Faculty Strike Shuts Down Michigan’s Oakland U.

The first day of the fall semester at Oakland University was marked today by the start of a faculty strike that forced the 18,000-student public college in Michigan to cancel classes indefinitely.

The Oakland University chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which represents roughly 600 faculty members, has been in contract talks with the university since mid-May. Among the sticking points are workload issues, how to include the institution’s medical school in the contract, the elimination of some health-insurance plans, no new salary increases, and cuts in summer pay, the union said.

Negotiations are under way today, with the help of a state-appointed mediator. And faculty members and students will rally on the campus this afternoon in support of the strike.

The university, in a written statement, said it hoped to reach an agreement soon, but like many colleges these days, it cited the recession as a reason to be “extremely prudent.”

The AAUP chapter, however, doesn’t buy the idea that money is tight. It held a public meeting on Wednesday to discuss the university’s finances and summarized them in an announcement about the event: “The Michigan economic crisis is real. Oakland’s is not.”