Following three weeks of striking, the part-time faculty at the New School reached a provisional deal with the administration on Saturday, December 10. The university agreed to improvements in pay, healthcare, and job security, with the union’s bargaining committee giving unanimous approval to the new five-year contract. The wider UAW Local 7902 union membership will vote on the agreement by Saturday, December 17.
Making up 87% of the faculty, the 1,678 part-time professors at the New School have been on strike since November 16, joined by many full-time faculty and students in support, leading to a near month-long suspension of classes. In reaction to the class cancellations, some parents threatened legal action against the university, which charges nearly $80,000 for tuition, room, and board, positioning it among the nation’s most expensive. Concurrently, thousands of artists and academics signed a petition to boycott the school’s events.
UAW Local 7902 initiated their strike following months of unsuccessful contract negotiations, demanding increased pay for adjuncts who hadn’t seen raises in four years, along with better healthcare, job security, and compensation for tasks like lesson planning and grading. The strike saw the school withholding wages from participating workers, which intensified tensions.
“It was getting increasingly acrimonious,” stated Lee-Sean Huang, an artist and design professor, to Hyperallergic. “People are still upset about how it all went down. Did it need to get this far? So there will need to be a reckoning. I’m not sure how it will play out.” Despite securing their first raise in four years, and the largest in the institution’s history according to UAW Local 7902, adjunct salaries remain lower than those at similar universities.
Natasha Lennard, a journalism professor, remarked, “This is yet further evidence of what can be gained — what can only be gained — when workers come together and fight with and for each other.” The school described the contract as “strong” and “fair,” expressing satisfaction with agreements that meet staff needs and reflect the institution’s progressive values.
The administration agreed to all core demands, including pay raises, guaranteed annual increases over the contract’s duration, and payments for out-of-classroom work. For instance, a part-time lecturer currently earning $5,753 per 45-contact hour course will earn $6,475 in 2023, rising to $7,820 by 2027. Healthcare eligibility was expanded, ensuring comparable health plans annually, and job security was enhanced with faster paths to annualization and increased severance pay.
The union criticized the university for its high administrative costs, noting that it spends 2.3 times more than the national average on management. While the school cited budget constraints, its $393 million endowment in 2020 is significantly smaller than other private institutions like NYU and Columbia. As classes were canceled, concerns grew about student retention for the 2023 academic year.
Huang shared that notifying students and colleagues about the agreement felt like a “homecoming or family reunion.” Reflecting on the broader impact, he said, “Just as with the pandemic, there has been a sea change. We can’t go ‘back to normal.’ It’s about figuring out a new ‘normal,’ together.”
