The Annual Business Meeting of the UIUC tenure-stream AAUP Chapter was held by Zoom on May 7, 2024. It began at about 4:30 p.m. following the presentation by Kevin Sharp and Robin Kar on “Artificial Intelligence and Academic Freedom.”
A. Election of Officers for 2024-2025. President Kar announced that following procedures outlined in Article VII of the Chapter’s Bylaws, a nominating committee was appointed to nominate candidates for the elective offices. The individuals nominated as officers for the 2023-2024 term: President: Robin Kar; Vice President: Carol Symes; Co-Secretary: Richard Laugesen and H. F. Williamson; and Treasurer: H. F. Williamson. He announced that there were no additional nominees by petition from the membership and that the floor was now open for additional nominations for any of these offices. There were no nominees forthcoming so he declared the nominations closed and announced that the nominees had been elected by acclamation.
B. President’s Report. President Kar opened his report by reminding attendees that the AAUP—in both its national and local manifestations—has played a vital role in supporting the bedrock principles of academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance within higher education. These principles help make higher education in the United States a national treasure and one of the envies of the world, while ensuring contributions to the public good. Protection of these principles has never been more urgent, as higher education faces a mixture of old and new threats. Recent years have witnessed renewed attacks on tenure, on academic freedom to address systemic inequalities and the climate crisis, and on free speech and rights to protest on campus. New threats are arising from changes in technology, increased political factionalism, and new uses of social media and artificial intelligence in an increasingly “post-truth” era. President Kar thus encouraged attendees who are not already members to consider joining and to let other colleagues who may be interested know about the organization. He suggested that people with questions should feel free to contact him at rkr@illniois.edu or Carol Symes (Vice President) at symes@illinois.edu or to visit our website here. He noted that the local chapter serves as an active resource for faculty with concerns about tenure process, academic freedom, and other faculty matters and that, for decades, our local chapter has defended faculty when these fundamental values have been at risk. He noted that in the last year, the chapter had, among things, had constructive meetings on these issues with President Tim Killeen, EVP Nick Jones, Chancellor Robert Jones, and Provost John Coleman; and had organized an annual workshop on promotion and tenure. Our activities this year had concluded with his earlier presentation with Kevin Scharp that addressed emerging issues at the intersection of academic freedom and emerging technologies of artificial intelligence.
The Business Meeting adjourned at about 4:50 p.m.