Polk County Education
16A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 3, 2016
SCHOOL NOTES
Free aviation workshop Feb. 20-21
INDEPENDENCE — The International Experimental Aircraft As-
sociation (Salem Chapter) will ofer a free workshop on sport avi-
ation and aerospace on Feb. 20 and 21. The event will take place
at the Independence Air Park and is open to students ages 14 to
18.
Participants will be exposed to the physics of light, weather,
map reading/GPS, simulators, hands-on inspection of aircraft,
aircraft construction/aerospace materials, careers in aviation and
more.
Visit www.polkio.com for a link to register or for more infor-
mation.
Career workshops open to CHS students
INDEPENDENCE — The Panthers Academic Center Beyond
the Bell program is sponsoring a series of career and job skills
workshops.
The second workshop will be Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. and will
focus on writing efective resumes and cover letters. Workshops
are open to all students at Central High School.
For more information: Prindi Flug, plug@central.k12.or.us,
Stacy Olson, solson@central.k12.or.us, or Tresa Henderson, then-
derson@central.k12.or.us.
Health care scholarship available
POLK COUNTY — Applications are being accepted for the
West Valley Hospital Foundation scholarship for students in
medically related ields of study.
All applications must be received by March 25.
Applicants must have a permanent residence in Polk County
or be a current employee or family member of a current employ-
ee at West Valley Hospital and must have applied to a college in
their ield of study before applying for the scholarship.
Visit www.salemhealth.org/scholarships for forms.
Call 503-831-3456 for more information.
DHS hosts robotics event Saturday
DALLAS — More than 30 robotics teams from around Oregon
and Washington will compete Saturday at Dallas High School’s
third annual robotics tournament.
Competitions run from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the DHS forum
and cafeteria, 1250 SE Holman Ave. Members of the public are
invited to watch the competition, which pits the teams’ robotics
against each other in a set of pre-determined tasks.
For more information: Lee.Jones@dsd2.org.
ACADEMIC HONORS
George Fox announces graduates
NEWBERG — Two Polk County students earned degrees dur-
ing George Fox University’s mid-year commencement ceremony
on Dec. 19.
From Dallas: Amy Lowery, Master of Business Administration.
From Monmouth: Hailee Gates, Bachelor of Science in psy-
chology.
More than 250 students received undergraduate and gradu-
ate diplomas during the ceremony.
Local students earn dean’s list honors
NEWBERG — More than 850 traditional undergraduate stu-
dents earned dean’s list recognition at George Fox University in
the fall of 2015. Students must earn a 3.5 GPA or above on 12 or
more hours of graded work to earn a spot on the dean’s list.
Polk County students are:
Dallas: Michaiah Annear, freshman, elementary education;
Asheley Crabtree, sophomore, accounting; Courtney DuMond,
senior, biology; Savanna Poston, freshman, organizational com-
munication.
Monmouth: Ben Griner, senior, computer science; Colton
Magill, sophomore, economics and inance.
EMILY MENTZER/Itemizer-Observer
Western Oregon University non-tenure-track faculty and tenure-track faculty joined together in a demonstration
outside of Werner University Center on Jan. 27 to protest the lack of contract between the teachers and university.
UNSETTLED TERMS
Western Oregon officials, teachers agree on all but salary in negotiations
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — The as-
sociate professors at West-
ern Oregon University have
been working without a
contract since the begin-
ning of the year, said Mark
Perlman, president of the
WOU Federation of Teach-
ers union.
“It was either extend the
contract through June or
nothing,” he said at the Jan.
27 WOU Board of Trustees
meeting. “The university
chose nothing.”
Members of the WOU fac-
ulty union gathered in front
of Werner University Center
to express their distaste over
the negotiations before
marching to the administra-
tion building to “Tell Presi-
dent Rex Fuller” what they
thought of the current pro-
posal.
The bargaining teams
from both WOU and the
union have been in negotia-
tions since February 2015,
Perlman said, but have
reached an impasse when it
comes to salaries.
When bargaining started,
the university had projected
an increase in enrollment,
which would have meant
more money from tuition
and fees, WOU’s website
states. Instead, enrollment is
down at Western 3.5 percent,
or about 160 full-time equiv-
alent students.
President Rex Fuller said
in a report to the board that
being short by 100 FTE stu-
dents was about the same as
$1 million less in revenue,
assuming the current mix of
EMILY MENTZER/Itemizer-Observer
Faculty have been working without a contract at Western
Oregon University since the beginning of the year.
resident and nonresident
students.
The university’s most re-
cent proposal incudes a 7
percent raise over two years,
with 5 percent coming the
first year and 2 percent the
second, with an additional 3
percent increase in the sec-
ond year if fall 2016 enroll-
ment increases by 100 FTE
students over the 2015 fall
enrollment.
The way tenure track fac-
ulty are paid is different
from the way non-tenure-
track faculty are paid, and
that was one of the topics of
conversation at the Jan. 27
meeting.
Universities have a two-
tier system: tenure track fac-
ulty and non-tenure track
faculty, David Rives, presi-
dent of the American Feder-
ation of Teachers of Oregon,
said at the meeting, where
roughly 60 people attended.
Non-tenured-track, or as-
sociate professors, work year
to year, on appointment, at a
lower rate of pay than
tenured professors, Rives
said.
“These are the same
teachers, same quality,” he
said. “If you were to ask a
student, ‘is your teacher
tenure-track or non-tenure
track,’ they couldn’t tell
you.”
Rives said it is time for
universities to end this prac-
tice, particularly since non-
tenured professors make up
76 percent of instructors on
campuses in Oregon.
Molly Mayhead, professor
of communication studies,
has worked at WOU for 28
years.
She is a tenured faculty
member, and spoke about
how Western administrators
have increased in number
and in pay.
“One administrator was
given a $23,000 salary in-
crease in a three-year peri-
od,” she said. “And then they
have the audacity to turn to
us with the words, ‘I’m sorry,
there’s no more money,’
dripping from their lips.”
WOU senior Jenesa Ross
said she is worried about the
pocketbooks of students.
“The students don’t have
DALLAS 121 Main St. • 503-623-8155
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the money,” she said. “We
don’t know where our next
meal is coming from; 64 per-
cent of us are food insecure.”
Ross said she agrees that
teachers shouldn’t be divid-
ed, but noted that increasing
tuition is pricing people out
of an education.
“I’m $40,000 in debt when
I’m done here,” she said. “I
have to pay that back, and I
don’t know how I’m going to
do it. I really don’t.”
Chloe Hughes said when
she started working at WOU
in 2003 as an adjunct profes-
sor, she found it difficult to
survive on the income.
“I was a single mother
and regularly had to make
choices about whether I was
going to put gas in my car or
feed my kids,” said Hughes,
now the coordinator of the
undergraduate and post-
baccalaureate teach educa-
tion program. “That’s a very
difficult choice to make.”
Hughes said teachers at
WOU also use food banks.
Members of the union say
the average salary for a non-
tenure-track professor is
$33,000, $13,000 short of the
living wage for Polk County,
based on Massachusetts In-
stitute of Technology’s “Liv-
ing Wage Calculator.”
“John Minahan, you actu-
ally took a salary cut and
you led the way,” she said to
Minahan, who is a member
of the board of trustees. “I
can’t get over how many in-
creases there have been on
this campus, and we’re say-
ing we can’t afford to give in-
creases to faculty here.”
Minahan was president of
WOU from 2005 to 2011.
Perlman said the differ-
ence between what the
union is asking and what the
university is proposing is
$210,000.
According to the universi-
ty, the difference between
the two proposals is larger.
According to WOU, the uni-
versity’s proposal would cost
$2.89 million over the bienni-
um, while the union’s propos-
al will cost $4.23 million.
For more information
about the negotiations, in-
cluding copies of docu-
ments used in talks between
the university and union:
www.wou.edu/facultynego-
tiations.
Mon-Fri 8AM - 6PM • Sat 8AM - 5PM
Prices good through February 29, 2016