Dear colleagues,

     Over the years I have been reading Fritz Efaw's contributions to the
UTCSTAFF listserve.  I generally find them somewhat too negative and bitter
for my tastes, but I wholeheartedly agree with Fritz in his assessment of the
need for UTC faculty to unionize.
     I have been a faculty member at UTC since 1973, and for ten years I
served as a Department Head, so I speak from experience.  I can tell you with
complete confidence that the folks who make up the UTC administration are
generally very good people who are well meaning.  They would love it if all
faculty at UTC were adequately paid.  However, I can also assure you that they
do not have the ability to make that happen.  They simply can't do it.  Nor
will the Tennessee legislators ever adequately fund education unless they are
forced to do so.  They lack the backbone.  My colleagues, if you want to sit
back and wait to be rescued by the administration or the legislature, you will
be very badly disappointed.  You must rescue yourselves.
     If salaries at UTC are not brought up to a competitive level very soon,
this fine university is doomed.  We will lose our most promising younger
faculty members, we will be able to replace them only with the mediocre, and
our more senior faculty will become alienated and bitter.  My colleagues,
please don't let that happen.  If you love UTC and care about the quality of
higher education in southeast Tennessee, then please UNIONIZE.

Sincerely,

Leland W. Robinson
Professor of Sociology