Faculty members are deciding this week whether to authorize a strike at Portland State University.

There’s never been a faculty strike at any of Oregon’s public universities. Union officials predict that the PSU faculty will authorize a strike when they vote on Tuesday and Wednesday.

David Osborn is an instructor at PSU, as well as a spokesman for the faculty union.

Osborn explained, “When I go in there and vote — and I will be voting to approve an authorization for striking – for me that’s about, and that demonstrates, our commitment to providing for the kind of quality education that we want to here at Portland State University. And we don’t take that lightly.”

Both sides acknowledge that a faculty strike would be a big disruption, though administrators say that classes at PSU would continue.

The PSU administration and faculty are officially in a cooling-off period, so no strike could actually take place until early April. The two sides differ on salary, length of professor contracts, and the role of the faculty union in crafting university policy.

This story originally appeared on Oregon Public Broadcasting.