THE HOFSTRA
HEMPSTEAD, NY VOLUME 93 ISSUE 16
CHRONICLE
TUESDAY MAY 5, 2026
KEEPING THE HOFSTRA COMMUNITY INFORMED SINCE 1935
NEWS
After ten years, the AAUP officially begins negotiations with Hofstra
By Hannah Mudry
know the faculty.’” The AAUP has not negotiated FEATURES EDITOR its contract since 2016. This year, In 2021, Hofstra University’s they’re looking for some changes. chapter of the American Asso“From our side, because I can ciation of University Professors really only speak from our side, (AAUP) agreed not to pursue we’re just looking for fairness,” negotiations of their contract Basile said. “You know, things and not to take their contractual that will keep up with the cost of raise because of the university’s living. We are really committed to concerns about the effects of the the students. The overwhelming COVID-19 pandemic. sentiment among the faculty is “[In 2022,] when they came to that we really want to make sure us to maybe push another year, that we can do what we do for the we were having a new president benefit of the students.” and provost in,” said Anthony The AAUP represents both Basile, the Hofstra Chapter AAUP adjunct and full-time faculty. The president. “Then, the union said union wants to make sure they to them in response, ‘Why don’t fairly represent both employment we just extend the existing contypes. tract until 2026 instead of doing a “Faculty are important to any new contract or expecting the new university,” Basile said. “We administration to negotiate the have always tried to have the best minute they get here. They don’t faculty and in order to do that you
have to be competitive and you have to be fair. We’re finding that – especially with the adjuncts – that we’re losing adjuncts to other schools that do a little bit better financially.” Currently, the AAUP has completed three of their 15 meetings to discuss contractual changes. “We’re gonna be talking about [issues] like, ‘Are we gonna keep the same healthcare? What’s the cost gonna be? Are we gonna change it? How will those things be determined? When can they be changed?’” said Mary Anne Trasciatti, Hofstra’s director of the Labor Studies Program and member of the bargaining committee. “Hofstra’s changing. We’re a [Research 2] university now, so we’re becoming more research focused. What does that mean for faculty?”
FEATURES
Senior send-off: A bittersweet farewell
By Madeline Sisk EDITOR IN CHIEF
Senior send-offs are so bittersweet. They’re both a celebration of the work and the people who made it happen, but also a person’s last words in The Hofstra Chronicle. It’s the culmination of four incredible, life-changing years for me, and it’s not easy to let that go. From my first position as copy editor to my current place as editor-in-chief, the Chronicle has had my whole heart and I truly wouldn’t be the person I am today without it. Joe Orovitz / The Hofstra Chronicle I knew from the
first day of college that I wanted to join the Chronicle. I came in with AP Style experience from high school, so I knew joining the copy editing section would be a natural place to start. I loved editing, but I discovered that the Chronicle had so much more to offer. I wrote my first article for the Opinion section on Barbie, and what the doll had done for beauty standards and body positivity. I poured so much time into that piece and was incredibly proud of it. And then I saw it in print – heavily edited.
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Sahana Shastry / The Hofstra Chronicle
Hofstra University’s Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) current contract ends August 31.
At their meetings, the university and the AAUP each address amendments that they would like to see, and they negotiate each term until an agreement is made. “We didn’t have to give up our raise during COVID,” Basile said. “It was contractually negotiated. We were entitled to it, and our membership took a vote. Almost all of us agreed to forgo that raise
we were entitled to. The university had the best year during COVID, and we didn’t get that raise back. The administration did, but we did not. We didn’t think that was fair. We’re hoping that this administration will be fair and we’re certainly going to be fair in our request.”
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OPINION
Is our empathy becoming more selective?
By Hiba Khan
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Waking up to news of another bombing led by images of destruction, lives lost and families torn apart, and then walking into my class only to overhear a conversation about the new, annoying cup lid they added at Dunkin’ creates a cognitive dissonance within me that is difficult to ignore. There is a strange disbelief in how easily attention shifts, how quickly global tragedy is replaced by everyday inconvenience and a return to normalcy. It raises an uncomfortable question: Why do some events feel so unspeakable in our
daily lives while others, drastically less life-altering, dominate our conversations so effortlessly? This disconnect reflects a deeper issue rooted not only in what we choose to talk about, but also in what we collectively avoid. I’ve come to notice a pattern in the depth to which people feel comfortable speaking about political issues. It’s almost as if they were taboo or too uncomfortable to acknowledge to one another. Why are people who are unjustifiably dying anywhere in the world not a topic of conversation?
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