Present: Hadi Esfahani, Robin Kar, Richard Laugesen, Walter McMahon, David O’Brien, Robert Parker, Bruce Rosenstock, Daniel Steward, Leslie Struble, H. F. Williamson (partial).
The meeting began at about 12:35 p.m. with O’Brien presiding.
- Review of the Minutes for March 12, 2020 Meeting of Policy Committee. The minutes were approved.
- President’s Report. O’Brien moved through his report quickly. The Promotion and Tenure Workshop went well and had the best attendance ever. There was concern about whether the Newsletter had been received as planned. O’Brien planned to check to see if it needed to be sent again. Regarding representation at the AAUP Biennial Convention, he found that we could have a delegate rather than have to join with another Chapter to have representation. The national elections this year will be by secret ballot, so he is planning for us to have a delegate. The option we can use is to vote on the delegate selection at a meeting of the organization, our Annual Meeting in this case. Rosenstock noted it would be important to have a possible candidate to be nominated. It was agreed that O’Brien would be nominated. He then discussed the role we might play in decisions that the University will making regarding opening in the fall. Kar discussed the procedures that have been set up for the Senate leadership to have a role in this process. Kar will be attending the Chapter Annual Meeting in cases questions are raised on this issue. O’Brien noted the AAUP reports on this issue both at the national level and at the UIC Chapter that are cited in his President’s Report. Options for providing our input to the administration were discussed. McMahon noted the letter from Jennifer Delaney asking for the endorsement of the letter by the Policy Committee. A motion to sign on behalf of the Chapter was passed along with a request that it be sent to other legislators. Individuals could also contact Delaney if they wanted to sign individually.
- Proposed Schedule of Fall Meetings: Assuming we will again meet at 12:30 p.m. on an early Thursday in the month, the proposed schedule for next fall would be as follows if the campus is open and pending availability of rooms:
- Thursday, September 10 (2nd Thursday); instruction begins August 24; Labor Day is Sept. 7.
- Thursday, October 8 (2nd Thursday);
- Thursday, November 12 (2nd Thursday).
- Thursday, December 10 (2nd Thursday); Reading Day is also December 10)
- Review of Promotion and Tenure Workshop. The Workshop was a great success with the largest attendance ever.
- Resolutions. There are two Resolutions being proposed for the Annual Meeting. There was no objection to there being proposed. They were: Thank you to Panelists at P&T Workshop, and Endorsement of the Campus Decision to Extend Tenure Clock for Probationary Faculty
- Planning for Annual Meeting: The proposed topic will be a presentation on the Chapter’s role regarding the importance of faculty governance in the decisions being made by campus leaders regarding the pandemic. There was a discussion of how we would be in contact with administrators on this topic and whether they should be invited to attend the Annual Meeting. O’Brien suggested that during the discussion at the Annual meeting, we will consider an open meeting between the Chapter leadership and members of the Provost’s office if we have arrived at recommendations. Parker suggested we could set up a mechanism so that administrators could consult with us for timely input on these issues. O’Brien will also stress in his report the importance of increasing our membership.
- Election of a Delegate to the AAUP Biennial Convention. As discussed earlier, O’Brien will propose himself as the Delegate for a vote at the Annual Meeting.
- Reports.
- Chapter Website: Struble reported that the were no problems.
- Report from our Liaison to the NTFC Local #6546 Chapter. Steward reported that the Chapter is engaged in bargaining sessions and seeking to reach a memorandum of understanding on the implications of the response to the pandemic on specialized faculty. He noted that further information can be found on the Chapter’s website: https://www.local6546.org/2020/05/07/covid-19-impact-bargaining-update
- New Business. Rosenstock noted that we will want to address the Title IX Regulations that just came out from the Department of Education and the severe implications that they will have for governance. For example, they stipulate that the way you treat students is the way you treat all employees. He feels that the AAUP will want to step in to protect our rights as faculty members. This could be part of our membership campaign.
- Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at about 1:34 p.m. As noted above, the Annual Meeting will be at 3 p.m. on May 12.
