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2/8/24 Policy Committee Minutes

    Present: Hadi Esfahani, Richard Laugesen, David O’Brien, Robert Parker, Carol Symes, H. F. Williamson

    The meeting began at about 12:45 p.m. with Symes presiding.

    1. Introductions. Symes called the meeting to order. She noted that she might not be able to speak about all the topics on the agenda since her presentation to the Board of Trustees had conflicted with our January meeting.
    2. Review of the Minutes for January 18, 2024, Meeting of Policy Committee.Since there were no responses to her request for comments on the minutes, Symes announced that they were approved by unanimous consent.
    3. Schedule for Spring Policy Committee Meetings: There were no changes in the schedule of the Policy Committee meetings.
      1. Regular Policy Committee Meeting: The meetings will start at 12:30 p.m. on the following dates. The meetings will be held electronically.
        • March 7: (first Thursday)
          • Spring Vacation starts March 9 and ends March 17
        • April 4: (first Thursday)
        • May 2: (first Thursday, this is Reading Day)
        • NOTE: May 7 is the Tuesday of final examination week, the day chosen for recent Annual Meetings.
      2. Meetings with Campus Leaders. No final arrangements have been made yet for setting up one or more of these meetings.
    4. Action Items
      1. Promotion and Tenure Panel. Rob Kar is in charge of setting up the panel. There is no information yet available on the date and who the panelists will be. Parker and O’Brien stressed the importance of early planning since the panelists’ schedules fill up so quickly. Parker noted that the information on past planning is part of the files that he as past President had provided Kar. He also noted that Carol Tilley, who again is Chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee, has volunteered to be a panelist as she has been in the past. Symes will let Kar know of these concerns and that Parker and others are available to help with the planning.
      2. Annual Chapter Meeting. Williamson noted that there is less need to start the planning for this meeting though Kar might want to appoint a Nominating Committee to start the planning for next year’s leadership. O’Brien asked whether there were any topics being discussed on campus that would be appropriate for the program. [NOTE: A possible topic was discussed later in the meeting – see item (5)(b).]
      3. Meetings with Campus Administrators. Symes reported that Kar has reached out to some administrators already. She will work with him to see how far these negotiations have gone.
      4. Statement by Bloomington AAUP Executive Committee. Laugesen noted that this issue is so important that it would be nice if we were to send a statement of support and proposed that he prepare a statement for our approval. He and Parker will prepare a statement for the group’s approval and its dispatch.
      5. National Day of Action. Parker will review the request to be involved to provide the Committee with more information on the event and will circulate that information to the Policy Committee later. He and Symes will also work with Kar to see if he has any further information on this request. NOTE: Parker later noted that two planning meetings for the “Day” had been held in late January and early February, but he had no further information.
      6. Delegates to National AAUP Convention. Invitations to attend have been sent to Chapters by the national office. A Chapter can send official delegate(s) if (i) it has at least 250 members or (ii) it joins with other Chapters to reach that goal. We do not plan to send a delegate this year.
      7. Zoom site for Policy Committee Meetings. Esfahani will work with Kar on how the meetings could be set up in the future.
    5. Reports and Other Actions
      1. Report on Chapter Web Site. There was a brief discussion of the staffing of the site and the payments made so far to set it up.
      2. Vice President’s Report. Symes reported that at the time of the January Policy Committee meetings, she was making a presentation to the Board of Trustees. She was the member of the University Senates Conference giving that month’s report on an activity on campus. She was asked to talk about academic freedom and decided to approach it from an historical perspective. She was asked to send the slides from the presentation to the Policy Committee. There was a discussion about whether this could be part of the program at the Annual Meeting.
      3. Report from our Liaison to the NTFC Local #6546 Chapter. Williamson and Parker will contact Daniel Steward about how this contact might be maintained.
      4. Membership Campaign. Parker suggested this could be a more significant item on a future agenda. The decision to waive dues for another year would help with this effort.
    6. Adjournment. There being no further reports, Symes thanked the Committee for pitching in and setting up an alternative Zoom link for the meeting after the initial Zoom link didn’t work, and Parker thanked her for running it so effectively. The meeting adjourned at about 1:20 p.m. As noted above, the next meeting of the Committee will be at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 7, 2024.