| The purpose of this study was to understand and describe the origin and establishment of faculty collective bargaining at Hofstra University. Analysis focused on documents found in the Hofstra University archives and oral histories conducted with former and current faculty members, administrators, trustees and lawyers who experienced the origin and establishment of faculty collective bargaining at Hofstra University.; The data indicated that a change in institutional culture, an unsuccessful president, salary inequalities, and the resolve of a professional organization (AAUP) were important factors in faculty adoption of collective bargaining. The Hofstra University institutional culture changed during the decade of the 1960s with the rapid shift from local commuter college to regional residential university at the same time that there was a change in presidential leadership. The faculty identified external inequities in their pay compared to other institutions and, internally, there were inequities caused by practices institutionalized during the John Cranford Adams presidency and carried over to the Clifford L. Lord presidency. President Lord's inability to control the financial crisis and the staff that surrounded him contributed to faculty loss of confidence in the president. The change in institutional culture, an unsuccessful president and inequality of salaries provided a forum for the AAUP leadership who used the opportunity to form a faculty collective bargaining unit.; Therefore, the prevailing explanations of increased governance and better working conditions for faculty collective bargaining at institutions of higher education may be necessary, but not sufficient, components of these decisions. This study suggests that institutions that adopt faculty collective bargaining might have additional factors and unique institutional cultures that contribute to these decisions. The findings of this study have implications for former, current, and future faculty members, higher level administrators, and higher education researchers, providing a perspective on faculty collective bargaining in general, and the process at Hofstra University specifically. |
