuition Exchange Program provides a reciprocal scholarship opportunity for the dependents of eligible faculty and staff at all 600+ member schools around the country.

DYK: The History of UFF

by | Sep 24, 2020 | Did You Know

Did You Know?

Faculty members launched UFF in 1968
to defend against discrimination and harassment in academia.

UFF’s origins lie in efforts by faculty to defend academic freedom, defend civil liberties, and end racial discrimination at UF. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, UF administrators fired or denied tenure to outspoken advocates of racial integration and faculty rights. Believing that only a binding contract, with strong grievance procedures, could protect faculty from such harassment, UFF pioneers launched the union in 1968.  After nearly a decade of struggle, UFF achieved a state-wide collective bargaining agreement in 1976 and since then has remained a vigorous and effective agent on behalf of academic freedom and faculty rights. – Bob Zieger, UF Professor Emeritus, History, July 2012. See more at UFF – Our History.

Our UFF-UCF chapter continues the great union traditions that began in Florida in 1968. We work throughout the year to protect academic freedom, defend civil liberties and end racial discrimination while promoting excellence in academic achievement at our institution.