Berklee Faculty Union

Berklee Faculty Union

@berkleefacunion.bsky.social

Representing Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory faculty, a chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, Local 4412, AFT-MA, AFL-CIO.

148 Followers 237 Following 11 Posts Joined Jul 2025
4 months ago
Several responses to the Department of Education’s admissions information request.

Colleges Push Back Against Trump’s Effort to Collect More Admissions Data

Institutions and advocates took issue with the proposal’s vague language and lack of privacy safeguards as well as the vast time and effort needed to collect the required data. https://bit.ly/495B1p2

#EDUSky #AcademicSky

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5 months ago
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Results of our recent faculty poll regarding our ongoing bargain negotiations with Berklee management.

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5 months ago
Faculty Voices
BERKLEE FACULTY IN THEIR OWN WORDS.
Ruthie Ristich, Ear Training & Voice
12 years at Berklee
ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE MY STUDENTS:
Sponges
BEST PART ABOUT TEACHING AT BERKLEE:
The eagerness of the students.
GIVING STUDENTS OUR BEST REQUIRES …
having the support of the administration through fair pay and benefits.
FAIR PAY • SECURE JOBS •
AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE • QUALITY EDUCATION
www.berkleefacultyunion.org/bargain

Ruthie Ristich, Ear Training & Voice
12 years at Berklee
ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE MY STUDENTS:
Sponges
BEST PART ABOUT TEACHING AT BERKLEE:
The eagerness of the students.
GIVING STUDENTS OUR BEST REQUIRES …
having the support of the administration through fair pay and benefits.

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5 months ago
Faculty Voices
BERKLEE FACULTY IN THEIR OWN WORDS.
Apostolos Paraskevas, Composition
24 years at Berklee
ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE MY STUDENTS:
Brave.
BEST PART ABOUT TEACHING AT BERKLEE:
Other faculty.
RESPECT FOR FACULTY MEANS …
that art matters.
FAIR PAY • SECURE JOBS •
AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE • QUALITY EDUCATION
www.berkleefacultyunion.org/bargain

Faculty Voices - Apostolos Paraskevas, Composition

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5 months ago
Faculty Voices
BERKLEE FACULTY IN THEIR OWN WORDS.
Rick McLaughlin, Harmony and Jazz Composition
15 years at Berklee
ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE MY STUDENTS:
Dedicated.
BEST PART ABOUT TEACHING AT BERKLEE:
Community.
GIVING STUDENTS OUR BEST REQUIRES …
being genuine and selfless while seeing each student as an individual.
Berklee Faculty Union
FAIR PAY • SECURE JOBS •
AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE • QUALITY EDUCATION
www.berkleefacultyunion.org/bargain

Faculty Voices
BERKLEE FACULTY IN THEIR OWN WORDS.
Rick McLaughlin @rickmclaughlin.com, Harmony and Jazz Composition

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6 months ago
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Welcome back Berklee!

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7 months ago

(This account is maintained by @mikejjohnson.bsky.social, Professor, Contemporary Writing and Production)

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7 months ago

We are in week 4 of the Berklee Aspire summer music performance program. Seeing the joy on a young person’s face when they get up on stage to perform reminds me why I do what I do!

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7 months ago
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Judge Removes Youngkin’s University Board Picks The ruling in favor of state Democrats will likely be appealed.

“When you peel back all the connections, it’s hard to imagine this is not orchestrated. How can faculty feel safe, not just to exercise their academic freedom, but safe in their personhood, when you have extremist board members siccing their orgs on us.”
— Bethany Letiecq, @aaupmason.bsky.social

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7 months ago
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CEOs of major corporations are apparently now bragging to investors about firing workers.

In some cases, fired staff are being replaced with AI.

The goal is surely to boost stock prices and CEO pay — even at the expense of workers.

Textbook corporate greed.

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7 months ago
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The Business And Economic Case For Academic Freedom Academic freedom fuels U.S. innovation and economic growth. Political interference risks undermining our universities—and America's global competitive edge.

www.forbes.com/sites/iansim...

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7 months ago
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Donald Trump is attacking our colleges and universities to score political points.

Understand this: It’s hurting our economy—and threatening our global leadership.

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7 months ago
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Standing Up for Immigrant Students YouTube video by AFT

🎥: Kent Wong of the @cftunion.bsky.social delivers a powerful message on how educators are resisting ICE raids, protecting immigrant families and mobilizing against fear and injustice. #TEACH25

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7 months ago
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Conservative Org. Requests Materials for 70 Chapel Hill Courses The Oversight Project, founded by the Heritage Foundation, is using an open records request to search for terms like “DEI” and “gender identity.” Faculty say it encroaches on academic freedom.

🚨Conservative Group Requests Materials for Over 70 UNC Courses🚨

“It’s a violation of academic freedom…of individual free speech rights &… teaching…in the name of…a right-wing agenda.”

—Joan Scott, AAUP Committee on Academic Freedom

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

@unc-ch-aaup.bsky.social

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7 months ago
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A New Accreditation Body with Invasive Aims Takes Root in the South BY AUDREY BERLOWITZ The recent announcement of the founding of the Commission for Public Higher Education (CPHE) reveals another “axis of power” in the multiwebbed right-wing war on the US universi…

New on Academe Blog: academeblog.org/2025/07/29/a...

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7 months ago

Faculty in the Arts are being hit especially hard now. Jobs in the arts are evaporating daily thanks to factors like AI and apps like Spotify. If you get laid off from your teaching job, there are fewer gigs out there and you’re competing with your former students.

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7 months ago
Building Campus Solidarity Across Job Categories: Lessons from Recent Strikes & Adjunct Struggles
Speakers include:
Todd Wolfson, President, American Association of University Professors
Diana Vallera, President, Columbia College Faculty Union
Bryan Sacks, Immediate Past President, Rutgers Adjunct Union
Sydney Brahmavar, Secretary, Clark College Association of Higher Educators

Wednesday, July 30: Join us for a strategy discussion about how we can build solidarity across job categories on campus. 6pm ET/5pm CT/4pm MT/3pm PT on Zoom: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

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7 months ago
Contingent Labor at the University of Arizona: One Damn Thing After Another – Higher Education Labor United

From the @higheredlabor.bsky.social newsletter: fighting instructor layoffs at the University of Arizona

#contingent #adjunct #HigherEd

higheredlaborunited.org/2025/07/22/c...

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7 months ago
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Opinion: Gutting humanities signals the end of innovation in business and STEM Lose the humanities, and you lose the very ground of science and business that depend on it.

Without humanities studies, I would not have been a very good scientist. My humanities classes were a master class in creativity, envisioning new futures and how to think. The skills we learned in our humanities classes brought creativity to all our endeavors.
www.deseret.com/opinion/2025...

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7 months ago

Most of our faculty also work in the music industry in some capacity. It is a selling point for the school, but the truth is most of us need the extra income from our “side hustles” just to make ends meet!

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7 months ago

94% of teachers have had to dip into their own pockets to buy school supplies. An estimated 1 in 6 have second jobs during the school year to make ends meet.

The average Wall Street employee got a record $244,700 bonus last year.

Something has gone terribly wrong.

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7 months ago

We are in our 6th week of bargaining a new contract with the Berklee administration. We appreciate your support!

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7 months ago

Hello Bluesky. We are the Berklee Faculty Union, representing the amazing faculty of Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory in Boston, MA.

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