Some UIS professors went on strike Friday morning as negotiations with university administration, which began last summer, remain unresolved.

The strike comes just more than two weeks after the UIS tenure/tenure-track faculty union, United Faculty (UPI 4100), voted to authorize a strike.

Faculty members and others started marching around the Quad at 9:30 a.m. and later held a rally where union officials, students and state Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, spoke in support of the professors’ cause.

“The reason the strike is happening is because (UIS adminstrators) have not negotiated a fair contract,” Dathan Powell, the union president and an art, music and theater professor, said at the rally on Friday. “… They have money for their priorities, though. If the chancellor wants to hire another highly paid administrator, she can do that. If they want to invest in all of their pet projects, she can do that. We want them to invest in our students and our faculty.”

Friday is typically a light day for class sessions at UIS, so a larger effect of a work stoppage would become evident if the strike lingers into next week.

UIS administrators sent a newsletter to students, faculty and staff on Thursday afternoon with information about what steps to take in wake of the union’s decision to strike.

• Students are advised to still attend all scheduled classes, including on-campus and on-line, unless the instructor for the course notifies them it has been canceled. If a professor does not arrive at class, students are to wait at least 15 minutes before leaving.
• Students are encouraged to continue completing assignments and meeting any deadlines outlined in their syllabi regardless of class cancellation. Those with questions about internship or clinical credit hours should contact the Dean of Student’s Office for instructions.

Not all faculty are striking. Only members of the tenure/tenure-track union can engage in strike action. Non-tenure-track and adjunct professors are not affected. The university announcement includes a section reminding members of other unions on campus that they are not authorized to participate in sympathy strikes and should conduct their courses normally.

“The University is committed to our students’ academic success and ensuring as little disruption to the educational environment as possible,” the university’s email announcement stated.

The university’s announcement reiterates their willingness to continue the nearly year-long negotiations with United Faculty and that in the institution’s opinion, a strike will not benefit the situation.

Tenure and tenure-track professors have been working without a contract since August 2025.

A primary sticking point in the negotiations has been faculty pay. The union says the university is offering a 1 percent pay increase. The proposal comes as administrators work to eliminate multi-million-dollar annual deficits.

A recent message from Jill Wilberg, UIS vice chancellor for finance and administration, indicated the university projects it will end the current fiscal year on June 30 with a $19 million deficit for the year.

Union members have criticized the high pay and growing number of administrators at UIS. A poster put up around campus by the union this week included a caricature of UIS Chancellor Janet Gooch holding a bag of money to illustrate raises she and other administrators have received.

This is the second time UIS United Faculty has gone on strike. Professors walked off the job for four days in May 2017 as the union negotiated its first contract with the university, a five-year deal that covered August 2016 through August 2021. The union threatened to strike again in 2022 as they battled over a second three-year contract, but the work stoppage was averted.

UIS administrators are also engaged in drawn-out negotiations with the union representing the campus’ clerical, service and technical civil service staff. Those positions include office administrators and staff, police telecommunicators, building service workers and food service workers. Those employees voted March 19 to authorize a strike, but they haven’t yet decided to walk off the job.