Our Mission

The Northern Illinois University United Faculty Alliance (NIU-UFA) Chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois (UPI), Local 4100 seeks to:  

• build understanding that higher education is a pillar of a democratic society and as such should offer people equal opportunities to learn and enrich their lives; and

• affirm that student achievement and success is greatly enhanced by faculty stability and productivity; and

• empower faculty to realize their professional potential and achieve academic excellence in research, teaching and service at NIU; and

• advocate for the interests and rights of its members, affirming and centering the needs of populations that are historically marginalized, excluded and exploited; and

• empower faculty to assure due process, academic freedom and shared governance; and

• share, respect, and endorse NIU’s tripartite mission, and actively participate in ongoing evaluation and revision of NIU’s mission; and

• realize equity, social justice, economic security, and humane working conditions within the

  University; and

• use the collective bargaining process and collective rights guaranteed under the laws of Illinois and the United States to advance racial and economic justice within NIU and the larger society; and

• promote democratization of the University to better serve the NIU community and the local community, particularly historically marginalized, excluded, and exploited people; and

• commit to interrogating and disrupting the ways in which whiteness and other interlocking systems of oppression have defined expectations for success and achievement in academia; and

• promote, model, and implement accountability of ourselves and the University to our most marginalized, excluded, and exploited; and

• collaborate and build solidarity with unions on and off campus; and

• ensure collective rights guaranteed under the laws of Illinois and the United States.