The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which oversees 14 state-run universities, including West Chester and Cheyney, has declined a request from the faculty union for binding arbitration to settle protracted contract negotiations.
Chancellor John C. Cavanaugh cited the system's "fiduciary and legal duties" to operate "in a transparent and fiscally responsible manner" in an Oct. 15 letter to Stephen Hicks, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties.
Hicks had said that if the system rejected the request for binding arbitration, the union would move forward with the strike authorization process at its meeting Saturday. That process could lead to a strike of the union's more than 6,000 faculty members and coaches.
