The new chief executive at the University of Northern Iowa says collective bargaining is part of the school’s “culture” and U-N-I president Mark Nook says professors and administrators are keeping a keen eye on legislative action on the issue.

As currently written, it would restrict bargaining to the subject of base wages. Nook says it will require building “a relationship of real trust” to come up with the new process of negotiating contracts.

 

The union’s leader says after “continued” budget cutbacks on campus and the abrupt exit of Nook’s predecessor, “there’s only so much that faculty and students can take before they lose confidence in U-N-I.” Nook’s “official” first day as U-N-I’s president was February 1st. Republican legislators unveiled their collective bargaining bill last Tuesday and since then Nook’s been fielding concerns from faculty about how their benefits might change and how layoffs might be handled in the future.

 

Nook says the changes would certainly impact morale on campus.