Fellow Adjuncts,
Welcome back to Roosevelt and the 2017-2018 school year.
Roosevelt’s restructuring continues apace, and there is no more visible symbol of the change than the fact that the adjunct office in the Chicago campus is now located in room 254. This is the office for all adjuncts, from those who have taught in the Auditorium Theatre building to those that taught exclusively at the Gage Building. All classes are now in the Auditorium building or the Wabash tower – and all adjuncts are now going to be in 254.
So is RAFO.
Our office has been relocated to room 254A – at the east end of 254. This gives RAFO an opportunity to hear from more of you as directly as we can, and for all of us to work together in ways that can help each other through the changes at Roosevelt. At the same time, it allows us to both show the RU community why adjuncts are such an integral part of the school and for us to demand that respect to adjuncts is both deserved and earned by all of us.
Our membership meeting is September 7 from 1-6 p.m. in AUD 825, and we are asking all adjuncts who are full members of the RAFO bargaining unit to cast ballots on the tentative contract agreement which RAFO reached with the administration this past July. We are also asking that ALL adjuncts become full voting members of RAFO so that you can participate in union decision-making (such as contract ratification) and help build new leadership and directions for the union, all while monitoring the university as the work to stabilize and eventually grow RU continues.
Roosevelt promotes a mission of social justice. RAFO truly works to make that mission real for all adjuncts, and for RU and in academia writ large. Higher education continues to be under stress in this country, and schools like Roosevelt serve as important entries for the students it works to graduate. Adjuncts are just as essential, and RAFO is here to make sure that we continue to be recognized.
So when you come to the adjunct office, knock on our door and say hi. We need to hear from you as the school year begins and throughout the year.
Welcome back.
In solidarity,
The Executive Committee
Roosevelt Adjunct Faculty Organization
Illinois Education Association/National Education Association