Support of Unionism Within the Education Faculty of a Large Private University: Some Unexpected Findings.

Perhaps the most extensive empirical research on the topics of support for collective bargaining and for unionization in higher education is that of Ladd and Lipset (1973). Their analysis leads to a number of general propositions about faculty support for collective bargaining and for unionism, some involving properties of higher education settings and faculty status characteristics. Data available from a school-of-education study in a large, private university, permitted examination of some of Ladd and Lipset's conclusions. The objectives were to determine: (1) to what extent the faculty as a body was receptive to the idea of collective bargaining; (2) to what extent there was support for unionism; (3) what relationship, if any, there was between faculty and support for collective bargaining and desire for unionization; and (4) to what extent support for unionism was related to faculty rank, tenure, and research orientation. It appears that a contradictory picture of forces behind the push for unionism (tenure) and away from unionism (research priority) exists within this faculty. A discussion of this conclusion includes: (1) changes during the 1960's; (2) the faculty generation gap; and (3) exacerbating conditions in the early 1970's. (Author/KE)