James P. Begin Papers

The James P. Begin Papers document the establishment and early history of faculty collective bargaining at Rutgers University. In 1970, the Rutgers faculty certified the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) as their official bargaining agent. This made Rutgers one of the first four-year institutions in the United States to establish faculty collective bargaining and only the second AAUP bargaining unit in the country. The collection consists of materials compiled by Professor James P. Begin in the 1970s as part of a research study on faculty bargaining at New Jersey institutions of higher education.

The Rutgers chapter of the AAUP was founded in 1922. Like its parent organization, the Rutgers AAUP traditionally concentrated on issues of academic freedom and tenure, but during the 1960s the chapter broadened its scope and played a visible role addressing such issues as faculty salaries and benefits and university governance. By 1969, with about 25 percent of Rutgers faculty as members, the Rutgers AAUP chapter was one of the largest and most active in the US.

The first collective bargaining agreements for professional employees in higher education were established in the late 1960s, first in two-year institutions and then in four-year colleges. Faculty at different institutions selected different bargaining agents, including the National Education Association (NEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the AAUP, and independent organizations. In 1968, New Jersey's Public Law 303 authorized collective bargaining for public employees. Faculty at the state colleges quickly unionized in elections won by the New Jersey Education Association (affiliated with the NEA).

In February 1970, the AAUP won certification at Rutgers without an election, by gathering signature cards from a large majority of Rutgers faculty. Little conflict accompanied the campaign and the Rutgers administration readily recognized the AAUP as the faculty bargaining agent. By mutual consent, the AAUP and the administration defined the bargaining unit to cover all Rutgers campuses and to include all full-time academic staff members engaged in teaching or research, as well as library and extension staff holding equivalent rank. Faculty members in the Rutgers Medical School and Law School were included, although Medical School faculty soon formed their own bargaining unit when the school was separated from Rutgers and merged with other state medical and dental schools. In 1972, teaching assistants and research assistants were added to the Rutgers faculty bargaining unit.

The AAUP's certification at Rutgers took place in the context of a number of factors. Rutgers expanded rapidly during the 1960s and was transformed into a large research university. The organizational structure at the New Brunswick campus was in flux under the "Federated College Plan," a complicated arrangement intended to centralize the traditionally autonomous colleges. In addition, the state government was increasing centralized oversight of Rutgers, which had been a private institution until 1945 and retained a great deal of autonomy for two decades thereafter. All of these changes raised questions about the lines of authority affecting faculty, and faculty's relationship with the administration and role in decision-making.

By the end of the 1960s, the AAUP at Rutgers, unlike the NEA or AFT, had established itself as a prominent advocate for faculty concerns, and had developed an informal working relationship with the university administration. In addition, several writers have suggested that Rutgers faculty members favored the AAUP, based largely among faculty at prestigious institutions, over the NEA or the AFT, based largely among schoolteachers. Establishing a Rutgers bargaining unit under the AAUP preempted a possible move to include Rutgers faculty in a combined bargaining unit with the state colleges. The Rutgers administration, too, was concerned to preserve the university's autonomy and special status within the state higher education system.

The AAUP's early contracts with Rutgers were simple and brief, focusing primarily on salaries and grievance procedures. The contracts themselves were supplemented by ongoing consultations on a range of issues, with results formalized in letters or memoranda of agreement, and in University policy changes. This relationship was complicated by the administration's conflict with state agencies over who had authority to bargain with Rutgers employees, and for a time the AAUP pursued separate negotiations with both the Rutgers administration and state negotiators.

Professor James P. Begin initiated a study of faculty collective bargaining at Rutgers University in 1970, when he was an assistant research professor at Rutgers University's Institute of Management and Labor Relations. The project, part of a larger study on faculty bargaining at New Jersey institutions of higher education, lasted for several years and was funded by the U.S. Office of Education, the Carnegie Corporation, and Rutgers University. Begin served as principal investigator; several other faculty members and graduate students collaborated with him on the project at different times.

The study explored the origins and impact of faculty bargaining. It examined the reasons faculty organized, faculty expectations of collective bargaining and attitudes both before and after establishment of a bargaining unit, the historical context, internal and external forces that influenced faculty organizing, and collective bargaining's impact on educational policy, the faculty personnel system, long-term planning, and traditional faculty governance. Begin and his colleagues surveyed faculty members, conducted interviews, observed bargaining sessions, and compiled and analyzed documents. Begin continued to gather materials related to the project into the early 1980s.