Eastern’s chapter of the University Professionals of Illinois recently opened a private, off-campus action hotline.

The UPI, Eastern’s faculty union, set up the hotline to provide updates on negotiations and mediation.

For months, the UPI and the administration have been negotiating a new three-year contract for faculty and have recently agreed to bring in a federal mediator to aid in negotiations.

David Radavich, Eastern’s UPI president and professor of English, said the hotline will be updated as frequently as needed to keep the campus and the community informed about current events.

“While newsletters are wonderful and often thoughtful ways of presenting issues, today’s pace of life demands that we update information more rapidly and make our communications more accessible to a wider variety of constituents, who may not be easily reached by more conventional means,” Radavich said.

Currently, the UPI and the administration are waiting to find which dates the mediator can come to campus.

“We’re now in hiatus, so we’re probably have no big news for another week,” he said.