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Summary Report for UIUC AAUP Policy Committee Meeting on September 13, 2010
Present: Abbas Aminmansour, Geneva Belford, Linn Belford, Connie Caveny, Bettina Francis, Lewis Hopkins, Walter McMahon, John Prussing, Robert Spitze, Leslie Struble, H. F. Williamson
The meeting began at about 12:10 p.m. with John Prussing presiding.
President's Report
(1) Review of the Minutes for May 3, 2010 Meeting of Policy Committee and July 23, 2010 Informal Meeting of Policy Committee. These were approved.
(2) Review of fall schedule of meetings. Prussing noted that the remaining schedule for the fall will be October 11; November 8; and December 6 (Reading Day is Dec. 9). Each will be in 211 Illini Union Building and is the second Monday of the month except for December.
Action Items
(3) Composition of Policy Committee for 2010-2011. Prussing discussed plans for considering who might be an additional member of the Committee.
(4) Composition of Continuing Chapter Committees for 2010-2011. The current committees are (with current Chairs) (a) Government Relations (Andersen, McMahon); (b) Academic Freedom (Robinson, Struble); (c) Programs (Hilton, Liebersohn); (d) Membership (Caveny, Williamson); and (e) Communications (Caveny). Uchtmann will be added to the Communications committee.
(5) Committee on Campus Governance (CG). Hopkins’ draft of the charge for this new Committee was reviewed. Suggestions were offered for revisions to make the distinction n between the roles and responsibilities of CG and the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (AFT) Committee clearer. Hopkins and Williamson were asked to review these comments and prepare a second draft of the CG charge.
(6) Discussion of an Academic Freedom and Tenure Cases. Prussing summarized Struble’s report on behalf of AFT issues. Struble noted that the Vice Chancellor for Research (VCR) has appointed an ad hoc (at least for now) advisory committee to consider oversight of the compliance committees. She also noted that three faculty members have consulted with members of AFT.
(7) Discussion of SEC Resolution on ACLGF. This resolution will be on the agenda of the October 4 meeting of the Senate. It has generated a heavy email traffic on the topic and the procedures being used to address it (e.g., do these exchanges violate open meeting act rules?).
(8) Planned AAUP Activities for 2010-2011: Membership Drive. Prussing and Caveny summarized the discussion at the officers’ planning meeting about possible strategies. Andersen wanted to be sure that we were aware of membership activities being taken by the national office. Other suggestions included (a) ads and/or articles in Inside Illinois about the AAUP perhaps in conjunction with the tenure workshop in the spring; (b) mailings to all faculty and/or particular groups (e.g., those recently promoted to tenure); and (c) advisory committees or focus groups from among non-members in our target groups. An example of the latter would be a focus group of new association professors to discuss and advise on the tenure workshop.
(9) Planned AAUP Activities for 2010-2011: Spring Tenure Workshop. It was agreed that we should continue holding one each spring. Hilton reported that both Richard Wheeler and Barbara Wilson were supportive and willing to participate again. He hopes to have this on their schedules within a month. He also will be looking into ways to provide better publicity such as an advertisement in Inside Illinois.
(10) Invitations to Campus Administrators to meet with Policy Committee. Prussing was pleased to report that both past President Ikenberry and President Hogan have replied positively to his invitations to join us. He is working with their staff members to arrange the dates. Once these are set, we will prepare an agenda including the list of topics we hope to cover. .
Reports
(11) Government Relations. Andersen reported on President Hogan’s remarks during a weekend meeting of an advocacy group. He admired Hogan’s positive approach toward working with the state for support. McMahon noted that this was a positive step particularly given the concerns he has seen as a member of the Chancellor’s Future of Higher Education Financing committee.
(12) Report on Chapter Web Site. Caveny briefly noted the items that are being posted.
(13) Senate Actions: The report from AFT on the Howell case is still being prepared.
(14)
National AAUP: Aminmansour noted that he was a member of the committee appointed by the national office to investigate actions taken at Louisiana State University.
