GREG SCHIANO GETS CONTRACT…BUT 1,400 RUTGERS FACULTY ARE LEFT WITH NONE

New Brunswick, NJ – The American Association of University Professors Biomedical and Health Sciences of New Jersey (AAUP-BHSNJ), the union representing 1,400 faculty at Rutgers University’s Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS), continued to chastise Rutgers’ administration officials for their full court press in hiring football coach Greg Schiano. The new football coach will be paid $32 million over the next eight years and receive a car stipend, country club membership and access to a private jet. However, AAUP-BHSNJ members still have no labor contract. 

AAUP-BHSNJ Executive Director Diomedes Tsitouras issued the following statement today:

“The 1,400 union members of AAUP-BHSNJ have been without a contract for 18 months. Where is our full court press from the administration for a contract? Why aren’t they doing everything they can to ensure the hardworking faculty of their school, who have stood by Rutgers and never left it high and dry, have a contract?

“Rutgers did everything it could so they could eventually spend millions of dollars and provide countless perks to a football coach. It would be great if they put that same effort into our faculty, which treat the most vulnerable people in the state and bring millions of dollars in revenue to the University.

“We agree with Governor Murphy: Rutgers is not among the best research and teaching universities in the country without enormous resources and that those resources must be used to stay at a competitive level. Those resources should be used not just for a football coach but for all the faculty that works so hard to make Rutgers what it is.”

AAUP-BHSNJ has launched a campaign, Nothingless4RBHS.org, to remedy pay inequities and reform policies that harm students, staff and patients alike at Rutgers. Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, the academic medical arm of Rutgers, plays an important role in New Jersey. Its clinicians take care of some of the sickest and most vulnerable patients in the state. The faculty teach the next generation of professionals, many of whom stay in state after graduation. Its researchers have also brought Rutgers increased distinction since the UMNDJ-Rutgers merger in 2013.

However, this institution is losing its way.

For example, RBHS Chancellor Brian Strom made $1,120,888 last year. If he was the head of a university, he would be in the top 1% of salary for university chief executives. There are also plans to hire more vice chancellors and other administrators. Meanwhile, New Jersey Medical School is 8^th highest among public medical schools for student debt.

Quite simply, Rutgers’s priorities are misplaced. It needs to invest in students and patients, not only in administrators.

About AAUP-BHSNJ

The AAUP-BHSNJ is an independent, non-profit organization that represents 1,500 faculty at Rutgers/Rowan Universities. These faculty teach the next generation of doctors, nurses, scientists and health professionals. We believe in a vision where our universities are models for faculty engagement and provide a high-quality work environment for everyone.