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Summary Report for UIUC AAUP Policy Committee Meeting on January 21, 2015
Present: Abbas Aminmansour, Connie Caveny, Michael Grossman, Harry Hilton, Lewis Hopkins, Harry Liebersohn, David O’Brien, Robert Parker, Leslie Struble, H. F. Williamson
The meeting began at about 12:08 p.m.
President's Report
(1) Review of the Minutes for the December 10, 2014 Meeting of Policy Committee. The minutes were approved.
(2) Schedule of Spring 2015 Policy Committee meetings. As noted in the agenda:
Remaining meetings: February 18, March 18, April 15 (third Wednesdays) (spring vacation starts March 21); May 6 (first Wednesday, last day of instruction. We will meet in 211 Illini Union.
NOTE: The Annual Meeting will be May 12 if held on the Tuesday of final exam week
Action Items
(4) Discussion of the CAFT Report, the January 6, 2015 Response and Related Documents. There was a lengthy discussion of these documents and of the draft of a response to be circulated on behalf of the Policy Committee. Hilton noted that there were two drafts of our response prepared by the subcommittee (Aminmansour, Hilton, Hopkins) set up for this purpose: (a) a two-page draft that he had prepared and (b) a one page draft prepared by Aminmansour. O’Brien discussed the process by which the Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (CAFT) had prepared its report and his thoughts on the reactions to it particularly with regard to the January 6, 2015 Response by Burbules et al. Hopkins stressed the importance of including in our response an endorsement of the recommendations of the Final Report from the Provost’s Hiring Policies and Procedures Review Committee. These included the recommendation that the Board of Trustees delegate to the president responsibility for tenured and tenure-track appointments not involving administrative positions at the level of deans and above. The president should then delegate to the chancellor and provost. Liebersohn led a discussion of the point that we should acknowledge the emphasis the CAFT Report placed on the importance of the policies on academic freedom and tenure established by the AAUP (e.g., the 1940 Statement) even if we were not prepared to endorse the entire CAFT Report. Aminmansour agreed to prepare a revised version of his draft (a) including the suggestions for different wording and (b) expanding on his point 1) by drawing from paragraph I in the Hilton draft.
(5) Promotion and Tenure Workshop. Hilton is still working with the panelists to determine a feasible date.
(6) Membership on Policy Committee. The current membership roster and the Chapter Bylaws were included in the packet as background for this issue. Liebersohn and other suggested the need to revise the Bylaws. Individuals who have expressed an interest in joining will be asked to attend the next meeting as guests as part of this process.
