A New Era of Union Activism in Higher Ed - Commentary

James B. Thelen, a labor lawyer, higher education consultant, and former vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and chief legal officer at the University of Maine system, writes: Higher education leaders will likely find common ground with labor leaders and newly organized graduate students and other academic workers if their discussions center on how to best serve learner needs, grow economically valuable research output and enhance the value proposition in higher education as a whole. But when there are diverging opinions on campus about whether an institution is either a “great employer” or utterly “failing [its] workers,” the seeds of labor activism and unrest will find fertile ground to grow.