Phillips, Alan

https://reflections.mndigital.org/catalog/stc:7450#/kaltura_audio

Biographical Information: Alan Phillips grew up all over the Midwest before settling in St. Cloud, Minnesota as an employee of St. Cloud State University. Phillips received his undergraduate degree from Knox College in Illinois. Phillips attended the University of Chicago Divinity School for a year before dropping out and joining the army for two years. He then went to Michigan State where he got his master's and doctorate degrees in philosophy. He taught for one year at West Virginia University, and came to St. Cloud State in September 1966. While at St. Cloud, he became involved in the Faculty Association and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). He was president at the time of the election in 1975, which Inter-Faculty Organization (IFO) / Minnesota Education Association (MEA) eventually won. He later joined the IFO and became involved in its Academic Affairs Committee on campus.

Transcript Summary: The oral history focused almost entirely on Phillips' involvement in collective bargaining at St. Cloud State University. Philips provided a brief account of his educational career, which brought him to St. Cloud in 1966. He chronicled how he became involved with the Faculty Association and collective bargaining. He devoted a great deal of time to discussing the election of 1975, a process he calls very difficult. Phillips discussed his opinions on the IFO joining forces with the MEA, as well as what he considers to be the biggest differences between the IFO and the AAUP. He talked about the strengths and weaknesses of the AAUP and what may have cost it the election.

Phillips talked about the effects of the IFO/MEA's victory and how successful collective bargaining in general was for St. Cloud State faculty. He was reluctant to join the IFO after the AAUP was defeated. Phillips believed that more people should be able to join voluntarily, believing that forced membership was not as effective. He believed that collective bargaining was good economically for the faculty, but not been great for local decision-making. Phillips discussed his involvement on the IFO’s Academic Affairs Committee of the IFO. To end, he offered some suggestions for improving the IFO and current collective bargaining situation at SCSU.