The following piece is an opinion and does not reflect the views of The Eagle and its staff. All opinions are edited for grammar, style and argument structure and fact-checked, but the opinions are the writer’s own.
In an e-mail on Nov. 20, 2025, American University President Jonathan Alger announced that the University would be cutting matching retirement contributions in half for the first six months of 2026.
President Alger implied that this choice was necessary in order to avoid layoffs, and he asserted that the University was honoring feedback from the community, which he claimed had endorsed this strategy.
The Staff Union Representative Committee rejects this unacceptable decision and its deceptive justification. In doing so, we want to make several things very clear to the entire American University community:
- The University is contractually obligated to offer the 2:1 retirement match to union-eligible employees. Our Collective Bargaining Agreement has spelled this out in precise terms since we went on strike for our first contract in 2022. If the University desired to change this aspect of the agreement, they had every opportunity to raise it in negotiations that concluded only last November. Instead, making such a drastic change while the ink is barely dry on the contract is both a contract violation and bargaining in bad faith, which is an unfair labor practice.
- This decision is unacceptable for the entire community, not just unionized staff. The administration’s decision is a declaration that they cannot support the community financially, and they are taking it out of our ability to care for ourselves and our families. We see this in the lack of raises this year, the dramatic increase in insurance rates and now by literally stealing from our future. The university’s 2:1 matching program is the University’s best benefit and one of the primary reasons that people continue to work here in spite of increasingly unsustainable conditions. Revoking the promised retirement match is an immediate cut in staff and faculty pay, as well as a compounding theft that hurts us all.
- The administration’s attempts to scare us by implying that the only other option is layoffs and placate us by claiming that we endorsed this decision are untrue. They are attempting to force a binary — a choice between layoffs and a critical benefit — in which there is no meaningful room for other options. This is about priorities, not resources. If they were actually committed to honoring the community’s input, they would have an open discussion, in which we could raise alternative solutions based on transparent access to data and come to a genuine consensus. That has not happened. This is a decision imposed entirely by the Board and the Cabinet.
In light of the administration's decision, the Union is using its available avenues to challenge this contract violation and demand compensation should this action be implemented in the meantime.
We ask that all members of the American University community, regardless of union status, sign onto this letter, demanding that the administration halt the implementation of this policy for the entire AU community and, as soon as possible, hold a community-wide forum in which any community member may raise concerns and propose alternatives that are in line with the University’s legal and contractual obligations.
Sincerely,
Aubrey Hill, Career Services Systems Administrator, Career Center, Co-chair of the Representative Committee
Eleanor Sciannella, Financial Aid Counselor, Enrollment Services, Co-chair of the Staff Union Representative Committee
Suzanne Fils-Aime, School of International Service Study Abroad Advisor, Co-chair of the Staff Union Representative Committee
This article was edited by Harry Walton, Addie DiPaolo and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Avery Grossman, Arin Burrell, Paige Caron and Nicole Kariuki.
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