PSUFA Statement on Spring 2025 Non-Renewal Notices
The PSUFA CBA Article 8.3.5 mandates a timeline for reappointments. During Winter Term, your department should have inquired about your availability and desire to teach during AY 25-26, no later than week 5. This term (Spring 2025) all adjuncts should have received a notice of intent to renew or not renew an appointment for AY 25-26 by the end of week 5. Further details about course assignments and schedule for the coming academic year will be communicated to faculty by July 15.
Your Spring Term intent letter will either confirm the intent of the department to renew your appointment, confirm that the department does not intend to renew your appointment, and in some cases you may receive a letter that states that the department is unable to confirm their intent at the moment. This typically means that they have not worked out the schedule for AY 25-26 yet. To see the specific contract language, see Article 8 in the CBA.
Last year PSU sent similar non-renewal notices to many adjuncts in the middle of 2 year contracts, and PSUFA immediately filed a grievance for all adjuncts on two year contracts whose assignment rights per Article 8 Section 3.6 had been violated. PSU refused to process the grievances, falsely claiming that group grievances--a grievance filled for more than one person and including unnamed individuals-- are not allowed in our Collective Bargaining Agreement. This claim ignored the fact that many group grievances have been filed and processed in the past.
Nearly a year after the university's response and refusal to process the group grievance, your union and PSU were scheduled for an arbitration hearing last week that would decide on this matter. A day before the arbitration hearing, PSU settled with your union agreeing to the processing of the group grievance. This is an important win for PSUFA who fought the university for nearly a year to protect our right to file group grievances!
The next step is an arbitration hearing on the substantive issue: whether PSU violated the assignment rights for adjuncts who were not renewed in the middle of two year contracts. If you are in the middle of a two year contract and have recently received a non-renewal notice, please reach out to us and stay tuned as we head into arbitration again in mid-August. The result of that hearing will have a direct impact on every adjunct facing non-renewal on a 2 year contract this year.