James McAfee continued to stew after campus police ordered the Indiana University of Pennsylvania junior to drop his bullhorn and cease efforts to rally students in support of striking faculty members.
IUP professors and instructors Wednesday joined counterparts at 13 other state-owned universities in the first strike in the 33-year history of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education.
“We're here another whole year if they have to cancel the semester,” said McAfee of Johnstown.
Members of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties hit the picket line after state-system negotiators issued what they called their last, best contract offer a night earlier and called off talks.
The two sides remain divided over salary and benefit issues.
The strike capped nearly two years of unsuccessful contract talks and prompted students at IUP and other universities including Slippery Rock, Millersville and Kutztown to rally in support of faculty members who have worked without a contract since June 30, 2015. Gov. Tom Wolf urged the sides to remain at the bargaining table Tuesday night, a spokesman said. On Wednesday, Wolf reached out again to get talks resumed.
Although spokesmen for the state system and faculty union said Wednesday they want to resolve differences, no new bargaining sessions have been scheduled.
At stake is the future of the fall semester for more than 104,000 students and 5,000 professors and instructors at universities including California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock in Western Pennsylvania.
Scores of IUP students took to the streets after campus police ordered rally organizers and members of the university marching band to leave Oak Grove, a campus center where students have gathered for generations. The university enforced its student code of conduct, which requires any event where a student “is using more than their own voice” to obtain a permit, IUP spokeswoman Michelle Fryling said.
“They're violating our First- and Fourth-amendment rights,” McAfee said, still clutching his bullhorn as he regrouped with students near a faculty picket line at the edge of the campus.
“It's time for students to step up and take a stand,” added senior Vince Lopez, a past president of IUP's Student Government Association.
Students have been muzzled by IUP's administration and the state system, which has had three vacant student positions on its board of governors for more than a year, Lopez said.
Although state system Chancellor Frank Brogan previously said universities had contingency plans in place and advised students to show up for class, IUP students who did report said they found classrooms empty Wednesday morning.
“I went to class this morning and there was no one there,” said junior Sarah Moltz, 21, of Pittsburgh.
The atmosphere at IUP took on a festive mood by the afternoon as students gathered with striking professors in the sunshine. Some students pulled wagons offering bottled water, sandwiches and snacks to picketing professors. Others carried handmade signs alongside the faculty.
Student support was overwhelming, faculty members said.
“I'm really heartened by this,” said political science professor Steven Jackson, a professor for 22 years, as student after student stopped to offer encouragement.
Senior nursing student Elise Palmer said the quality of IUP's program drew her from Philadelphia.
“These people are like family,” Palmer said as she marched with her professors.
“I'm having to fight back tears,” math professor Yuliya Melinkova said as the school band regrouped on a traffic island near her picket site and began playing “Amazing Grace.”
While most students seemed to sympathize with their professors as the strike got underway, many said they worry about the academic and financial toll a prolonged strike could exact.
“I don't want it to last too long,” said senior Amber Bailey of Palmyra.
At Slippery Rock in rural Butler County, freshman Katelyn Kuniak, 18, a recent graduate of Highlands High School in Harrison, worried that her class credits might not count if the strike goes on too long.
“My parents are paying for at least the first few semesters,” she said. “I would not want them to have just wasted all that money for this semester.”
Lori Christie of Lower Burrell said she's worried about her son, Cody, an 18-year-old Slippery Rock freshman.
There are just too many unanswered questions, she said.
“We're concerned is he going to have his full semester credit? Are kids graduating on time? Is this going to affect us financially?” Lori Christie said. “We really haven't had any communication to find out the answers to any of these things.”
Debra Erdley is a Tribune-Review staff writer.She can be reached at 412-320-7996 or derdley@tribweb.com. Reporter Emily Balser contributed.
