The Eastern Michigan University chapter of the American Association of University Professors ratified a new three-year faculty union contract after online voting closed on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, according to EMU-AAUP President Matthew Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick told The Eastern Echo that the final vote was 300 yes votes and 75 no votes out of a total possible 451 votes, meaning that one in five faculty union members voted no. Despite membership numbers being lower this year compared to the last vote, percentage turnout seemed to be similar, Kirkpatrick said.
In a pre-vote interview on Sept. 15, 2026, Kirkpatrick said that the negotiating team had done the best they could to secure the best terms possible for faculty members given the underlying circumstances of low enrollment and financial challenges currently facing EMU.
"We got raises, we fought off significant changes to healthcare, we added language protecting faculty intellectual property around things like AI," Kirkpatrick said, adding that he believed clarifying language had also been added around the layoff clause.
The contract will now go to the Board of Regents for ratification consideration on its end. This saga marks the first AAUP contract negotiation under EMU President Brendan Kelly, who said in an interview with The Echo in April that his approach to such a negotiation would be "going in and trying to create the best terms and conditions for employment that make sense for the university, that make sense for the people we're in service to and that make sense for employees who are serving the university."
Kirkpatrick said that he felt this negotiation had lived up to that standard.
In Sept. 2022, EMU faculty went on strike during an embittered gridlock negotiation with former EMU President James Smith. Kirkpatrick declined to speak directly about Smith, but said, "I think that EMU was ready to embrace a different kind of leader and I think [Kelly] is that leader, and I hope that he is able to move us together toward a stronger institution."
The Echo has requested a copy of the official contract and will provide additional information as it becomes available.
