Resolution - Tufts University — File 25-0250

A Resolution in Support of a Contract Tufts University's Full-Time Lecturers WHEREAS: The 125 Full-Time Lecturers (FTLs) in the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts have been unionized with SEIU 509 since 2016 and have been bargaining for their 3rd contract since April 2024, seeking a fair contract that allows for both livable salaries and manageable workloads; and WHEREAS: FTLs at Tufts create and teach classes, grade exams, advise and mentor students, and perform essential services that keep Tufts running, including in the case of many FTLs coordinating academic programs, directing graduate admissions and degrees, and supporting extra- and co-curricular activities; and WHEREAS: Tufts University prides itself on the high-quality educational experience provided to students, and valuing a quality educational experience means investing in teachers; and WHEREAS: Lecturers’ working conditions are students’ learning environments; and WHEREAS: Cost of living has increased 21% since 2020 while the average FTL salary has increased only 13.1%, and salaries for FTLs at Tufts rank 12th out of the 13 universities among its institutional peers in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS); and WHEREAS: From 2019-2023, undergraduate enrollment in the School of Arts and sciences grew by 12.4%, while full time faculty growth was only 6.4%, leading to FTLs increasingly being overworked; and WHEREAS: Tufts promises a student-faculty ratio of 9:1 and an average class size of approximately 20, while in reality many entry-level courses taught by FTLs have enrollments between 100 and 400 students, in which FTLs often serve as formal and informal advisors; and WHEREAS: Tufts University charges undergraduates the highest college tuition in Massachusetts and fifth-highest in the country, and reported a $34 million surplus in the School of Arts and Sciences in AY2023-24; and WHEREAS: Tufts leadership has continued to offer bargaining proposals that prioritize budget austerity over workers’ health and livelihoods, and has now retracted an offer to reduce teaching loads, instead proposing the status quo in exchange for a small but still insufficient salary increase; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED: That the Somerville City Council supports the Tufts University Full Time Lecturers Union, SEIU 509, and calls upon Tufts University to prioritize investing in teachers, because both livable wages and sustainable workloads are essential to workers and to the University more broadly.