Organize to Organize: The Case of a Successful Long-Haul Campaign for Collective Bargaining Rights

After nearly four decades of campaigning, faculty and academic staff union members across the University of Wisconsin (UW) System won the right to bargain collectively in June 2009 when the Governor signed legislation that modified state labor law. In this paper, I present historical and interdisciplinary analyses of the organizational structures that were critical to the campaign’s success. While the case study should be interesting for academics across disciplines, the Wisconsin experience carries generalizable lessons for union organizing in any sector of the economy. In addition to cataloguing the tens of legislative attempts that faculty and academic staff unionists undertook to win collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, my paper juxtaposes the legislative goals with environmental variables such as which political party controlled state government and how many faculty and academic staff were committed to the campaign at any given time as regular dues-paying members. It is clear in this light that persistence paid dividends for the campaign and that leverage created by the Local unions in relation to their state and national affiliates was necessary for the campaign’s longevity and success. Against this backdrop, I also consider the degree to which tensions between a Local union and its larger affiliates might variably impact union organizing across different international unions. The case study has relevance for discussions of minority or non-majority unions as well as strategic decisions about how unions pursue level playing fields for organizing new members

CHRONIC OROFACIAL PAIN INFLUENCES SELF-REGULATION IN A RODENT MODEL

Self-regulation is the capacity to exert control over cognition, emotion, behavior, and physiology. Since chronic pain interferes with the ability to self-regulate, the primary goal of this study was to examine, in rodents, the effects of chronic pain on self-regulation processes. Sixteen male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups: (1) chronic constriction injury of the infraorbital nerve (CCI-ION) and (2) naïve. Testing confirmed that CCI-ION animals had significant mechanical allodynia compared to naïve animals (p\u3c0.001). A two-part self-regulation behavioral paradigm consisting of a cued go/no-go task and a subsequent persistence task was developed based on human paradigms. In the cued task, both groups made fewer incorrect lever presses in post-surgery trials (p\u3c0.001); naive animals had a greater decrease in number of incorrect presses than CCI-ION animals (p=0.06). Similarly, both groups had a larger correct to total lever presses ratio in post-surgery trials (p\u3c0.001); naïve animals had a greater increase than CCI-ION animals (p=0.06). In the persistence task, naïve animals experienced a greater decrease in lever presses (p=0.08) than did CCI-ION animals (p=0.66). These results suggest that animals experiencing chronic pain were not able to learn as well as naïve animals, and may have difficulty responding to novel environmental demands

Imploring the next generation of scholars

The purpose of higher education in the U.S. is rooted in developing an educated citizenry to strengthen democracy. However, this appreciation of higher education as a public good is eroding. The shift in society’s perception of higher education as a private good has led to a decrease in funding for higher education and an increase in student debt. Consequently, this has narrowed access to higher education and heightened students’ and parents’ expectations about the college experience and outcomes. If such trends continue, the public purposes of higher education will be lost. The civic purposes of higher education must be renewed to build a stronger democracy. Fortunately, there are scholars, practitioners, community colleagues, administrators, and students who are committed to addressing public problems through knowledge generation and practical application. They are publicly engaged scholars

Investigating the Role of Social Support, Cardiovascular Reactivity, and Self-Regulation Skills Training in Response to Thermal Stimuli

Persistent pain conditions are a major health problem throughout the world and are one of the primary reasons that people seek medical treatment (Gureje, Von Korff, Simon, & Gater, 1998; Verhaak, Kerssens, Dekker, Sorbi, & Bensing, 1998). These conditions are characterized by complex interactions between cognitive, emotional, and physiological disturbances and are often associated with comorbid psychological disorders (Gatchel, 2004). Though previous studies have examined the effect of interventions targeting persistent pain, such as physical self-regulation interventions, few studies have examined the complex interaction between such interventions and other variables such as psychological and physiological functioning and presence of social support. The current study was designed to evaluate the effect of a physical self-regulation intervention (i.e. diaphragmatic breathing entrainment) on response to a brief physical stressor (i.e., mild thermal stimulation) as well as to evaluate whether presence or absence of a supportive partner influenced this relationship. Participant response was measured via self-report of pain intensity and unpleasantness and via physiological measures of respiration rate, blood pressure, heart rate, and heart rate variability. The study consisted of 154 female participants who participated in pairs (i.e., 77 pairs). Each participant was randomly assigned to training in diaphragmatic breathing or a control condition as well as being randomly assigned to complete the study with or without their supportive partner present. Analyses revealed that breathing entrainment resulted in significantly slower breathing rate during the thermal stressor task (p \u3c .01). Presence of a supportive partner interacted with breathing entrainment to influence heart rate during the thermal stressor task (p \u3c .05) such that participants who completed the study with a support person present had a lower heart rate when trained in diaphragmatic breathing than when trained in a control protocol and participants who did not have a support person present showed the opposite effect. Presence of a supportive partner also interacted with breathing entrainment to influence ratings of task unpleasantness (p \u3c .05) such that participants who were trained in diaphragmatic breathing rated the task similarly regardless of presence or absence of a supportive partner, whereas participants who were trained in a control protocol rated the task as more unpleasant when accompanied by a supportive partner. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates the impact of training in diaphragmatic breathing and presence of social support on response to thermal stimuli as measured by both self-report (i.e., ratings of task unpleasantness) and physiological (i.e., respiration rate and heart rate) measures. This study highlights the usefulness of implementing a self-regulatory training strategy for treatment of pain and in considering the efficacy of incorporating a supportive partner into such training

Weaving Theoretical Frameworks and Methods Together to Advance Research on Student Civic Outcomes

Set in the broader context of a renewed call for higher education institutions to develop students’ civic capacities, the edited volume Research on Student Civic Outcomes in Service Learning: Conceptual Frameworks and Methods focuses on the impact of service-learning courses on student civic outcomes. Calls to cultivate student civic outcomes in higher education can be found in many places. The editors cite several of these in the introductory chapter, including national organizations (e.g., The Democracy Commitment, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, Campus Compact), networks (e.g., Talloires Network, Europe Engage), academic institutions (e.g., Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis), and foundations (e.g., Carnegie Foundation, Kettering Foundation) working to support civic renewal in higher education. The editors point in particular to A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy’s Future (National Task Force, 2012) to articulate the “consistent call for a renewed commitment of colleges and universities to create campus cultures that support and challenge student understanding of and commitment to civic participation” (p. 3). Service-learning has emerged as a leading pedagogy for cultivating student civic outcomes. This book focuses on research related to the potential for curricular service-learning to generate student civic outcomes and does so by reviewing previous studies, theoretical frameworks, and a variety of methods of inquiry