This month Governor Lamont made clear to CSU-AAUP that he supports two of our top priorities for 2026-27. Could it be that he remembers his time as a CSU-AAUP member when he was an adjunct teaching at CCSU?
Pledge to Advance Connecticut (PACT)
CSU-AAUP spearheaded the effort to expand the student tuition assistance program, Pledge to Advance Connecticut (PACT), to the Connecticut State Universities. PACT makes attendance at the CT State Community colleges virtually debt free. We were successful in 2025 in helping to establish The Finish Line program so that CT State students who received PACT and completed 60 credits could finish their last 60 credits and receive a Bachelors degree at a CSU institution.
Unfortunately, the funding for the Finish Line program was insufficient to provide for all eligible CT State students or to cover students who did not attend a community college but started at a CSU school. In 2026 CSU-AAUP is continuing to work to expand both PACT and Finish Line so all residents can benefit from a university degree debt free.
In August 2026 Governor Lamont let CSU-AAUP know that he is committed to making the expansion of PACT to the CSUs one of his major goals of his third term if reelected. He will join CSU-AAUP with students in a roundtable to talk about it more. And he will work with the legislative leadership on coming up with a plan for expansion.
Board of Regents
Given the recent scandals and disfunction in the Board of Regents (BOR) of the CSCU system, CSU-AAUP is committed to rethinking the goals, role, and structure of the BOR to better serve our students and institutions.
Governor Lamont also let CSU-AAUP know that he endorses the concept of increased faculty involvement in BOR decision making. He also welcomes CSU-AAUP suggestions about potential candidates for future appointments to the BOR. And he is committed to having a discussion with CSU-AAUP about the structure and governance of the BOR more broadly to really evaluate what works and what does not work.
We hope also that he will really make a commitment to fully fund public higher education if he is elected to a third term, including increasing our block grant and paying for all SEBAC negotiated faculty raises rather than just half of them as he does now.
It will be up to CSU-AAUP members to make sure he keeps his promises and does even more. You will be hearing from us when the Legislative session begins in January 2027 and a new biennial budget is proposed and negotiated. We will need your help to advocate for these and other legislative efforts that help our faculty, students, and institutions.
