Rider’s faculty union launches petition against university

By Grace Bertrand

Rider’s faculty union launched on-and-off-campus campaigns, encouraging friends and colleagues in higher education to voice their frustration against Rider’s termination of former adjunct professor Kate Ecke, according to a Sept. 29 facultywide email.

In collaboration with the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, Rider’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors announced in the email that they launched a letter-writing campaign to professors across colleges and universities statewide. The initiative calls for teachers and allies alike to demand Rider President John Loyack and Provost Kelly Bidle reinstate Ecke. The description read “Let’s stand in solidarity with Rider AAUP by urging [President John] Loyack and [Provost Kelly] Bidle to reinstate Ecke and issue a public apology — send your letter now.” 

Ecke was fired Sept. 17 for political posts she made on personal social media accounts in the wake of the assasination of conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk, which administrators said resulted in threats against the university.

Out of the AFTNJ’s current goal of 200 letters, 142 letters have been sent as of Sept. 30., according to the campaign’s website.  

Writing letters is not the only tactic Rider’s AAUP chapter is using. To give Rider faculty an outlet for their voices to also be heard, the chapter is launching an on-campus petition campaign on the week of Sept. 29, where faculty can sign a petition “condemning the University’s blatant disregard of Kate Ecke’s academic freedom which is a clear violation of the terms of our Agreement.”

On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, members of Rider’s AAUP executive committee will stop by faculty offices to ask for signatures. Copies of the petition were also available at the Yvonne Theater lobby from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sept. 30 for Rider faculty’s Fall Gathering. 

Once all faculty have been given the chance to sign the petition, the email said, members of the executive committee and other faculty will march “in solidarity” to hand-deliver it to Loyack. Details on when the march to Loyack’s office will be have not been decided yet. 

In the email, Rider’s AAUP expressed that while their frustration stemmed from the university’s decision to abruptly fire Ecke on Sept. 17, their concern lies in what this could mean for all faculty. 

Union leaders wrote, “Our colleague Kate Ecke may be the face of this issue, but please understand that it is not just about her. If the University can silence one of us, it can silence any and all of us. If the University can flagrantly violate the academic freedom guaranteed in our Agreement, it can also flagrantly violate the workload, benefits, and governance roles guaranteed in our Agreement. We must stand together and send a clear message to President Loyack and Provost Bidle that we will defend our rights under the Agreement and that attempts to divide and conquer us will fail.”

In an interview with The Rider News on Sept. 30, Ecke said seeing how the faculty union has rallied behind her in the aftermath of her termination has made her feel less alone. She said, “I think it creates some anonymity for me in a sense. This is a collective issue, it’s not just an individual issue, so that kind of helps shrink the feeling of being on stage naked.”

In a Sept. 18 facultywide email Bidle said, “These developments posed a clear public safety risk and were the direct and foreseeable consequence of this adjunct’s crossing a line in her public comments.” 

In response, Ecke wondered, “If it was truly a safety issue, why did they let me walk to my car by myself after that meeting [on Sept. 17]? I think [the termination] was a guise to do what they wanted to do or felt like they needed to do pressure-wise. I think they really did cower to political forces.” 

Ecke said she spoke to an attorney on Sept. 24 after having friends and strangers online encourage her to fight back. As of Sept. 30, Ecke said she has yet to receive a formal written termination from the university and that her attorney will be requesting one, along with the reasoning for her firing. 

Ecke recalled her attorney giving her two options to move forward with the case: “You can let this lie, go lick your wounds and hope it dies down. Or you can go to the mat.” 

With the Sept. 17 and Sept. 18 emails Loyack and Bidle have sent out regarding her termination, Ecke said the administration already created a narrative and she wants a say in changing it.

She said, “Let’s go to the mat. This is bigger than me. It’s already in motion, so either the story’s going to be written with or without me. And I’m not going to have it written without me.”