Category: Open Letter
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2024-2025 Year-End Summary
This annual letter summarizes our accomplishments over the past year and serves as a historical record for our chapter. Membership and Recruitment Our dues-paying membership decreased slightly from 71 members (out of 164 voting faculty) in May 2024 — to 62 members (out of 161 voting faculty) in May 2025, slightly reducing our representation from…
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Reclaiming Gallaudet’s Mission, Together
Gallaudet’s administration is suspending core majors like Math, History, and Spanish without faculty input or proper process, violating both the Faculty Handbook and federal standards. This undermines Gallaudet’s mission to provide a full bilingual education to Deaf students and risks narrowing their futures. We call on the community to speak up and defend the university’s…
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2023 salary data show stark inequities between Gallaudet administrator and faculty pay
Gallaudet administrators are among the higher-paid university administrators in the Washington, DC area, while Gallaudet faculty are among the lowest paid, according to 2023 federal salary data. Moreover, based on MIT’s Living Wage calculations, most Gallaudet faculty can no longer afford to live comfortably in the Washington, DC, area. Gallaudet is steadily losing its valuable,…
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Our survey results suggest a campus climate of limited freedom of expression and lack of confidence in the administration
Many faculty respondents did not feel safe expressing their viewpoints, a majority had no confidence in the administration, and many reported looking for other jobs. The Gallaudet AAUP chapter’s advocacy work is viewed as effective, leading to hope for positive change.
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2023-2024 Year-End Summary
This annual letter summarizes our accomplishments over the past year and serves as a historical record. Membership and Recruitment Our dues-paying membership grew from 52 faculty members in April 2023 to 72 by November 2023. Membership held steady throughout the Spring 2024 semester at between 69-71 members and ended with 71 members in May 2024.…
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The loss of regular COLAs to counter inflation has caused a steep decline in faculty and staff real wages
Faculty and staff baseline real wages have declined by nearly 40% since 2001 because inflation has caused our dollars to have less buying power. Most of this decline has happened under President Cordano’s leadership because her administration has not given regular cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) like previous administrations did. As a result, faculty and staff are…
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Changes to the food and drink employee discount show the administration’s continued lack of transparency and accountability
On Wednesday, January 31, 2024, Gallaudet University released President Cordano’s pre-recorded State of the University address. In it, she emphasized the importance of communication in the Gallaudet community. However, the same day, faculty and staff who purchased food and drink on campus were told that the longstanding 10% employee discount had been terminated. There had…
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The administration’s sudden staff layoffs show continued disregard for transparency and indifference toward employees
The Gallaudet AAUP has verified reports of sudden employee layoffs. These layoffs are surprising, given that just last September 27, President Cordano publicly declared, “I would never say that [Gallaudet] is out of money” [see video at 56:35]. Supporting President Cordano’s remarks, the Gallaudet AAUP’s external audit of Gallaudet’s finances also confirms that the university…
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Forensic Audit Results Summary by GU-AAUP Executive Committee
On August 17, 2023, Dr. Howard Bunsis, an expert in university finances, presented his findings from a forensic audit of Gallaudet using publicly available data. His webinar presentation and report are available on our website and have been downloaded 1,400+ times. The audit showed that Gallaudet is in strong financial shape, contrary to the administration’s…
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Gallaudet AAUP’s Executive Committee Supports FoCC’s Concerns about Faculty Summer Work Groups
Gallaudet AAUP’s Executive Committee has reviewed a letter sent on May 9, 2023 to administrators from the Faculty of Color Coalition (FoCC) Subcommittee Leadership Team, outlining “deep concerns” about inviting faculty to join three summer work groups to address curriculum development, faculty course load and salary, and updating sections in the Faculty Handbook. We agree…
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