On Sept 17, 2019, College of DuPage and its full-time faculty agreed on a new 4-year contract that is set to last through May 2023. This contract is a result of months of deliberation starting in January. 

Earlier this month, the College of DuPage faculty was planning to strike. Their previous contract had expired August 14 and “the contract also did little to recognize the changes occurring in education and, specifically, higher education,” President of the COD faculty association Shannon Toler said in an interview with the Omega. 

The staff was also unhappy about the way the last contract handled wages. According to Toler, one-third of the College of DuPage faculty experienced compensation freezes. This new four-year contract would provide union members with subsequent salary increases. 

This new contract also employs a new compensation and promotional structure. Toler believes that this will help make COD more competitive when hiring faculty.  

After a series of meetings, the faculty was able to agree on a contract that addressed their past issues. The faculty are voting October 16 to ratify this new contract before getting approved by the Board of Trustees October 24. 

“We look forward to collaborating with the administration on issues like student success and retention, data collection and analysis, universal design, continuous improvement, and strategic enrollment management,” said Toler.