Oakland’s legacy is its alumni. Our personal and professional successes are a direct result of our time at Oakland and the relationships we built on campus, particularly our relationships with professors. Their academic and personal investments in us cannot be overstated, and now it is time for us to pay back that investment.

As alumni, we must stand in solidarity with the faculty. These contract negotiations have been unfair from the start, and our professors deserve better. As an alum, you can support your professors in the following way:

1. Follow the faculty union blog along with their social media pages – Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
2. Join faculty on the picket lines at Oakland University main entrances.
3. Join the Alumni Friends of Oakland AAUP Facebook group.
4. Call or email Oakland University leadership. Administration needs to know that alumni support their professors long after graduation. 
5. Sign the student-led petition supporting faculty.

Alumni should be proud of their alma mater. It’s hard to be proud when the Board of Trustees and the administration disrespect and devalue the cornerstone of a university: its educators. It is my hope that leadership will see the value in OU’s professors and negotiate an equitable contract.

Sincerely,

Caroline Wolber (she/her)

College of Arts & Sciences ‘18

2018 Human Relations Award recipient