American Association of University Professors, Bloomfield College Chapter (hereinafter AAUP), is a labor organization within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C.A., § 152, and for the purposes of Article I, paragraph 19 of the 1947 New Jersey Constitution, which has been certified and recognized by the National Labor Relations Board as the exclusive representative for collective bargaining on behalf of the college faculty. The individual plaintiffs include faculty members who seek clarification of their claimed tenured status and those whose service has been terminated and seek reinstatement to their former positions. Their periods of accumulated service range from 8 to 22 years. In addition to Bloomfield College, also named as defendants are Merle F. Allshouse, president of the college, and the individual members ofother points at the same time, except in extraordinary circumstances.
On June 21, 1973 the board of trustees adopted Resolution R-58 which in material part resolved:
* * * [U]pon the recommendation of the Executive Committee, the President, the Dean of the College, and with the advice of the special Evaluation Committee for the reduction of faculty size due to financial exigency, and in accordance with the action of the Board on March 1 and the recommendation of the Academic Affairs Committee that thirteen faculty members be terminated in the reduction of faculty size due to financial exigency, the following persons be informed that they will be terminated as of June 30, 1974, and their duties for the 1973-74 academic year be defined to include no teaching, participation in College