Last week, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi testified under oath in Harrisburg in front of the State House Appropriations Committee, along with the presidents of the other state-related universities - all of which have established faculty unions. President Bendapudi was asked pointedly by Representative Tarik Khan to commit not to use public funds or university resources to interfere with union organizing or to dissuade faculty from exercising their right to join a union. She said yes.
On March 17, one week later, Penn State’s Administration announced “college-by-college” anti-union meetings starting Monday, March 23. Faculty are currently receiving invitations to these meetings along with a link to the university's anti-union website. On Penn State’s anti-union website, the university disingenuously implies that unionization would risk Penn State’s research capabilities, its ability to maintain grant-funded work, and the privacy and autonomy of faculty. This is a complete reversal from President Bendapudi’s commitment to the State General Assembly.
“This union is by faculty, for faculty. We are coming together to improve working and learning conditions at Penn State by using our collective voice. We have an important decision ahead of us this semester. We can choose to have a real say in decision-making at Penn State by voting for our faculty union. I am so disappointed by President Bendapudi and her administration’s reversal of last week’s commitment not to use university resources or public funds to interfere with our union election,” stated Michael Steward, faculty organizer and Associate Teaching Professor, Mathematics at University Park.
These meetings illustrate why Penn State faculty need a collective bargaining agreement - a legally binding document that the university administration cannot unilaterally contradict. The Administration has refused calls for transparency and has disregarded the faculty senate’s voice in shared governance. “Penn State’s Administration is trying to drive a wedge between faculty members. We are coming together to form a faculty union to improve conditions at Penn State. We are organizing to achieve more - to preserve high-quality education, to support research and discovery,” remarked Andrea Adolph, faculty organizer and Associate Professor of English at Penn State New Kensington.
Fellow higher education faculty union leaders have taken notice of Penn State’s reversal. "Last week, President Bendapudi sat next to Temple President John Fry and said that she would not use university resources to discourage people from joining a union, or to spread misinformation about unions. Now we hear that her Penn State administration is doing just the opposite. When our university's presidents testify in Harrisburg, they represent all of us—the faculty, the librarians, and all the staff who make our schools successful. We should be able to take them at their word, and I am quite disappointed that she is failing to live up to her testimony," Jeffrey Doshna, President, Temple Association of University Professionals, TAUP AFT 4531.
Last semester, Students for International Labor Solidarity (SILS) hosted a Teach-In with faculty organizers to discuss the campaign with students and how faculty unionization would improve conditions for everyone across Penn State. Students signed the PSFA’s public letter calling on PSU’s Administration to exercise union neutrality. “It is in every student’s best interest that their professors are financially secure,“ Evan Sutton, president of SILS, Penn State University, Class of 2026.
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