Michigan

Eastern Michigan faculty strike over health care, governance

Published

2 years ago

September 8, 2022

Eastern Michigan faculty strike over health care, governance

Tenured and tenure-track school members at Jap Michigan College went on strike indefinitely Wednesday over stalled negotiations for a brand new contract. Scores of professors spent a lot of the day on a campus picket line, whereas the college directed college students to attend lessons and wait quarter-hour to see if an teacher confirmed up. Many professors didn’t, following a 91 p.c school vote in favor of placing Tuesday.

Negotiations had been ongoing Wednesday, with no settlement reached. By the tip of the day, Jap Michigan had filed a grievance in Washtenaw County Circuit Court docket asking for an injunction ordering school members again to work. Public worker strikes are unlawful in Michigan, and the college’s grievance cited harm to college students and others.

“Our main focus is getting school again within the classroom in order that our college students can proceed their schooling,” Walter Kraft, college spokesperson, mentioned in a press release. “Even a one-day disruption is critical for our college students and we’re dedicated to offering them with a full and constructive tutorial expertise, notably as negotiations continued right this moment with the help of a state-appointed mediator.”

The American Affiliation of College Professors–affiliated school union mentioned that the college’s authorized effort would fail, and accused Jap Michigan of repeated unfair labor practices and of exaggerating the impact of a 24-hour strike on college students. The college denies unfair labor follow violations.

Mohamed El-Sayed, professor of engineering and president of the college union, mentioned in a press release, “As a substitute of submitting lawsuits which haven’t any benefit, EMU directors ought to focus their efforts on good religion bargaining so we are able to attain a good settlement which helps our college students.”

Deadlock Over Premiums

The college union’s prior contract expired per week in the past, after having been prolonged a number of instances because it was initially inked in 2015. Sticking factors for the alternative contract embrace health-care premiums and shared governance. College negotiators additionally say the college held up bargaining and revealed main proposals solely after talks had been already below approach this summer season.

“We really feel that the college administration needlessly delayed negotiations,” mentioned Matthew Kirkpatrick, affiliate professor of English and chair of the college bargaining workforce. “When you’re going to drastically change your workers’ advantages, that’s a dialog we should always have had approach earlier than we had been negotiating.”

Below a Michigan legislation enacted in 2012, public employers are restricted when it comes to what they will contribute to worker health-care prices. To adjust to this legislation, establishments should both comply with greenback caps as to what they’ll contribute to worker plans or undertake an 80-20 cost-sharing mannequin during which the employer covers 80 p.c of the plan and the worker contributes the remaining.

As of Wednesday, Jap Michigan was nonetheless providing the college union a hard-cap mannequin, which union members mentioned would exorbitantly enhance health-care prices for many members, specifically these with households. To compensate for the change, the college has supplied union members an roughly 6 p.c ($5,600) pay enhance in yr one of many contract, adopted by extra incremental raises annually thereafter. However the union says that is inadequate, particularly when factoring within the 9 p.c inflation fee. The college counteroffer is an further preliminary $3,200 base pay enhance and the 80-20 mannequin.

Some context: below the college’s hard-cap proposal, a college member with a household who elected Blue Cross Blue Defend’s most popular supplier group (PPO) plan would see their premiums leap 176 p.c from their present contribution. Below the union-preferred 80-20 mannequin possibility, that worker’s contribution would enhance 89 p.c. That’s nonetheless steep, nevertheless it’s higher than the choice, from the union’s perspective. In {dollars}, this enhance for a household below the hard-cap mannequin can be roughly $5,300, and about $2,700 below the 80-20 mannequin, based on info from the union.

Shared Governance and Different Issues

Underlying the health-care battle is the union’s disapproval of how the college spends its cash. The union says Jap Michigan has extra managers per full-time employees member (together with educational employees) than its peer establishments. And whereas the entire establishment has confronted personnel cuts in gentle of an enrollment lower since 2016, based on union information, administrative skilled and athletic coach positions have decreased solely nominally, by about 1.8 p.c every, versus 18 p.c for tenure-line school members.

“Our educational finances has plummeted. Our administrative prices have stayed the identical and even elevated in some instances,” Kirkpatrick mentioned. “That’s a part of why it’s straightforward for our school to get fired up.”

Additionally of concern to college members is shared governance on campus. El-Sayed, the union president, mentioned that negotiators have requested to incorporate within the contract reference to a long-standing joint assertion on shared governance by the AAUP, the American Council on Training and the Affiliation of Governing Boards of Universities and Faculties. Of specific import to the union is that the administration decide to a convention—outlined within the joint assertion—of deferring to college consensus on curricular and academic points. But to date, the college has rejected this concept, El-Sayed mentioned.

Presently, Jap Michigan describes its contractual proposal on shared governance as follows: “The college is dedicated to the tenets of shared governance. Along with the language within the expired contract, the college has proposed that the College Senate and the college reassess their committees together with members’ phrases of service, experience required of the committee members, and areas in tutorial and pupil affairs during which the committee is predicted to supply school enter. This course of can also determine revising, merging or eliminating current committees and creating new committees. That is meant to strengthen understanding and communication between the events within the furtherance of a shared sense of dedication to discovering options that can greatest allow us to advance collectively the mission of the College and the scholars served.”

Jap Michigan’s College Senate voted no confidence final yr in President James Smith; Leigh Greden, his chief of employees; and Mike Valdes, chief monetary officer. In so doing, school members mentioned that Smith had not practiced shared governance or transparency, particularly in regard to monetary selections and public-private partnerships.

Following the vote, the Senate despatched a letter to Smith and the college’s Board of Regents asking that they remodel the strategic plan right into a residing doc that guides operations and monetary selections, undertake the advice of the President’s Fee on Variety and Inclusion, recommit to shared governance, and usually act within the public good.

Marilyn Corsianos, Senate president and professor of sociology and criminology, mentioned that what the college needs now could be “quite simple—we would like a good and equitable contract for our school.”

Whereas the administration is providing one thing of a pay enhance, she mentioned, inflation and the rise to health-care prices “finally will imply a lack of hundreds of {dollars}” for professors.

Past compensation and excellent considerations about pay fairness amongst professors, Corsianos mentioned, “College additionally need to see a mannequin of shared governance put into motion that can guarantee accountability on the a part of the administration and power them to hunt significant enter from school on main selections that have an effect on our college students, school and campus neighborhood. Too usually, we find out about main selections after the actual fact.”

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Michigan

Michigan State’s leading rusher a familiar name for Rutgers football fans

Published

6 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Press Room

Michigan State’s leading rusher a familiar name for Rutgers football fans

PISCATAWAY – It’s been a long college football journey for Michigan State’s leading rusher, but it’s one that started five years ago with Rutgers football.

Running back Kay’ron Lynch-Adams spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons with the Scarlet Knights before transferring to UMass, but now he’s with the Spartans and a player Rutgers’ defense will need to limit Saturday (3:30 p.m., FS1) at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.

The 5-foot-10, 215-pound Ohio native returned to the Power 4 level with the Spartans as a sixth-year graduate transfer, and through 11 games has a team-leading 580 yards rushing on 124 carries (4.7 yards per attempt) with two touchdowns.

Lynch-Adams’ production isn’t surprising to Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, who on Monday said he believed Lynch-Adams had this type of potential.

“I was disappointed when he left. I liked the young man, and I also really liked the football player,” Schiano said. “And I can remember exactly where I was when he called me to tell me he was leaving. I was truly disappointed, and really tried to keep him.”

Lynch-Adams played in nine games for Rutgers in 2019, finishing with 161 rushing yards on 48 carries. Then in 2020, he ran for 159 yards and one touchdown on 35 carries in the pandemic-shortened nine-game season.

The problem for Lynch-Adams was that there was a stellar running back atop the depth chart – now two-time Super Bowl champion Isiah Pacheco of the Kansas City Chiefs.

While Schiano didn’t want Lynch-Adams to leave, he couldn’t blame him either.

“I understood why,” Schiano said. “You know, you had this guy by the name of Pacheco in front of him, and he’s a pretty good player, too.”

Lynch-Adams was productive at UMass – last season he rushed for 1,157 yards on 236 carries with 12 touchdowns.

“It’s not like I have stayed in touch with him but I have a little bit,” Schiano said. “I really respect him. He’s a hard-working kid. He’s a really tough football player and I love the way he played. I loved what he did. He was a team guy. I was disappointed when we lost him, and I’m not surprised that he’s having success.”

Lynch-Adams will be the latest challenge for Rutgers’ run defense, which has been up and down this season. He splits carries with Nate Carter, who’s rushed for 452 yards and four touchdowns this season.

The Scarlet Knights are hoping to pick up a seventh regular-season victory, something they haven’t done since 2014.

Limiting Lynch-Adams will be a key to making that happen.

“He’s someone that we have to stop now for sure,” Schiano said.

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Michigan

What injury? Freshman leads Michigan State past Colorado in Maui Invitational opener

Published

14 hours ago

November 25, 2024

Press Room

What injury? Freshman leads Michigan State past Colorado in Maui Invitational opener

So much for Jase Richardson’s sprained left ankle.

Less than a week after rolling it late in a game and being helped off the court, he led Michigan State on it.

The freshman guard came off the bench to score a career-high 13 points as the Spartans rolled to a 72-56 win against Colorado on Monday in the opening around of the Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center.

In the first tournament setting of the season, Michigan State overcame another miserable shooting performance beyond the arc (2-for-21) with a deep rotation, explosive transition game and active defense.

The Spartans (5-1) will play their second of three games in three days on Tuesday (6 p.m., ESPN) in a semifinal against Memphis (5-0), which survived a late rally to knock off No. 2 UConn 99-97 in overtime earlier Monday. The other half of the bracket features No. 4 Auburn, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 12 North Carolina and Dayton, who are all playing later Monday night.

Richardson made six of eight field goals and was one of 10 different scorers for the Spartans, whose bench outscored the Buffaloes 40-13. Frankie Fidler scored nine, Jeremy Fears had eight and six assists and Coen Carr had eight points.

Julian Hammond led Colorado with a game-high 15 points while Elijah Malone scored 14.

Any concerns about Richardson’s mobility after suffering a sprained ankle late in last week’s 83-75 win against Samford were quickly erased. He checked in less than four minutes into the game and immediately got in the paint for a basket. Richardson shot 4-for-4 from the floor in the first half and Carr made all three of his shot attempts as the two combined for 14 of Michigan State’s 23 bench points in the opening 20 minutes.

That helped make up for the awful 3-point shooting that has plagued the Spartans so far this season. They entered Monday’s game ranked 352nd out of 355 teams in the nation from beyond the arc at just 22.1 percent and picked up where they left off. Michigan State shot 50 percent (15-for-30) from the floor in the opening half despite missing all nine 3-point attempts.

After the teams traded baskets and slim leads, the Spartans closed the half on a 17-4 run. Colorado went scoreless for more than five minutes and missed 10 straight shots at one point before going into halftime trailing 38-25.

Coming out of the locker room, the Buffaloes put together an 8-2 run with a pair of triples from Hammond but three quick turnovers prevented them from further shrinking the deficit. After Michigan State missed its first 14 triple tries, Richardson knocked one down a little more than six minutes into the second half to reestablish a double-digit advantage. The Spartans cruised down the stretch to secure a spot in the semifinals.

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New bowl projections have Michigan in play at four different sites

Published

23 hours ago

November 25, 2024

Press Room

New bowl projections have Michigan in play at four different sites

Michigan clinched bowl eligibility by landing its sixth win of the season over the weekend, a 50-6 beat down of lowly Northwestern.

And while all eyes are on the rivalry game against Ohio State this Saturday (Noon, FOX), the postseason is fast approaching. In 13 days, the Wolverines will learn of their bowl draw. It won’t be a high-profile game like years past, but several intriguing sites remain a possibility for Sherrone Moore’s team.

The most popular pick this week is the Music City Bowl in Nashville, set for Dec. 30 at Nissan Stadium. It would mark Michigan’s first-ever appearance in the game and pit the Wolverines against an SEC school.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach has Michigan playing Ole Miss in the Music City Bowl, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm predicts a Michigan-Missouri matchup in Nashville, while USA Today’s Erick Smith projects the Wolverines to play Texas A&M. All three SEC schools have been in the playoff picture this year, setting the stage for an intriguing neutral-site game.

Three other national writers have Michigan playing in three different bowl games. ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura predicts a Michigan-Syracuse matchup in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Jan. 3 in Charlotte. The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy, whose track-record projecting bowl sites and matchups is among the best, has the Wolverines playing Pittsburgh in the Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 28 at Yankee Stadium in New York. And in an interesting outlier, The Sporting News’ Bill Bender projects a Michigan-Texas A&M matchup in the Dec. 31 ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Fla.

How the top of the Big Ten fares when it comes to the 12-team playoff matters here. Getting four teams in like some are projecting would help Michigan’s standing in the bowl selection process. But if one of those teams gets left out (looking at you, Indiana), it would almost certainly kill any chance of returning to Florida.

After the playoff bids are doled out, the Citrus Bowl has the first pick of the remaining bowl-eligible Big Ten teams, followed by the ReliaQuest Bowl (former Outback Bowl). An 8 or 9-win Illinois would likely be the next Big Ten team off the board, followed by a 7 or 8-win Iowa. After that, though, is anyone’s guess.

And what if Michigan pulls off the upset in Columbus and gets to seven wins? It could suddenly move the Wolverines up the pecking order and give the ReliaQuest Bowl a reason to pick them, provided that Indiana does make the playoff.

This week will help offer some clarity with the Big Ten standings. There’s also a possibility of college football having too many bowl eligible teams this year. And while that certainly won’t affect Michigan — its brand and following are too large to keep out, even at 6-6 — but could limit the number of secondary bowls available to the Big Ten.

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