Unionization in the Academy ─ Visions and Realities

In the first half of her work, DeCew (philosophy, Clark U.) reviews the history of unions of the professoriate in American higher education, reviews some of the arguments for and against unionization, and describes the current state of unionization among professors and other academic workers. She argues that there are major changes that are brought about by unionization, most of which are beneficial to faculty and the schools they work at. She supplements this material with a series of separately authored articles that explore the issue of faculty unionization in relation to academic politics, the wider legal landscape, and part-time faculty. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Judith Wagner DeCew is professor of philosophy and former associate dean at Clark University.