• As the academic year comes to a close, I want to give you the full account of what your Nevada Faculty Alliance accomplished this year — and be honest about the work still ahead. This has been one of the most active and consequential years in NFA's history. We fought hard at the bargaining table, in the courtrooms, before the Board of Regents, in the legislature, and in Nevada's political process. None of it happens without you.

  Political Action and Advocacy

  This year NFA made its political presence felt across Nevada in ways we have not done before — including, for the first time, coordinating most of our chapters' direct participation in the AFL-CIO labor movement alongside NFA's own political endorsements.
  
  ■     Primary endorsements — faculty leading on Nevada's ballot. NFA made strategic endorsements ahead of the Nevada primary:

• Aaron Ford for Governor
• Patrick Villa (District 2) — CSN Professor of Mathematics and NFA member since day one, running for the NSHE Board of Regents
• Erik Swendseid (District 3) — Board of Regents
• Mo Denis (District 5) — Board of Regents
• Karmen La'Shaun Miller (District 8) — Board of Regents
• Peter Reed (District 10) — Board of Regents

Regent races are the most important elections for Nevada faculty. The Board of Regents controls our institutions, approves our contracts, sets systemwide policy, and has final authority over employment, tenure, and collective bargaining rights across NSHE.#@#_WA_-_CURSOR_-_POINT_#@#

■      AFL-CIO labor council and COPE Conference participation. For the first time, NFA coordinated the participation of six NFA chapters in AFL-CIO regional labor councils and the COPE endorsement conference. The Nevada State AFL-CIO's full endorsement list is attached; NFA's own additional endorsements will follow.

■     AFL-CIO endorsement list:

www.nvaflcio.org/news-details/news/press-media/44389/110002

■     Sustained, multi-front Regent campaign. NFA conducted a coordinated, multi-message campaign directly to every member of the Board of Regents throughout the year. Every letter, briefing, and communication was simultaneously copied to the full Board. No Regent could claim they had not received the information. The campaign addressed four interconnected issues:

• Independent Board counsel (November 2025): NFA sent a formal letter to Chair Brooks calling on the Board to restore an independent, Board-reporting legal counsel or Chief of Staff with a law license — separate from NSHE's Office of Legal Affairs, which currently advises both the Chancellor and the Board. NFA documented the structural conflict of interest in the current model and laid out a specific six-step path forward, including an interim outside counsel solution and a dedicated Board budget line to preserve independence.
• T4C4 mid-negotiation rule changes (September-October 2025): NFA formally opposed the Board's amendments to Title 4, Chapter 4 while active negotiations were underway at four institutions — documenting how the changes would require legislative approval for routine contract items, potentially delay contract ratification until after the 2027 session, and undermine good faith bargaining.
• Bargaining update and fact-finding briefing (February 2026): NFA sent a detailed institutional update to all Regents covering the status of negotiations at CSN, TMCC, WNC, and NSU — including TMCC administration's statement that they 'prefer litigation' over arbitration. NFA encouraged Regents to ask NSHE Counsel for independent status briefings.

The case for binding arbitration (February-March 2026): NFA sent a comprehensive arbitration briefing to all Regents — with the full proposed contract language attached — explaining what binding grievance arbitration is, what it is not, and why it protects the institution as much as it protects faculty. NFA directly challenged Regents to ask four specific questions of their counsel, including the projected cost of current litigation versus arbitration.

■     NFA Employment Rights Bill. We developed and refined language for an NFA Employment Rights Bill and laid the groundwork with legislative allies ahead of the January 2027 session.
■     Board of Regents meetings. NFA leadership attended Board of Regents meetings consistently throughout the year to represent faculty interests directly, raise concerns publicly, and hold Regents accountable.
■     PEBP — stopping an 84% premium increase. When PEBP's actuary projected a potential 84% employee premium increase for FY2027 — while the program operated with a $45 million reserve shortfall and significant errors in its financial reporting — NFA mounted a sustained, evidence-based campaign. NFA members Kent Ervin and Doug Unger produced comprehensive public financial analysis. NFA called for an independent audit, organized hundreds of member public comments, submitted legislative testimony, and engaged media statewide. While premium increases still occurred for some plan options, the most extreme proposals were not adopted. Open enrollment runs May 1-31 — review your plan options carefully.
■     NSHE budget transparency. When faculty were hearing contradictory accounts of NSHE's financial condition — from warnings of 90 faculty eliminations at UNR to assurances elsewhere that no emergency existed — NFA wrote directly to the Board calling out the fact that proposed budget cuts eliminated no executive positions while targeting administrative faculty earning $40,000 to $80,000.

• Contract Negotiations and Enforcement

  NFA has active negotiations at four NSHE institutions this year and has fought hard at every table to advance contracts that actually protect faculty.

■     TMCC faculty ratified — Regents vote in June. TMCC faculty voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement this year. The contract now heads to the Board of Regents for approval at the June quarterly meeting.
■     NSU is negotiating its first contract. Nevada State University is at the table for the first time, working toward a first-ever collective bargaining agreement for NSU faculty.
■     CSN and WNC — 16+ months at the table, and still fighting. NFA negotiators at CSN and WNC have been bargaining for more than sixteen months, pushing back against administration efforts to restrict faculty rights. We cannot and will not sign a contract that cannot be enforced.
■     Binding grievance enforcement — our position statewide. NFA has made binding grievance arbitration a central demand at every bargaining table and has taken the case directly to the Chancellor, NSHE system leadership, each institution, and the Board of Regents. This is the same enforcement mechanism NSHE already provides to AFSCME-represented classified employees.
■     Fact-finding at CSN. When CSN administration refused to negotiate in good faith — failing to cite a single legal authority for their position and advancing remedies that do not legally exist for NSHE faculty — NFA moved to fact-finding. The record we have built is comprehensive and strong.
■     Cross-campus collaboration at the bargaining tables. NFA negotiators across all chapters communicated closely and assisted one another throughout negotiations — sharing strategy, research, and language to better represent faculty across all NSHE institutions.
■     Defending faculty rights at CSN. NFA successfully defended against administration proposals to eliminate faculty-elected Department Chairs, weaken summer teaching protections, gut salary equity provisions, and strip shared governance language.
■     CSN summer teaching litigation — approaching resolution. After a three-year fight, NFA's litigation to enforce summer teaching compensation rights at CSN is approaching resolution, with a likely outcome expected this summer.
■     Fighting T4C4 mid-negotiation rule changes. NFA publicly opposed the September/October 2025 Board of Regents amendments to Title 4, Chapter 4 — mid-negotiation changes that would have delayed contracts until after the 2027 legislative session and fundamentally undermined good faith bargaining.
■     PEBP and NSHE budget campaigns. NFA organized member campaigns at NSHE meetings to fight PEBP benefit reductions and to call out contradictory NSHE budget narratives that targeted faculty while protecting executive positions.
■     Historical research and legal documentation.

NFA researchers documented NSHE's collective bargaining history back to 1974, including archival evidence of prior arbitration agreements that NSHE now claims were never permitted.

• Legal Defense and Member Support

■     33 legal defense cases handled statewide. NFA processed 33 legal defense requests across every NSHE institution this year — from tenure and promotion denials and wrongful terminations to retaliation, disability accommodation violations, hostile workplace complaints, Title IX proceedings, and more. NFA's legal support goes well beyond what most unions provide.
■     Support above and beyond contracts. NFA's legal defense does not stop at contract grievances. We assist faculty with EEOC complaints, civil rights claims, discrimination cases, Chapter 6 processes, ADA violations, NSHE Code appeals, and situations where no other avenue exists. When our members need help, NFA shows up — regardless of whether there is a CBA in place.
■     Statewide Legal Defense Committee — trained, coordinated, and growing. The statewide Legal Defense Committee met regularly throughout the year, conducting training and cross-training sessions to build capacity across chapters. A new group of faculty legal defense representatives is being trained to expand NFA's ability to assist members at every institution.

• 
  Organizational Governance and the AFT Nevada Transition

  One of the most significant undertakings of this year has been the work to modernize NFA's governance structure — bringing it into alignment with our affiliate organizations and positioning Nevada faculty for greater power and autonomy going forward.

■     AFT Nevada Constitution — drafted, refined, and ready for your vote. A statewide bylaws committee researched state federation models across the country, held formal scheduled meetings, circulated drafts through open Google Drive documents, incorporated feedback from all chapter leaderships, and brought the final document to the full NFA State Board for approval.
■     What this means for every local. The AFT Nevada model shifts dues directly to chapters, gives every local control over its own budget, extends full AFT member benefits to non-collective bargaining chapters for the first time, provides AFL-CIO labor council representation as a structural right, and unlocks the AFT Solidarity Fund for statewide political action.
■     Local constitutions in process — reach out to your chapter leadership. Each chapter will adopt its own local constitution through a flexible template. Contact your chapter's leadership to get involved. The template is a starting point — your local personalizes it to fit your institution.
■     Financial transition framework developed. A minimum of 50% of NFA's current reserves designated to the Legal Defense Fund; initial reserve funds distributed to each local; a dues clearinghouse model that keeps chapter money with chapters.

Vote in June 2026:

The membership vote on the AFT Nevada Constitution is scheduled for June 2026. Every NFA member in good standing statewide will receive a ballot. Ratification requires a two-thirds majority. Open information meetings will be announced by your local president or the statewide Bylaws Committee.

• 
  Membership and Organizing

■     Over 200 membership applications and updates processed this year through active membership drives across multiple NSHE institutions.
■     Regent candidate recruitment. NFA actively recruited faculty candidates for Nevada Board of Regents seats statewide.

• 
  Statewide Committees and Training

■     Working statewide committees across all NFA chapters. Active, cross-chapter working committees with participation from every NFA campus — covering Membership and Organizing, Collective Bargaining Steering, Bylaws, Governmental Relations, and Political Action.
■     Legal Defense Committee. Met regularly throughout the year, coordinating member representation, conducting training and cross-training, and building a new cohort of faculty legal defense representatives.
■     AFT Collective Bargaining Intensive — offered in collaboration with Cornell ILR. A one-week concentrated training program. NFA sent one slate of faculty last year and is sending a second group of leaders this summer.
■     AFT member tools rollout began. Updated membership directories, event planning tools, communications infrastructure, and chapter websites — giving chapters better tools to serve and communicate with members.

• 
  What Comes Next

■     June 2026 — AFT Nevada Constitution vote. Open information meetings will be announced by your local president or the statewide Bylaws Committee. This is your vote — please use it.
■     Five chapter officer elections. Leadership transitions are underway at five NFA chapters statewide.
■     AAUP and AFT Biennial Conference. NFA leadership attending, connecting Nevada faculty to the national higher education union movement.
■     January 2027 legislative session. NFA's Employment Rights Bill — legislation to provide NSHE employees the same employment rights held by all other Nevada state employees. The groundwork is laid — now we execute.
■     Continued negotiations at CSN, WNC, and NSU. We will not stop until every NFA chapter has a contract that means something — with binding arbitration, real enforcement, and genuine faculty protections.
■     UNLV organizing. Building toward local status with dedicated resources and a clear membership pathway.

Get involved:

NFA's strength comes from member engagement. Contact your local president or the NFA State Board to volunteer for bargaining support, membership outreach, legislative advocacy, or political action.

None of this happens without you. Thank you for your membership, your engagement, and your trust.

In solidarity,

Staci Walters
President, Nevada Faculty Alliance
AAUP, AFT, & AFL-CIO
Nevada Faculty Alliance  |  AAUP, AFT, & AFL-CIO  |  www.nevadafacultyalliance.org