Sparks flew in the Grandview building on Thursday, May 21, when faculty of Central Oregon Community College met with administration officials to continue negotiations over topics ranging from hiring to tenure, with some topics evoking jeers and angry laughter.
The meeting was open to the public, and the back half of the room was filled with faculty members sporting green t-shirts OEA (COCC Faculty Forum). Faculty at COCC generally belong to two unions: the statewide Oregon Education Association (which also supports classified staff) and COCC Faculty Forum specific to the college.
Thursday was one of several meetings in a process called collective bargaining, where employee unions negotiate with employers to establish a legally binding contract governing employment terms. Formal negotiations began on January 15 under Oregon’s Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act. The law mandates at least 150 calendar days of good faith direct bargaining following the exchange of proposals. Faculty and administration meet every other week in an attempt to reach an agreement, mostly about language used in contracts and the General Policy Manual. The implications of the negotiations, however, could range from faculty salaries to tuition costs, budgetary decisions, and building construction or repairs.
Thursday’s session covered Article 2 (Forum Rights), Article 6 (Faculty Appointments), Article 7 (Salary Compensation), Article 10 (Discipline and Dismissal), and Article 13 (Promotions).
The heat of the negotiations began when an administrative representative presented a spreadsheet forecasting hypothetical budget concerns if the school were to adopt the faculty’s proposals. The administrators claimed it used metrics derived from historical trends in property tax, salary increases, enrollment, and state aid since 1980, stating that “state aid is a wild card, with a 10% cut projected next year.” The spreadsheet calculated a $37 million deficit if faculty proposals were enacted.
Lead faculty negotiator and Professor of Humanities Mindy Williams pushed back.
“Given that faculty is the primary source of revenue and COCC salaries have not kept up with market comparisons, even though all other Oregon community colleges face state budget restrictions, has this been considered?” The presenter responded that it had not, and that would be something to ask HR.
On Article 6, administrators rejected specific language restricting the use of in tenure decisions, stating, “We do not wish to prematurely implement restrictive language, given that if we were to use AI, that would have to go through a collective bargaining agreement anyway.”
The other most contentious topic was tenure and promotions. COCC requires a standard five-year probationary period before faculty can be awarded tenure, a longer timeline than many other Oregon community colleges. The Board of Directors holds the ultimate authority to grant tenure, though the process is heavily decentralized and shared with faculty committees. The Promotions Committee is composed of five faculty members and two members of administrative staff, with the Vice President of Instruction holding automatic membership.
Administrators stated, “You want to be more like other institutions, yet they are able to make decisions by admin. We don’t feel a shorter time frame for tenure helps, but we are willing to change to three to four years.”
“Can you cite the institutions that are able to make decisions by admin?” Williams asked. The administrators responded, “Why should we do your research for you?”
After the session, Roxie Supplee, chair of the department of criminal justice at COCC, said the $37 million figure is a fallacy.
“The $37 million figure doesn’t hold up because it doesn’t account for possible changes in revenue, like tuition adjustments, or for shifts in spending in other areas. It’s like looking at a household budget and just throwing your hands up saying, ‘well, that’s all I can do,’ instead of recognizing there are still choices being made about income and expenses,” she said. “They keep presenting the same total budget as if it’s fixed, which oversimplifies how budgeting actually works.”
On tenure, Supplee was equally straight forward.
“Five years is too long. We ask people to move their whole family to Bend for a job, and they deserve the protections of tenure,” she said. “It’s not as though faculty on the tenure committee would allow bad instructors to remain in place. There are still ways to address performance issues if needed, and in most cases it becomes pretty clear within about two years whether someone is a good fit. Students often know after a term whether an instructor is effective—so why does it need to take the College five years?”
On salary, she added: “Under the current administration proposal, some faculty would not receive a raise at all, and others—such as a colleague of mine who reviewed the proposal during the meeting—realized that after 20 years of service, they would receive a total increase of about $30 for the year under this contract.”
COCC administrators manage a public website that summarizes the current state of negotiations.
