Present: Hadi Esfahani, Richard Laugesen, David O’Brien, Robert Parker, Dana Rabin, Bruce Rosenstock, Leslie Struble, Carol Tilley, H. F. Williamson.
The meeting began at about 12:30 p.m. with Parker presiding.
- Introductions. Introductions were not needed.
- Review of the Minutes for December 9, 2021 Meeting of Policy Committee. The minutes were approved.
- President’s Report. Parker reviewed the report that he had sent to the Committee noting that it was relatively brief. Topics not discussed later in the meeting included a petition circulating on campus asking for the administration to do more to protect the university community from COVID, the decision to continue the policy of having a moratorium on annual Chapter dues, and the monthly set of links about AAUP concerns in the news.
- Spring, 2022 Meetings of the Policy Committee. The schedule of meetings for the Policy Committee in the spring was in the agenda.
- 2022 AAUP Conference and Biennial Meeting. The meeting is scheduled to meet June 16-19, 2022. We may select a delegate from the Chapter or join with one or more other Chapters in the state to create a section to elect a delegate or delegates to the meeting. The first step in deciding our choice will be to contact members of the Chapter to see if there is an interest in being a delegate from the Chapter. Following past procedure, the Chapter will cover the delegate’s documented expenses up to a specified amount.
- Panel on Critical Race Theory.
- Program. Parker reported that Adrienne Dixson, Department of Educational Policy, Organization and Leadership; Rodney Hopson, Department of Educational Psychology; and Junaid Rana, Department of Asian American Studies have agreed to be panelists at the meeting which has been scheduled for Wednesday, February 9, at 3:30 p.m. There was an extensive discussion of how to publicize and conduct the meeting and control who attends.
- Open House. Parker also proposed that we consider holding an “open house” or “meet and greet” session at a date soon after the meeting to inform attendees about the AAUP. He will contact the Policy Committee to invite members to participate.
- Review of Policy Issues
- Tenure and Shared Governance in the pandemic. There are no new developments regarding AAUP involvement in pandemic-related issues about tenure and shared governance on our campus.
- Academic Units Issuing Statements on Matters of Public Policy. There was a lengthy discussion of whether the Policy Committee should comment on this issue at this time. As the discussion noted, our options at this time would seem to be to wait until the Provost’s Ad hoc task force issues a report, to indicate to the Provost of our interest in this issue, or to prepare a short policy statement for review at the next Policy Committee meeting. The Policy Committee decided that Parker should send an email to the Provost to indicate that our chapter has discussed this issue among ourselves and that we are following it closely.
- Other Activities for Chapter
- Promotion and Tenure Workshop. The Workshop will meet 3-4:30 p.m. on April 14, 2022 over Zoom.
- Registration of Chapter as an RO. Williamson reported that the Chapter is at last registered.
- Meetings with Administrators. Parker has arranged for Provost Cangellaris to meet with the Policy Committee at 11:30 a.m. on April 7 (that is, the hour before our April Policy Committee meeting). [Mark your calendars]
- Chapter Web Site. Struble reported that she is revising the web site. She asked for comments on whether to add a secure section of the site for documents such as the President’s Reports.
- Membership. The first step in the membership campaign will be to contact individuals whose memberships have lapsed about returning to the Chapter. Members of the Policy Committee will be asked to join this program.
- Adjournment. There being no further reports, the meeting adjourned at about 1:40 p.m. As noted above, the next meeting of the Committee will be 12:30 p.m. on February 17, 2022.