ROCHESTER, Mich. (AP) — Classes at a suburban Detroit university were canceled indefinitely on Thursday after professors went on strike, upset over being asked to freeze their salaries a year after the university’s president received a $100,000 raise.þþOakland University, which has about 18,000 students, was to begin its fall semester on Thursday, but the teachers’ union authorized a strike the night before. þþThe union, which represents 450 faculty members at the public four-year institution, said it decided to strike after the university proposed a three-year wage freeze along with cuts in health insurance benefits.þþ“It was not something we wanted to do, because we are concerned about the welfare of our students,” said Sharon Mills-Wisneski, an assistant nursing professor, while standing on the picket line at the entrance to the campus here. “But it was something that needed to be done.”þþAbout 25 faculty members and their supporters held signs outside the university Thursday afternoon reading: “We’d Rather be Teaching,” “Better Contract, Better Education” and “Administration Raises: Your Taxes at Work.”þþLast year, the university increased President Gary Russi’s base pay to $350,000 from $250,000.þþAt the time, a university spokesman, Ted Montgomery, said the increase was needed to bring Mr. Russi’s pay in line with the heads of other state schools, but the increase has angered many faculty and students.þþTony Amaro, 30, an engineering student, said faculty members were naturally upset to be asked to take a three-year wage freeze a year after Mr. Russi received a raise.þþ“That’s driving people up the wall,” Mr. Amaro said.þþThe professors went on strike after contract talks under way for months failed to produce a deal. Mr. Montgomery said the school hoped for a quick settlement.þþMichigan leads the country in unemployment, and the state government is facing a multibillion-dollar budget deficit. þþIt is the only state that gave less state tax aid to universities in 2008 than in 2003, according to the annual Grapevine report compiled by Illinois State University faculty.þþ
Source: NY Times
