I want to begin by thanking the members of the University’s and Union’s negotiating teams for their continued good faith efforts over these last two long days of negotiating sessions. These are not easy discussions as each side feels strongly about its positions. While some might find this kind of conviction unsettling, I take it as an indication of the deep care each of these groups has for the broader good of Illinois State University.  

Since I moved into this role in February 2023, I have talked about the importance of people, programs, processes, equity, and purpose. These are not just words for me. They guide everything I do in this role. After twelve years here, many of you know that about me. You know that I listen and that I act on the things you share with me. I care about our faculty, and I care about our students. I know the faculty care about our students as well. I know this because I have talked to them at events, in committee meetings, and in hallways. I know they invest hours in supporting students’ success. This is another area upon which we agree.  

Given that shared sense of purpose, in serving students and serving them well, I and the rest of the University administration are committed to making sure that the salaries we offer our faculty are comparable to those offered by our peers at other Midwest R2 institutions. We acknowledge that neutral third-party benchmarking indicated that average salaries offered to Assistant Professors at Illinois State were close to the average salaries offered by our peers, but the average salaries of Associate Professors and Professors were not keeping pace.  

Consequently, the University sought to address that discrepancy in the offers we provided the Union (e.g., increasing the promotion bumps to Associate Professor and Professor, introducing five-year full professor merit review). In addition to the other economic proposals mentioned in my prior messages, the University presented the following offers to the Union team at yesterday’s session:  

• Further enhancements to the guaranteed funding pools to support across-the-board and merit-based annual base salary increases for tenure-track faculty of 4.50% at the first day of the first full month following ratification. Increases of 3.50% in 2026 and 2027, and 4.00% in 2028 (up from 3.75% following ratification and 3.25% in 2026, 2027 and 2028 in the University’s previous offer). For each of these proposed increases, approximately 60% is an across-the-board increase and approximately 40% is merit-based. 

• Six weeks (30 business days) of paid parental leave for all tenure-track faculty (up from four weeks in the University’s previous offer). This new benefit could be combined with other existing paid benefit time that can already be used for parental leave to extend the leave beyond 6 weeks.  

The University is committed to reaching an agreement because we know that our faculty and staff allow Illinois State to remain a school of choice, when many schools are experiencing significant declines in enrollment. They allow us to keep doing what we do, which is to serve students well. Our students are very important to me, and I know they are important to our faculty as well. That is why I remain steadfast in my belief, even as the deadline for the first day of a strike draws near, that we can reach a mutually acceptable agreement that is fair, fiscally responsible, and sustainable in the long term for Illinois State University.