CARBONDALE -- It's the first strike ever at Southern Illinois University. Dozens of professors did not show up for work on Thursday, and some classes were cancelled for lack of substitutes. The Faculty Association failed to reach a contract deal by Wednesday's deadline. Three other unions were successful after bargaining into the night. The Faculty Association, representing tenured and tenure track professors, was the only union that did not reach an agreement with the SIU administration.

As of now, strikers are gearing up for the long haul. Despite a day of picketing, no new date for contract negotiations has been set yet, and both sides say they're waiting on the other to initiate talks.

"I think it's clearly one of the intents of the administration bargaining late into the night with the other three unions, is try to fracture the faculty, and to break the faculty union," says Patrick Dilley, co-captain of one of the strike groups.

"The strike will last as long as it takes to get a tentative agreement, a fair deal between the faculty association and the administration," says Dave Johnson, the spokesperson for the Faculty Association.

But what's fair for one group, seems the opposite for the other. The biggest disagreement came down to when the University can layoff a tenured professor.

"Financial exigency is a right of the board. I can't bargain it away," says SIU Chancellor Rita Cheng.

The Faculty Association wants to clearly define when the administration can claim a financial emergency, something Cheng says is unheard of across college campuses everywhere.

"The ability to say, you know, we don't have enough money to meet payroll. And we're either going to have to take temporary measures to reduce work hours or we're going to have to think about a layoff. And those are classic, standard operating procedures," explains Cheng.

"Without the assurance of procedures that can be agreed upon and followed, there is no way that we can guarantee tenure," says Dilley.

Cheng also says one of the ways SIU tries to prevent layoffs is through furloughs, and claims that the union's demand to repay furloughs within one year is unreasonable.

"I know of no institution across the country who has guaranteed that you would pay them back. My question to you would be with what," Cheng asks.

But protesters say a lack of clearly defined standards for a financial emergency puts tenure at risk, as well as their fiscal stability, and they're willing to make strike history to protect their jobs.

Three other unions reached a deal overnight, the non tenure faculty, civil service staff, and grad students. Why the Faculty Association could not also come to an agreement is hard to say. There is some speculation that an agreement with all the other unions would make it much more difficult for the Faculty Association, and the president of the Civil Service Union says they got nearly everything they asked for, including the removal of furlough days in the contract language.

Chancellor Cheng says there was no cooperative spirit with the faculty association.