Frequently Asked Questions

LMU invoked its religious exemption from the National Labor Relations Board to protect its mission. The decision safeguards LMU’s autonomy to carry out its mission without a third-party intermediary that may not share our values, and protects the distinctive values and culture that define our community while ensuring an LMU education remains attainable for students and families.

The LMU Board views the religious exemption as a safeguard to be used only when necessary to protect the university’s ability to educate and serve students. While we entered into initial union negotiations in good faith, the unrealistic demands from SEIU proved financially unsustainable and would have diverted significant resources away from students and undermined LMU’s ability to sustain its mission. This decision does not alter LMU’s steadfast commitments to Title VI, Title VII, Title IX, federal and state civil-rights protections, healthcare, or non discrimination. LMU will not invoke religious exemptions to restrict individual rights or benefits that do not impair the university’s ability to educate and serve students. This decision also does not affect unionized colleagues who are not directly employed by the university, such as food-service workers or employees of LMU’s partner organizations.

This step strengthens LMU’s ability to engage faculty directly though shared governance, rather than through a third-party intermediary that may not share our values. The definitive decision by LMU’s Board of Trustees means that collective bargaining with non-tenure track (NTT) and visiting faculty represented by SEIU Local 721  will cease, and LMU will no longer recognize these unions. An immediate effect is that LMU is implementing salary and merit increases for full-time NTT and faculty in Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts (BCLA), College of Communication and Fine Arts (CFA), and School of Film and Television (SFTV) that had been paused due to collective bargaining. Looking ahead, LMU will expand direct collaboration through strengthened shared governance and active direct dialogue.

This religious exemption is focused and limited to current and future labor organizing activities and preserves the institutional autonomy necessary to serve and support students in fulfillment of LMU’s Catholic educational mission. Importantly, it protects the university’s ability to support students, faculty, and the distinctive educational experience that defines LMU.

LMU recognizes that our NTT and visiting faculty have important concerns, and we are committed to addressing them through meaningful and equitable solutions. Through our shared governance structures, we will ensure that faculty voices are heard and that outcomes align with LMU’s mission and financial stability.

With student success as our driving purpose, LMU will take immediate steps through the Multi-Year Compensation Initiative to enhance compensation for NTT and visiting faculty. These include salary and merit increases averaging 7.8% for full-time NTT faculty in BCLA, CFA, and SFTV that had been paused due to collective bargaining. In addition to the 3.5% increase that part-time faculty received in Spring 2025, the university is implementing a further 2% market-based adjustment for Lecturers and Senior Lecturers. Part-time faculty who received a promotion will receive an additional 10% salary increase. Returning eligible visiting faculty will also be awarded a 3.5% merit increase. Looking ahead, LMU will expand full-time opportunities for faculty, enhance professional development opportunities, and foster deeper community connections.

Yes. Beginning in Academic Year 2026, LMU will increase the number of full-time faculty positions across campus. The university will also increase the number of multi-year contracts for term faculty where need is documented, teaching effectiveness is verified, and there is budgetary allocation. LMU will also work to create annual contracts for part time faculty who consistently teach the same two courses in both fall and spring semesters. Additionally, LMU will encourage departments to adopt multi-year course forecasting and consistent curricular mapping.

The Board of Trustee’s decision does not change LMU’s commitments to staff. The exception is focused on current and future labor organizing activities in order to safeguard LMU’s Catholic, Jesuit, and Marymount mission without the involvement of a third-party intermediary. This protects the values and culture that define our community, while ensuring we remain focused on keeping an LMU education attainable for students and families.

For staff, LMU continues to move forward with the Multi-Year Compensation Initiative. Employees at the Westchester and LMU Loyola Law School campuses are entering Year 2, with market adjustments and merit awards scheduled for September 28, 2025.

Our foremost responsibility is to provide an excellent, accessible education. By preserving LMU’s autonomy, stewarding financial sustainability, and pursuing direct dialogue and shared governance with our faculty and employees, we safeguard and protect the student experience for current and future generations.

This decision reflects LMU’s Catholic, Jesuit, and Marymount values - rooted in responsibility to safeguard the university's long-term viability, advance our educational mission, and keep an LMU education within reach for our students. It also allows us to work directly with faculty to address their concerns more immediately, which accelerates our ability to make progress on key workplace issues. Catholic social teaching affirms the dignity of work and the rights of workers, and LMU embraces those principles. This decision reflects our belief that the best way to honor those values at LMU is through direct engagement with faculty, rather than through a third-party intermediary.

A religious exemption is a protection in U.S. law that allows faith-based organizations, such as LMU, to be excused from certain laws or regulations that could create excessive entanglement between government and the organization’s free exercise of its religious mission or beliefs. These exemptions are designed to preserve the autonomy of religious institutions so they can carry out their work in ways consistent with their religious values and identity. A series of judicial and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions have recently reaffirmed this constitutionally protected right in relation to unionization at religious universities.

This action applies solely to matters under the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Act and the National Labor Relations Board; it does not alter LMU’s commitments to Title VI, VII and IX, federal and state civil rights protections, healthcare mandates, or our unwavering policies of non-discrimination. LMU will not invoke religious exemptions to restrict individual rights or benefits that do not impair the university’s ability to educate and serve students. This decision also does not affect unionized colleagues who are not directly employed by the university, such as food-service workers or employees of LMU’s partner organizations.
  
Staying true to our Catholic and Jesuit mission is paramount as is maintaining a sustainable financial path that allows us to preserve and protect the integrity of our mission. While we entered into initial union negotiations in good faith, the unrealistic demands from SEIU proved financially unsustainable and would have diverted significant resources away from students.