Faculty members on the campuses of the 14 institutions that are part of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) went on strike yesterday, October 19, 2016.

The PASSHE website (http://www.passhe.edu/FactCenter/Pages/Communication.aspx) informs students that “Regardless of the faculty union strike, students are requiredto report to scheduled classes.”

The faculty in the PASSHE system have been working without a contract since June 2015.

The state system has withdrawn one of the most contentious proposals that would have significantly impacted teachers of writing and literacy courses–requiring full-time, temporary faculty to teach five courses instead of four in any given semester. They have also withdrawn the proposal to increase the cap on the number of temporary faculty from 25% to 30%.

In April 2016, the CCCC issued a statement on the working conditions for non-tenure track writing faculty (https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/resources/positions/working-conditions-ntt).

You can read the most recent issue (Fall 2016) of the CCCC publication FORUM: Issues about Part-Time and Contingent Faculty online: https://secure.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CCC/0681-sep2016/CCC0681Forum.pdf