OAKLAND PROFS END STRIKE

Audrey Williams, Chronicle of Higher Education - Professors at Oakland University are back in front of their classrooms, after round-the-clock negotiations between faculty members and the Michigan institution resulted in agreement on a tentative three-year contract early this morning.

Faculty members at the college had been on strike since last Thursday, the first day of the fall semester. The agreement came about after a judge ordered the faculty union and Oakland administrators to return to the bargaining table or face a hearing in which the university sought an injunction forcing faculty members to go back to work. . . The union said the contract, which faces a ratification vote before it becomes official, preserves faculty governance at the 18,000-student institution, limits the use of full-time professors who aren't on the tenure track, protects faculty members' intellectual property, and includes a choice of the current health-care plan or an alternative backed by the university. In addition, the union agreed that its members would skip raises this year and receive raises of 1 percent and 3 percent, respectively, in the subsequent two years. Professors must also give up two days of pay.