SLIPPERY ROCK — Faculty and administrators at Slippery Rock University are taking a wait-and-see approach this morning to contract talks for faculty members of Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities, including SRU, which were to resume today in Harrisburg.

A state mediator asked the union to hold off for 24 hours on calling a strike, which had been threatened for today. Summer classes start today and students and faculty were asked to report as usual.

The union, the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, represents about 450 faculty members at SRU.

At the SRU union strike headquarters on Main Street in Slippery Rock, doors were open today but faculty members were just waiting, according to one representative.

Strike signs lined the walls, but the faculty didn't expect much to happen. But classes were being held on campus.

Everything on the SRU campus is "kind of on hold," according Rita Abent, SRU public relations director.

"No matter what, we're going to be open for business," she said. "Some faculty will honor a strike if it happens but some will honor their commitment to students."

Talks broke off late Sunday afternoon after the union rejected the administration's latest offer, according to State System of Higher Education spokesman Kenn Marshall.

The two sides negotiated for more than 13 hours Saturday, past the midnight expiration of the old contract, in an effort to reach agreement on a new pact covering the 5,500 faculty members statewide.

The union wants a wage increase of 20 percent over four years. The system has proposed a one-time, $1,250 cash payment in the first year, followed by across-the-board increases totaling 7 percent over the rest of the contract, along with seniority-based increases for eligible faculty.