Pay could be cut from about $75 to $45 an hour

Spearheaded by Nilles, the Student Health Center is one of the only services on campus that has a required health fee of $22 per semester and $18 during the summer.

Clinical psychologists work in the center, which assists students with outpatient clinical care, vaccinations, medications and mental health therapy. There are seven part-time psychologists employed that come from various outside practices.

Nilles said before the current contract proposal, clinical psychologists were paid “hourfor-hour.” However, within the new proposal, the unit of measurement for calculating the hourly rate has changed causing a paycut for the psychologists.

“If this goes forward, this cannot pass,” she said. “There needs to be a solution, or an alternate rate of pay … we need something else.”

From protests around the college with bright red T-shirts and picket signs to dominating discussion during public comments at Board of Trustees meetings, the teacher’s union has been at odds with the district over multiple aspects of the new contract.

John Baranski, a history professor and member of the teacher’s union at the negotiating table, expressed his concern despite the district’s apparent intention to assist, their proposed contracts exacerbate the situation.

“In the attempt to fix this overload pay issue, they also put forth something that will hammer non-instructional faculty who are part-time,” he said. “Both full-time and parttime people get crushed.”