We, undersigned professors from Central, Eastern, Southern, and Western Connecticut State universities, believe that it is our responsibility and moral obligation to speak up on behalf and in support of our faculty colleagues and our students, and to express our deepest concerns about the harmful consequences that the contract proposals by the Board of Regents currently under negotiation will have on our students, our four institutions, and the future workforce of our state.
We would like to emphasize three areas that we deem as the most adversely affected by the proposal: (1) academic freedom and its relationship to teaching quality, (2) faculty research and its direct impact on workforce development for Connecticut, and (3) the necessary role of shared governance, particularly in the accreditation process of the four Connecticut state universities.