As a part of the RAFO Contract, the Executive Committee meets with President Ali and Provost Lois Becker once a semester to discuss the ongoing progress and changes at the university in regard to the adjunct faculty and our union membership. Here are the main takeaways from our December 18 meeting with the President.

• The “new normal” incoming freshman classes will hover between 350 – 400 students with the greater emphasis on bringing in transfer and graduate students rather than larger freshman classes.
• With an increase in transfer students, more evening and weekend classes will be available for adjunct faculty to teach in the upcoming terms.
• Harper Community College opened a University Center on their campus which will house programs from three universities including Roosevelt. Some of the programs Roosevelt University will be offering at Harper’s University Center include Health Science Administration and Criminal Justice with room to grow other programs in correlation with the Harper College general education requirements. Adjunct faculty members will be asked to teach these courses onsite at Harper. The next steps for RU will be to implement similar programs at College of DuPage, Oakton Community College, and Lake County College.
• Changes to the general education requirements are reducing the ACP courses by two and thus, increasing the electives in other academic areas like philosophy, history, literature, and the social sciences.
• Roosevelt University is completing the final stages of moving programs and offices from the Gage Building so the property can be sold. These profits will be used to lower the overall debt of the university.

If you have additional questions about this summary or would like to participate as a member at large at the next Presidents’ Meeting, please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Jen Wilson, Vice President
RAFO

Published: 02 February 2018

From Chris Broniak, Membership Chair

A new adjunct asks why the bargaining agreement between Roosevelt University and Roosevelt’s Adjunct Faculty Organization (RAFO) forces adjuncts to join the union. Just to be clear: RAFO doesn't force anyone to do anything they don't want to do. Some adjuncts choose not to join our organization - but they also understand that they will not be eligible to teach more than a second course at Roosevelt if they do not at least complete the paperwork needed by the end of their second term of teaching.

My experience has been that many of the new adjuncts who object to joining our part time faculty union more often than not have a full time non-academic job outside of teaching at Roosevelt. Now when your company respects you and the work you do, you don’t need a union. But adjuncts who don’t have a full time job, who patch together part time teaching at two or three or more area colleges and universities, without the benefits of a full time job, need an organization that “forces” their employer to respect them and what they do. That’s where RAFO comes in.

You most likely won’t notice the respect our bargaining agreement earns its members until you see that Roosevelt’s compensation for an adjunct's first term is a little less than 60% of what RAFO members earn for a course after they’ve completed their first term with the union. The compensation schedule for RAFO adjuncts can be found in Appendix A of RAFO's current bargaining agreement.

The increase in compensation more than offsets the cost of membership dues. If you read closely through the current contract, you’ll see that RAFO has gained other professional rights and opportunities for its members.

If you haven’t already signed up with RAFO, I hope you’ll sign up with us. The benefits of belonging to RAFO far outweigh its costs. Feel free to contact me or any of RAFO’s officers for any further information you may need. We appreciate your interest.

Published: 24 January 2018

Published: 11 January 2018

Published: 05 December 2017