COLLECTIVE BARGAINING COMES TO THE CAMPUS

By Robert K. Carr '29 andDaniel K. VanEyck. Washington, D.C.:American Council on Education, 1973. 314 pp.$9.

Collective bargaining by faculties is a relatively new development on the campuses of the nation's colleges and universities. Its impact therefore on the forms and processes of governance traditional to the academic community is not yet fully discernible. Enough has occurred in the last three or four years, however, to indicate at least the potentiality of this new mechanism for altering profoundly not only the economic and social status of faculty members, but also the educational policies and programs of the institutions they serve. Accordingly, it behooves all members of the academic community, and especially of its faculties, to inform themselves fully of the likely consequences of collective bargaining, including the challenges it poses for the systems of governance and working relationships that are uniquely the products of American experience in higher education.

Faculty members and others will find this timely study by Carr and VanEyck an admirable introduction to the subject and an excellent analysis of the major issues involved. The authors are careful to avoid premature judgments concerning the over-all utility of collective bargaining as the principal means of protecting faculty interests in the academic community. If they seem apprehensive, nevertheless, it is only because they recognize the dangers inherent in a bargaining approach and seek to avoid them by adequately forewarning the parties at interest.

The principal focus of the study is on the question whether the bargaining models and legal framework created over the years to serve the needs of private industry are appropriate to faculty bargaining. The authors develop a plausiblcase for rejecting the wholesale transfer of industrial rules and practices to relationships on the campus. Their warnings as to the likely consequences of assuming otherwise are important

Among the dangers they perceive, several beamention, ven in a brief review. Carr and VanEyck foresee, of course, that aggressive pressure by faculties for economic improvement given existing financial conditions in the nation's colleges, will evoke strong counterpressures for improved productivity in the form of heavier work loads. This is only to be expected and needs no elaboration. They also foresee, however, the strong possibility that the roles in governance of all parties - trustees, president, and students, as well as faculty members - will be fundamentally affected. Thus, collective bargaining is likely to increase the authority and influence of the board of trustees by emphasizing the adversary nature of the relationship between faculty and management; it will almost certainly impose on the president new and painful burdens as he is caught uncomfortably between the main contenders, each vying for his favor and support; and it may well bring new frustrations to students and invite a renewal of confrontations as the locus of control slips away from the structures in which they have only recently won representation. For the faculty, the most difficult task will be that of integrating collective bargaining with traditional forms of shared authority in determining educational policy. Indeed, the latter, sad though it be, may be an impossible task, for there is ample reason to doubt the basic compatibility of the two systems, at least as presently constituted.

What these developments mean ultimately for the professional status and values of faculty members is perforce highly conjectural. Carr and VanEyck are concerned, however, that bargaining will tend to dilute such values as professional integrity, academic excellence, and academic freedom; and they are troubled by the prospects. Their concern is a proper one. There is nothing inevitable about the outcomes, however - the negative effects of bargaining can be avoided. Whether they are or not will depend in no small measure on our willingness and ability to profit from the kind of wise counsel offered in this important study.

Mr. Macdonald, Professor of BusinessEconomics at the Tuck School, teaches coursesand seminars in Industrial Relations.