Letter to the Editor: Why retired faculty should care about FAM
Longtime Oxford resident and retired professor Kate Rousmaniere writes in a letter to the editor that the new faculty union at Miami University is equally important for retired faculty members.
I retired from Miami University this past month after 32 years as a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership. It has been a great career. I valued my students and colleagues and felt valued by them in turn. I felt especially valued in 2016, when the University awarded me one of the most significant recognitions Miami has to offer faculty: the Benjamin Harrison Medallion for extraordinary and sustained contributions related to teaching, research, and service over the course of the career.
However, Miami did not seem to value me (or other faculty) as much in the form of compensation. (Indeed, for all its praise, the Benjamin Harrison Medallion comes with no monetary award). Between 2016 and 2022, faculty were offered annual raise pools averaging only 1.8%. During the same period, Miami increased spending on upper administrative salaries by more than 30%.
In my last two years, during a period of rapid inflation, the University decided not to give bargaining-unit faculty any raises at all.
Because I received no raises for my last years of teaching, my retirement benefits through the state teachers’ pension plan is about $5,000 less a year than it would have been.
The Faculty Alliance of Miami (FAM), our faculty and librarian union, is currently bargaining its first contract. If Miami management agrees to make bargaining unit members whole with back pay, retiree members will be able to update our compensation records and receive the full retirement checks we are due.
I encourage all my fellow recent retirees, as well as current bargaining unit members, to put pressure on Miami management in support of a fair compensation package. Let them know that you support FAM’s efforts to win faculty and librarians a fair contract that makes all of us whole, with decent raises and back pay. If management’s proposal wins the day, for the rest of my life, I will make $5,000 less a year than I should have, and my fellow recent retirees — no matter how dedicatedly they served Miami — will be in the same boat.
Kate Rousmaniere, Oxford, Ohio
Kate Rousmaniere is a long time Oxford resident who is active in local government and community activities.
