A faculty union has accused Steven Rosenstone, the chancellor of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, of acting in "bad faith" by announcing plans to call in a state mediator to help iron out their differences.
Jim Grabowska, president of the Inter Faculty Organization, said his group would not accept the mediation offer "under these circumstances," calling it a "political ploy" because the offer was announced publicly before the unions were notified.
Rosenstone announced Thursday that he was asking the state Bureau of Mediation Services to intervene after the two faculty unions announced that they would no longer participate in an ambitious overhaul plan for the system's 31 colleges and universities because of "concerns about trust and transparency." Faculty groups at five state universities recently have voted no-confidence in Rosenstone.
The chancellor asked the two unions to join in the mediation. "After two solid years of hard work, it is MnSCU's hope that an impartial third party with expertise in collaboration and dispute resolution can help us find a way to re-engage the faculty in this critical initiative," he said in a written statement.
The Charting the Future plan is designed to encourage more collaboration and innovation among the system's 54 campuses, officials say.
The second union, the Minnesota State College Faculty, has not said whether it will participate in mediation.
Maura Lerner • 612-673-7384
