In late January, hundreds of faculty union members at Wright State University went on strike. What ensued was a twenty-day work stoppage, one of the longest strikes at a public university in American history.

The strike came in response to a contract imposed unilaterally by the administration in early January, featuring dramatic cuts across the board. While the final agreement reached at the end of the strike contained some concessions from the union, such as reductions in summer teaching pay, the union successfully protected its right to bargain over healthcare, and won a 5 percent raise for members by 2023.

Noeleen McIlvenna, a professor of American history at WSU, was the chair of the contract campaign and strike committees of the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP-WSU).