An organization created to advocate on behalf of staff has been “dormant” for several years, faculty said.

Created in 2014 after staff members were left out of discussions over a rollback in tuition benefits, the Staff Association has worked to organize staff members around issues including position cuts and mental health resources and benefits. Faculty said the association has not been active for several years because the organization’s members have encountered logistical issues finding meeting times.

“It still exists, but it may be in a more passive stance right now – we’re just all so busy, finding time for organizing, meetings, etc. is difficult,” Andrew Zimmerman, the vice president of the Faculty Association, said of the Staff Association in an email.

The Staff Association was originally created five years ago as the first formal organizing group for staff. Since its inception, the Staff Association has rallied University employees and worked alongside the Faculty Association to question major layoffs and demand more information about budget cuts.

Katrin Schultheiss, the chair of the history department and a member of the Faculty Association’s steering committee, said in an email that her understanding is that the association has been “dormant for a few years now.”

Guillermo Orti, a professor of biology and the president of the Faculty Association, said he did not have any information on the current state of the Staff Association.

The Staff Association last posted on its Facebook page in February 2018.