The Inter Faculty Organization has redefined what working within higher education means to me. Prior to joining the MinnSCU system, I worked for a state university that had no faculty representation and no collective bargaining entity, all within a “right to work’” state (which meant the ‘right’ to be summarily fired at any time without cause). It was such a delight to learn of all the benefits the IFO provides faculty, ultimately enabling us to live more professionally meaningful and intellectually autonomous lives.

At an institution without an IFO, I witnessed an entire university transform within the period of a calendar year- whole departments of colleagues were arbitrarily forced out of their contract under the threat of termination (some with more than 30 years of service). Devoid of the intellectual protections afforded by the IFO, I spent many hours commiserating with a colleague who suffered administrative harassment for simply assigning students a critical thinking exercise that had them contemplating the constitutionality of flag burning in the United States.

The IFO not only advocates for faculty to live meaningful and balanced working lives without having to continually mitigate existential threats to one’s professional life, but also fights for the position of intellectual autonomy. As such, the Inter Faculty Organization transforms the entire academic experience for the better, not only for faculty, but for the students they serve. Everyone ought to join the Inter Faculty Organization, because I know from experience that our institutional lives would be transformed for the dystopian without it.

Douglas J. Dallier