The AFT's higher education leaders kicked off the new year by beginning a yearlong strategic planning process to help determine long-term priorities. Before holding its regularly scheduled program and policy council (PPC) meeting this month, the 22 local presidents took a day and a half to scan the big higher ed picture and decide where and how unions can act to best further the interests of members and the communities we serve.

The leaders came to the meeting having reviewed a large packet of research and analysis of trends in higher education. In small groups, they explored such topics as state funding, demographics, technology, changes in personnel structure, teaching and learning, organizing and collective bargaining. Then, they began a process to establish priorities and set realistic goals for action. The five broad priorities they identified were:

• strengthening the AFT's influence by organizing;
• securing better long-term support for higher education;
• supporting an all-inclusive vision of the academic labor work force;
• strengthening tools and data to help locals be effective; and
• improving campus working and learning conditions.

The process will continue over at least the next six months, with a draft of tentative goals being the product of this first strategic planning session. The draft will be circulated to higher education locals and state federations, discussed at the higher education issues meeting in Atlanta in April, and refined for further discussion with the AFT executive council in the fall.

The PPC held its formal meeting Jan. 18-19 and focused on more immediate concerns, such as federal legislation, communicating with members via the AFT Web site and with new publications, and organizing. As education interests in Washington, D.C., focus on some of the policy aspects of reauthorizing the Higher Education Act this year and next, issues like accountability, distance education, student aid policy, and recruiting and training teachers are always on the radar screen.

The PPC also discussed pressing challenges, such as the shifting ground of negotiating and protecting healthcare benefits, and fighting for funding when state economies are faltering. [Barbara McKenna]

January 29, 2003