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In 2015, AAUP-Utica negotiated a comprehensive 26-article CBA covering academic freedom, governance, appointments, tenure, promotion, workload, compensation, benefits, and grievances. Still the foundation of your contract today.
Covers all full-time tenure-track and tenured faculty, NTE faculty, Librarians, and HEOP personnel at Utica University.
A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is a signed, ratified agreement that modifies, expands, or extends the base CBA. Since 2016, AAUP-Utica has signed 15 MOAs — each legally binding and in effect alongside the original CBA.
To know your current rights on any topic, you need the original CBA plus any MOAs that modified that provision. This guide helps you find the current answer, not just the original one.
Six months of intensive negotiations, grounded in member surveys, grievance data, retrenchment meeting feedback, and advice from AAUP national financial experts and our labor lawyer. Here is what your union secured.
A defined, time-limited contribution to the university's long-term financial health — negotiated by union leaders who studied every number — paired with a legally binding salary growth roadmap through 2030.
The full picture: AY 2026–27 salaries are frozen at January 2026 levels — a 3.5% reduction from the temporarily restored levels. This is a shared, defined contribution to the university's financial stability, made by union leaders who spent more than 100 hours in April and May alone understanding every lever of that financial situation. It comes with a legally binding growth roadmap: 2.5% in AY 2027–28, 2.75% in 2028–29, and 3.0% in 2029–30, plus fixed-dollar additions and DOE benchmark bonuses. This is not an open-ended concession — it is a finite trade with a clear exit.
Temporary, not permanent. Employer contributions are reduced starting August 2026, with full restoration to original contractual amounts by August 1, 2029 — legally binding. You continue advancing through tiers normally throughout the reduction period; your tier status is not affected. The binding restoration date and tier protection were non-negotiable requirements from AAUP-Utica leadership going into negotiations.
For the first time, if you're retrenched, you choose what comes next. And two new voluntary pathways let faculty leave on their own terms.
These options came directly out of Fall 2025 retrenchment meeting feedback and have never existed in the CBA before. If retrenched, you choose from three options:
Option A — Severance: 3 months of gross salary (calculated on a 10-month basis) plus the right to continue university health insurance for 12 months after separation. Unemployment benefits will not be contested.
Option B — Half-Time Off-Ramp: Work half-load for one full academic year at half salary with full benefits. Unemployment benefits will not be contested at the end of the off-ramp.
Option C — Retirement: If eligible under the CBA, submit a retirement letter and receive all retirement benefits, plus the university covers your employee health insurance contributions for up to 3 years.
Under all options, you retain tuition benefits for yourself and your immediate family at Utica University. And critically: full reimbursement of all salary and retirement reductions from AY 2024–25, 2025–26, and 2026–27 — you get back what was reduced over those three years.
Transitional Sabbatical (new): At least two guaranteed per year. Eligible members (10+ years of service) who commit to a December 31 retirement receive a fall semester at full pay with no duties. Apply by January 25. A dignified, compensated path out — on your terms, not the university's.
Voluntary Half-Time Off-Ramp (expanded): Faculty and librarians who submit an irrevocable resignation or retirement letter may elect to work half-load at half-salary for up to two years, retaining full benefits, rank, and seniority. During the off-ramp, meeting attendance, advising, admissions events, and other non-teaching duties are explicitly not expected and may not count against you.
Nine new contractual protections: no AI surveillance of your performance, no AI in tenure or discipline decisions, and the right to opt out of any platform without penalty.
The first AI protections ever negotiated into this contract — covering nine distinct provisions:
Fewer required processes, fewer mandatory reviews, fewer administrative hoops. Two specific duty requirements — admissions event attendance and outside employment approval — are eliminated entirely. All meetings must now offer a remote option.
Tenure-track faculty are now automatically reappointed in years 1 and 4 of the standard 6-year track — you cannot be non-renewed in those years except for just cause or retrenchment. This means fewer review meetings, fewer points of vulnerability, and two fewer moments where your continuation could be called into question without cause. On shortened tenure schedules (3, 4, or 5 years), the automatic reappointment years are adjusted proportionally.
For tenure-track faculty hired on or after August 1, 2026: the tenure application is also the promotion application — one set of materials, one set of meetings, one simultaneous decision. Earning tenure means automatic promotion to Associate Professor. Eliminates the second round of applications, meetings, and decisions that currently follow tenure. Faculty hired before that date still apply separately and remain eligible to do so.
Faculty and librarians who meet the criteria (10+ years of service, good standing, irrevocable retirement declaration) are now automatically granted emeritus status — the old process requiring a faculty vote is eliminated. Retroactive: members who retired on or before May 31, 2026 and qualify may request status directly from the Provost. Emeritus benefits include university title, email, library access, recreational facilities, dining, parking, and bookstore discount.
The prior requirement to seek advance Provost approval before taking outside paid professional work is gone. You no longer need to submit a form and wait for permission to consult, advise, or pursue other professional activities. The only remaining check: if the Provost identifies an actual conflict of interest, they must meet with you first (you may bring a union representative); they can only require you to stop the conflicting portion; you may appeal to the Hearing Committee; and you may continue the outside work during the appeal period. Any discipline under this provision requires just cause and is subject to the grievance procedure.
Administrative overreach — using attendance requirements and review processes as tools of pressure and control — has been a persistent and growing concern. This MOA directly addresses it: non-attendance at meetings can no longer be used against you in any disciplinary or review procedure.
The old contract language requiring faculty to "attend scheduled meetings of the School, Department, and the College" as a compellable duty — subject to discipline — is replaced. The new language: attendance at Faculty Senate and university meetings is expected as part of service, but non-attendance shall not be used punitively in any disciplinary procedure. The same protection applies to Commencement and Convocation. All meetings must provide a remote option where possible. The requirement to attend at least one on-campus admissions event each year is fully stricken. Attendance may still count positively toward service in reappointment, tenure, and promotion — it simply cannot be weaponized against you.
More transparency about the university's financial calculations. More transparency about administratively-created committees and who sits on them. More shared governance — including a new joint task force to ensure faculty have a voice in how AI and technology are implemented.
Financial transparency: The university must now provide AAUP-Utica with audited financial statements upon completion, plus the DOE financial ratio calculation and the Debt Service Coverage Ratio — the same numbers that drive budget decisions.
Committee transparency: Twice each year (January and September), the university must publish a complete roster of all non-departmental committees, task forces, and workgroups — name, purpose, every member's name and affiliation, whether they were elected or appointed, who appointed them, and the expected end date. This creates visibility into whether appointed task forces are being used to route decisions around Faculty Senate and established shared governance channels.
Expanded union voice: AAUP-Utica representation in Meet & Discuss meetings increases from 2 to 4 members, with agendas jointly prepared by both parties.
Joint Technology Task Force: A Joint Labor Management Technology Task Force is established to evaluate technology procurement — including AI — and its impact on bargaining unit working conditions, with recommendations back to the union and the Academic Technology Committee.
A practical option for faculty in a housing transition — or new hires looking for somewhere to land while apartment hunting.
Bargaining unit members may now request on-campus housing in University residential facilities through the Office of Human Resources. Housing is assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to availability, and includes a private bathroom. Members are charged the University's standard monthly rate less a 10% discount. Agreements are term-based (Fall, Spring, or Summer) and renewable each semester. Pioneer Village units are excluded.
The most-asked-about topics in plain language — with full article citations and what changed in recent MOAs. Expand any section for complete detail.
On a 6-year schedule, reviews occur in years 2, 3, and 5. Years 1 and 4 are now automatic reappointments (2026 draft MOA) — you cannot be non-renewed in those years except for just cause or retrenchment. Notice deadlines: by March 1 in year 1; by December 15 in year 2; at least 12 months in advance after 2+ years.
First appointment: 1–3 years (or 1.5/2.5 if starting in January). All subsequent appointments: minimum 3-year terms. If the university converts your NTE position to tenure-track, you have the right to apply. (MOA #4 & #5, 2018)
Retrenchment is "an extreme measure not to be entered into lightly." Before any decision, the Provost must give 180 days' notice to the union. Order of layoffs: part-time employees first, then NTE faculty, then tenured faculty. (Article 15, strengthened by MOA #11, 2023)
Under the 2026 draft MOA: if retrenched, choose severance, half-time off-ramp, or retirement. The university will not contest your unemployment benefits for the first two options.
Under the pending 2026 MOA, AY 2026–2027 salaries are frozen at January 2026 levels — a 3.5% reduction from the temporarily restored levels — as a contribution to the university's long-term financial stability. Annual increases then resume in AY 2027–2028: 2.5%, 2.75%, 3.0% through 2029–2030, plus fixed-dollar additions and DOE benchmark bonuses.
AY 2026–2027: to Distinguished Professor $11,309.46; to Full Professor $9,952.32; to Associate Professor $7,351.15; to Librarian III $8,029.72; to Librarian II $5,089.26.
AY 2026–2027 per-course rates: Professor / Distinguished Professor $1,809.52; Associate Professor $1,653.18; Assistant Professor / Professor of Practice $1,500.91; Instructor / Librarian $1,389.42.
Your required duties apply only during the Academic Year — approximately 9 months, from 3 business days before Fall semester through Commencement in May. No adverse consequences for not working during breaks. Deadlines requiring break-period work must be bargained through the union. (MOA #11, 2023)
Qualified bargaining unit members who have expressed interest have the right of first refusal (up to a 3 contact-hour overload per session) before courses are offered to non-bargaining-unit members.
Enrollment guidelines govern all courses. A one-year pilot (Jan–Dec 2025) allowed online course max enrollment to increase up to 25% for courses capped at ≤20. Any permanent change requires effects bargaining with the union first.
All bargaining unit members are entitled to one full semester of paid leave upon the birth or adoption of a child. This applies equally to all parents, regardless of gender. Available after your first year of service (waivable at university discretion). Taking parental leave cannot be held against you in reappointment, tenure, or promotion decisions. Tenure clock extension: upon request, your tenure clock extends by one year per qualifying event (max two years total).
HEOP and Librarian staff specifically receive 16 weeks of fully paid birth or adoption leave immediately following the qualifying event, upon request. (MOA #2, 2017)
Weeks 1–16: 100% of salary. Weeks 17–26: 60% of salary (New York State DBL/PFL benefits may supplement).
After 26 weeks: 60% of salary. The College waives your life insurance and health coverage premiums for the duration of the disability. Benefits continue until end of disability, Social Security retirement age, or death — whichever comes first.
For situations not covered by other leave provisions: up to 12 months, approved at the discretion of the Provost and VP of Human Resources. May be paid or unpaid. Salary increases continue to apply during paid non-statutory leave.
Tenured faculty: eligible every 7th year — one semester at full pay, or one full year at half pay, with full benefits. Mini-sabbatical (tenured): half teaching load at full pay for up to two semesters, every 5th year (up to 3/year guaranteed). Mini-sabbatical (tenure-track, years 4–6): same structure; cannot be counted against you in tenure decisions; apply by April 15. Transitional Sabbatical (2026 Draft MOA §19): fall semester, full pay, no duties; must retire December 31; 10+ years of service required; apply by January 25.
University-provided group health care plans. Departing faculty (MOA #13, Feb. 2026): if you resign with deferred salary continuing through July 31, you can maintain current coverage at the same employee cost — premiums deducted automatically from deferred salary.
Employer contributions are tiered. Under the 2026 draft MOA, contributions are temporarily reduced starting August 2026, with full restoration to original contractual amounts by August 1, 2029.
Any matter involving the application, interpretation, or enforcement of the CBA. Grievances have time limits — act promptly and contact your AAUP-Utica representative.
If you are called into a meeting that you reasonably believe could lead to discipline, you have the right to request union representation before the meeting continues. The university must notify the union prior to any such interview. You can say: "I'd like union representation before we continue."
The university must follow a progressive discipline system. All discipline requires just cause and is subject to the grievance procedure.
You have the right to review your own file. You must be notified of — and may respond to — any material placed in your file.
Freedom to teach in and outside the classroom, conduct research, express views on professional matters, and exercise free speech as a citizen. The university cannot discipline you for the good-faith exercise of these rights.
No program may be deactivated or deleted without completing the full process — requiring input from the affected department, School/Division, Curriculum Committee, and Faculty Senate before any Board decision.
Two union-selected bargaining unit members attend all formal Board of Trustee meetings as participatory, non-voting guests and receive all documents shared at those meetings. Extended permanently through the CBA. (MOAs #11, #14)
Criteria: Teaching, Professional Accomplishment, and Service (plus Leadership for Full Professor). For TT hires after August 1, 2026: tenure = simultaneous promotion to Associate — one application, one decision.
Criteria: 10+ years of service; good standing; irrevocable retirement declaration. Under the 2026 draft MOA, emeritus status is granted automatically — no faculty vote required. Retroactive: members who retired on or before May 31, 2026 and qualify may request it from the Provost.
Every agreement currently in effect in chronological order.
The foundation: 26 articles covering academic freedom, governance, appointments, tenure, promotion, workload, compensation, benefits, and grievances. Still governs everything not modified by a later MOA.
📄 View PDF →Salary and benefit changes in the new CBA apply retroactively to June 1, 2015 for active employees and specified recent retirees.
📄 View PDF →HEOP and Librarian staff receive 16 weeks of fully paid birth or adoption leave immediately following the qualifying event.
📄 View PDF →NTE faculty with January start dates may be appointed for 1.5 or 2.5 years (in addition to standard 1/2/3-year terms). Adds formal right to appeal non-renewal recommendations to the Provost and President, with union assistance.
📄 View PDF →Splits the School of Arts and Sciences into two separate divisions — Natural Sciences & Mathematics and Humanities & Social Sciences — for purposes of tenure, reappointment, and promotion consultation. Deans now consult with the faculty of the relevant division rather than the full school.
📄 View PDF →Extended CBA through May 31, 2021. Temporary 7.625% salary reduction for those earning $55,001+. Optional tenure clock extension. No-layoff commitment during the term.
📄 View PDF →Workload impacts of the hybrid Fall 2020 reopening; NTT credits for faculty whose students shifted online due to COVID; calendar accommodations for 2020–2021.
📄 View PDF →Extended CBA through May 31, 2022. Maintained compensation levels with a bonus provision; continued COVID accommodations for SOOTs and tenure clock.
📄 View PDF →Members of the AAUP-Utica bargaining unit who choose not to install the Duo mobile app on their personal devices will be issued a Utica University iPad capable of running the Duo app. The university agreed that while MFA is acceptable as a security measure, mandatory installation on personally owned devices is not.
📄 View PDF →Formal remote/hybrid work framework for Librarian and HEOP staff: flexible scheduling, remote days, and the process for requesting and modifying arrangements.
📄 View PDF →Major expansion: defined academic year scope; strengthened retrenchment procedures; salary increases 3.5% and 3.75%; Board of Trustee observer seats; COVID PDC provisions codified permanently.
📄 View PDF →Temporary salary reduction in second half of AY 2024–2025. One-year pilot allowing online course enrollment caps to increase up to 25% for courses capped at ≤20; any permanent change requires effects bargaining.
📄 View PDF →Settled grievance Case 01-23-0000-9549. Defined Curriculum Committee authority and established full program deactivation/deletion procedures requiring faculty involvement at every step.
📄 View PDF →3.5% salary reduction for second half of AY 2025–2026; full restoration June 1, 2026. Pending retrenchment notices and the October 7, 2025 grievance both withdrawn. Board of Trustees participation extended permanently.
📄 View PDF →Faculty who resign with deferred salary running through July 31 may continue existing health insurance at the same employee cost, with premiums deducted from deferred salary.
📄 View PDF →Extends CBA through May 31, 2030. Salaries frozen at January 2026 levels for AY 2026–27 (a 3.5% reduction, to support university financial stability), then annual increases through 2030; new retrenchment options; automatic reappointment in tenure years 1 & 4; tenure = promotion to Associate for new TT hires; automatic emeritus status; professional development fund growth trigger.
📄 View PDF →