American universities are place where individuals advance the field of knowledge as far as their talents can take them. But is that compatible with the nothing-but-seniority ethic and rule-bound thinking of unionization? And is freedom of thought compatible with forced union membership?

Writing for the John William Pope Center, Charles Baird says that collective bargaining breeds conflict and lowers academic standards.

It also does nothing to reward excellence. The other week I spoke with an economics professor who works in a unionized university. There is no such thing as a merit pay increase, he told me. That makes life easier for department chairmen, but it certainly doesn't send any good signals.