April 24, 2026
Dear Members,
Thanks to everyone who was able to attend our annual chapter meeting. The meeting was well attended in person and online. We had a strong majority affirmative vote for the budget and the bylaws changes.
Since some statements were made at the annual meeting and through various social media platforms, we’re writing to provide updates to those who weren’t present and to provide some additional information for everyone.
As required, the UConn-AAUP chapter finances have oversight by an independent accounting firm that provides an annual audit. The chapter has a long history of passing these routine annual audits of its finances without any issues. And as verified by routine federal reviews, the UConn-AAUP is completely compliant with paying the contribution for each employee to the pension (Employee Retirement Income Security Act—ERISA—compliant).
In June 2025, UConn-AAUP hired a new financial manager. As usual, a change in financial managers required a full external audit, which is still in progress because of the need for an actuarial review of our retirement health benefit contributions. Initial findings from this external audit have not identified any irregularities.
However, through due diligence, our staff identified discrepancies in how some employees’ pension contributions were made going back to 2014. More specifically, the pension plan and some staff employment contracts were in apparent conflict regarding the pension contributions between the chapter and the individual. These conflicts were not resolved consistently. It is not clear how these discrepancies arose. Now that the full independent audit is nearing completion, there is the need to go back and understand the discrepancies in employee pension contributions starting in 2014.
The membership deserves clarity (to the extent that is possible after the fact), and our treasurer has been in discussions over the past few weeks with several firms that could provide a forensic audit so that we can better understand what happened. We have not yet enlisted the aid of any of these firms, but will be moving forward over the coming weeks, as soon as the current audit and actuarial review are complete. Separate from a forensic audit, there is a need for legal counsel on our pension plan going forward, reviewing the past practices, and then moving to a contributory pension plan.
The UConn-AAUP Executive Committee and staff are committed to understanding and fixing these pension issues. Only a full, independent, historical review by an outside firm can address this issue, and that’s what we’re working towards. As we move forward, we are starting the work to fix the pension plan with input from our newly unionized staff. We hope for your support as we work through this process. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us (general@uconnaaup.org).