Summary Report for UIUC AAUP Policy Committee on October 8, 2007

Present: Abbas Aminmansour, Geneva Belford, Linn Belford, Vernon Burton, Connie Caveny, Matt Finkin, Bettina Francis, Harry Hilton, Lew Hopkins, Harry Liebersohn, Walter McMahon, Cary Nelson, John Prussing, Arthur Robinson, Robert Spitze, Leslie Struble, Donald Uchtmann, H. F. Williamson

The meeting began at 12:25 p.m. with Donald Uchtmann presiding.

(1) Review of the Minutes for September 17, 2007 and Summary Report for September 17, 2007. These two documents were approved.

Action Items

(2) Academy on Capitalism and Limited Government Fund (ACLGF). Aminmansour circulated a copy of a resolution prepared for the Senate Educational Policy Committee (EP) on this issue. There were a number of suggestions for him to consider as he and the EP prepare the final draft. He was thanked for sharing this with the Committee and asked to send a final copy once it was approved. Related comments on ACLGF included noting that apparently the brochure on the Fund was put out without anyone in the administration seeing it.

(3) Review of President White’s meeting with Policy Committee and the ACLGF. The discussion of ACLGF continued in light of what occurred during the preceding meeting with the President. It was agreed that it is important to keep track of the role of funding in campus and University decisions. Finkin discussed how the Provost’s ACLGF Advisory Committee is likely to proceed. Rather than look at the history of how this came to occur, it will be important to look to how the Fund will be handled appropriately in the future. Burton was concerned that our experience with the Fund means that the administration has learned nothing about the key tenets of shared governance from the Global Campus Initiative experience. He and Spitze wondered what role the AAUP can play in making sure that they do learn from these experiences. Hopkins agreed to work with the ad hoc committee he chairs to prepare a draft of an AAUP UIUC Chapter Statement on the ACLGF. The ad hoc committee (Andersen, Grossman, and Hopkins as convener) was established at the September 17, 2007 meeting of the Policy Committee to monitor developments concerning the ACLGF. The possibility of the Chapter holding a public meeting on this issue was also discussed. [Follow-up: The ad hoc committee submitted the AAUP UIUC Chapter Statement “The Academy for Capitalism and Limited Government Fund: Faculty Authority and Responsibility” which was reviewed electronically and adopted on October 26, 2007. This Statement was sent to all members of the Chapter members. The Statement also was forwarded by Uchtmann to Provost Katehi, Chancellor Herman, President White, Vern Burton as Chair of University Senates Conference, and Nick Burbules as Chair of UIUC’s Senate Executive Committee.]

(4) Preparation of Chapter’s Standing Rules. The subcommittee (Andersen, Williamson) has just begun this task. Spitze stressed the importance of having these rules in place.

Reports

(5) Report on Chapter Web Site. Nelson reported that AAUP members nationally are being encouraged to visit our site and to use it as a guide for sites at other chapters. Our Communication Committee is working out the ground rules for handling material on our site. The Committee (Caveny, Belford, Nelson, Williamson) will also discuss how the site will be maintained (e.g., by hiring a webmaster).

(7) Government Relations. Andersen reported that the “mess continues” in Springfield. There is a growing sentiment that there should be term limits for the leaders of the legislature. A Senator talking with the IBHE FAC said that he felt that next year would be worse since, among other things, they would have to undo what occurred this year first. Andersen feels strongly that the UI administrators should take a stronger leadership role on higher education issues in the state.

(8) Invitations to Campus Administrators to meet with Policy Committee in Spring. We proposed inviting the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Caveny indicated that she could initiate this. There were some concerns about the nature of this position and the role that Vice President Rao has taken.

(9) National Office: Nelson reported that the national office has begun an email outreach program to 350,000 faculty which will include four emails per month. In the spring, there will be an membership offer to all who are not current members. A progressive monthly dues structure is planned: $5 for those with salaries below $60,000; $10 for those with higher salaries. There was discussion of how to contact such faculty and which membership strategies had been most effective in the past.