Northwestern’s administration is breaking the law. We do not write that sentence lightly, but in its refusal to sit down at the bargaining table with the Northwestern Non-Tenure Track Faculty Union, Service Employees International Union Local 73 — now the certified legal representative of non-tenure track faculty in the bargaining unit — the administration is in violation of Section 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act. We ask University President Morton Schapiro and Provost Jonathan Holloway to recognize the union and begin negotiations immediately, as the law dictates.

In a letter sent to Northwestern faculty Thursday, Sept. 14, Provost Holloway disingenuously claimed that “the election’s outcome has not been finally determined.” Except it has, just not in the administration’s favor. On May 26, 2017, the National Labor Relations Board’s Chicago regional director certified SEIU, Local 73 as the representative for Northwestern’s non-tenure track faculty bargaining unit. After hearing extensive testimony from both the Northwestern administration and SEIU, the regional director reached his decision as determined by criteria agreed to by the Northwestern administration prior to the vote. The regional director ruled that 25 ballots were ineligible because they were cast by employees who held positions that were not in the unit or were responsible for duties typically performed by administrators (work that, to be clear, non-tenure track faculty are perfectly glad to continue to do provided that the pay, working conditions and rights are equitable).

Since the beginning of this year, the administration has filed two “request for reviews” to the NLRB office in Washington, D.C., perhaps hopeful that appointees made by President Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress will allow the 25 ballots to be opened and, potentially, reverse the vote in favor of unionization. It is the right of the administration to ask for a “request for review,” but, in the meantime, it is obligated under the NLRA to sit down at the table and begin negotiations with the union in good faith.

To make matters worse, Provost Holloway writes that he and the Northwestern administration only wish to “ensure the outcome reflects the will of the majority who voted.” Hardly. That will has already been reflected in the final vote, as certified by the regional director. One wonders if Provost Holloway and the administration would advocate for such a noble cause as the will of the majority had the vote gone the other way. Indeed, one wonders if they are less interested in a vote that “reflects the will of the majority” who voted legally in the election than in merely asserting the will of the Northwestern administration to defy the law.

We ask Provost Holloway, President Schapiro and the administration to do the right thing — stop spreading misinformation about the process of unionization and stop spending precious Northwestern resources on the notorious union-busting law firm Cozen O’Connor. Most of all, at a time when the rule of law and a sense of justice and fairness are under strain in our nation, we respectfully request that Provost Holloway and the Northwestern administration recognize the legally certified union and begin negotiations, as stipulated by the NLRA. Members of the Northwestern community and supporters beyond campus can help us urge them to do so by signing this petition.

There is one point with which we do agree in Provost Holloway’s recent letter: The members of the SEIU Local 73 Northwestern unit are “committed to forming a productive relationship” between the union and the administration. We too “are ready to move forward.” We want Northwestern to be a great place, a model institution, for everyone: faculty, staff, administrators, alumni and our larger society — most of all for the students we teach. The way to move forward, President Schapiro and Provost Holloway, is to abide by federal labor law and allow the bargaining process to begin.

Members of Northwestern Non-Tenure Track Faculty Union, SEIU Local 73