Faculty at Colorado and California institutions are pushing back against OpenAI-centered deals as campuses pay tech companies for custom AI-powered access for students and faculty. The dispute highlights a new form of academic governance challenge: whether institutional AI contracts align with faculty expectations for pedagogy, data stewardship, and classroom integrity. As institutions expand AI pilots beyond student support into core instructional and research practices, faculty objections are increasingly about the terms under which tools are deployed—what data is shared, how outputs are managed, and how learning outcomes are assessed. The episode signals that AI procurement in higher education is moving from “technology adoption” to contested governance, with faculty input becoming central to contract review and policy design.