Censure removal: I attended the AAUP national conference on June 17 in DC as the chapter’s sole delegate and presented the chapter’s recommendations. Committee A recommended removal. There was little opposition to this action except for strong vocal and written opposition from the Illinois State AAUP group. They objected because national did not consult them – not customary in the past, present or future – and because they wanted to wait until revisions to our statutes were acted upon by the trustees (not a requirement of the imposed censure). The motion overwhelmingly passed by a voice vote. David O’Brien recommends and I concur that the PC pass a resolution thanking President Killeen and Executive VP Wilson for their hard work in bringing about administrative changes in academic freedom, shared governance and proper hiring procedures in response to the censure charges. We also need to laud the recent praise for academic freedom in the mass mails of Jones and Killeen.
Statute revisions: The revisions have been approved by the three senates and the Senates Council. They were transmitted to the president on December 5, 2016. Next BoT meetings:
Sep 7, 2017 Urbana
Nov 16, 2017 Chicago
Jan 18, 2018 Chicago
Mar 15, 2018 Urbana
May 17, 2018 Springfield
July 18-19, 2018 Urbana
I have been assured of notification prior of transmittal to BoT of the president’s recommendations. Nothing has yet been transmitted.
Chapter officers meeting with trustees: Following my request to President Killeen, he arranged for a meeting of Trustees Koritz (chair) and McMillan (past chair) with O’Brien, Prussing and me on Sept 6. Killeen and Wilson will also attend.
PC meetings with administrators: Killeen and Wilson will meet with PC members at 11 am on Oct. 11. I have requested a similar meeting with Chancellor Jones.
Tenure and promotion workshop: As soon as the new provost is selected, I will invite her/him and associate provost Bill Bernhard so that an early date can be set.
Legislative attacks on tenure and course content: Bob Parker continues to track news items on this important subject. We may wish to consider these topics for a workshop or for the May annual membership meeting or an additional event.
Shared governance questionnaire: Twenty per cent of the questionnaires were returned in mid-April. Interim provost Wilkin graciously agreed to resent the questionnaire this summer to the unit heads. Responses were received with deadline last week and our ad hoc committee is evaluating them. Hadi Esfahani will report when the evaluation has been completed. A similar questionnaire will be sent next to the UIUC tenure track and tenured faculty through the provost office. We may wish to consider this topic and responses for our annual meeting.
