President's Semester Report

Spring 2007

TO: Members, UIUC AAUP Chapter
FR: Donald Uchtmann, Chapter President
RE: Activities of the Policy Committee, Spring, 2007

This is my second report to the members of the UIUC AAUP Chapter concerning our activities during the previous semester and completes my first year as Chapter President. I have appreciated the support of my predecessor, Geneva Belford, and the other members of the Policy Committee as well as the members of the Chapter during my tenure as President. Because of this support, I accepted the nominating committee’s request to serve a second year as President and look forward to another active year for the chapter. We plan to meet with President White during the fall semester and to hold a tenure workshop early in the spring, 2008 semester.

The Policy Committee met this spring on January 22, February 12, March 12, April 9, April 30, and June 11. Members of the Policy Committee also met with Provost Linda Katehi on February 12 (see item 1 below). The members who attended at least one of these meetings were: Abbas Aminmansour, Kenneth Andersen, Geneva Belford, Linn Belford, Connie Caveny, Matthew Finkin, Clyde Forrest, Bettina Francis, Michael Grossman, Harry Hilton, Walter McMahon, Cary Nelson, John Prussing, Arthur Robinson, Robert Spitze, Leslie Struble, Donald Uchtmann, and H. F. Williamson. There was also a meeting on April 16 to provide members with an opportunity to comment on the proposed revision of the Chapter’s Bylaws (see item 3 below). The annual meeting was held on May 3 (see item 9 below).

The rest of this report provides a summary of our activities and the discussions at the Policy Committee meetings. Among our principal activities were our meeting with Provost Katehi; the establishment of the Chapter’s web site and the revision of its By-Laws; and our continued role in helping shape campus policy on such issues as the Global Campus Partnership. If you would like to have a more active role in our Chapter’s activities, please let me or one of the other members of the Policy Committee know. We would be pleased to have all of our members more involved in the Chapter’s activities, possibly as members of the Policy Committee or of one of the other committees.

Activities of the Policy Committee

(1) Meeting with Provost Linda Katehi: The Policy Committee regularly invites campus leaders to join us for a discussion of issues important to the faculty and the rest of the academic community. Provost Katehi accepted our invitation to join us at for a meeting in February prior to our regular Policy Committee meeting. In her remarks, the Provost noted that she feels faculty governance is at the heart of the institution and the importance of maintaining academic freedom. She then reviewed the strategic plan, the budget process, the promotion and tenure process, the planning committees she has established, and the diversity committee. Robinson led off the discussion with a description of his concerns about the promotion and tenure process from his perspective as the long time chair of the Chapter’s Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee. The Provost thanked Robinson for his comments and noted that her staff are reviewing the promotion and tenure process and considering issues such as mentoring and the flexibility of the process. Nelson discussed the concerns that we have with the Global Campus Partnership particularly with regard to the status of the instructors hired to teach in the program. The Provost said that she understood these concerns. She feels that the Senate has played an important role in the development of the Partnership and in the continuing review of the tradeoffs in the program with regard to its quality, the access it provides to those interested in enrolling in the program, and the income it generates. The Provost thanked us for the opportunity to join our meeting and Uchtmann thanked her for coming.

(2) Chapter Web Site. Cary Nelson has completed his efforts on directing the preparation of the site and has done an excellent job. It is now up at is permanent address: http://aaup-ui.org/. This will provide our members and the rest of the academic community with a better opportunity to learn about the Chapter’s activities. For example, this report will be available on the site as are summary reports for each of the meetings of the Policy Committee.

(3) Revision of the Chapter By-Laws. The committee (Andersen, Francis, and Williamson) established last fall to review and revise the Chapter By-Laws completed its work this spring following discussion of a number of drafts at meetings of the Policy Committee. The final revision was approved for recommendation to the Chapter members. The revision was presented at a meeting on April 16, 2007 to permit members to comment. The revision was then presented at the Annual Meeting for adoption. The vote to adopt the revision was unanimous. The new By-Laws will appear on the Chapter web site.

(4) UIUC Task Force on Issues of Racism and Free Speech. Finkin initiated a discussion of this issue after seeing a news item that described a Chancellor’s task force on this issue chaired by Professor Jorge Chapa. He led a discussion of the issues involved with regard to free speech and academic freedom. The Policy Committee unanimously approved a statement on this issue to be sent to the Chancellor and Professor Chapa with a copy to the Chair of the Senate Committee on General University Policy.

(5) Global Campus Initiative/Partnership. At our January meeting, we reviewed what were some of the final steps in the development of this program. These included the results of the meeting that Uchtmann and Francis had with President White in December and the changes which occurred as a result of the January 8 summit meeting at which about thirty faculty and students met with President White and Chet Gardner. These changes addressed a number of the concerns which many on the campus had expressed about earlier drafts of the proposal. We discussed the concerns that a number of campus leaders have about how the program will be monitored once it has been approved by the Senate and the Board of Trustees. We stressed the importance of having faculty continue to have an important role in this monitoring and in future developments in the program.

(6) Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee. The chair, Robinson, completed working with two individuals concerning the procedures that were used for decisions on their promotion and tenure. He has gone over his concerns about the process with staff in the Provost’s office. This could provide input to the committee that the Provost has established to review it.

(7) Government Relations Committee. The chair, Andersen, continued to lead discussions of the problems facing the state particularly with regard to the budget. Of critical concern were the state’s large structural deficit and the fact that the stridency of those on opposite sides of the tax debate may preclude the legislature being able to reach a reasonable compromise solution.

(8) National Office. Nelson, the President of the AAUP, reported regularly on the activities of the national AAUP. A major task has been the improvement of the services provided by that office.

(9) Actions by Fidelity Investments. There has been concern that Fidelity Investments is one of the major investment managers seeking privatization of Social Security, either directly or indirectly, and elimination of defined benefit pension plans in favor of individual accounts. Andersen reported that this will be reviewed by SURSMAC in a meeting with Dan Slack. Williamson noted that it has been brought to the attention of Barclay Jones for consideration by Faculty Benefits in the fall.

(10) Annual Meeting, May 3, 2007

(a) Business Meeting. The candidates proposed for 2007-2008 by the Nominating Committee were Donald Uchtmann, President; Bettina Francis, Vice President; Connie Caveny, Secretary; and H. F. Williamson, Treasurer. This slate was approved unanimously. The revision of the Chapter By-Laws was adopted unanimously. Robinson provided a report from the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee.

(b) Report from National President. Nelson discussed some of the key issues he has been working with during the first year of his Presidency. These included: (1) The AAUP investigation of the actions taken by leaders of Universities in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina; (2) The trends in membership over the past decade; (3) The actions of a subcommittee considering political activity in the classroom; and (4) Actions to improve communications with members and recruit new members.

(c) Report from Chapter President. Uchtmann noted that this had been an active year for the Chapter and addressed four themes. The first was the significant ways in which our Chapter has engaged the academic community this year. We have been active regarding many issues including the rehiring of retired faculty; the Global Campus Partnership; and campus polices on free speech, racism and hate crimes. We have continued maintaining relations with campus administrators and our role as the steward of the promotion and tenure process. We completed the revision of the Chapter By-Laws and the establishment of the Chapter’s web site. The second was his appreciation of the support provided by the other officers, the committee chairs, and the rest of the Policy Committee. The third concerned his goals for the coming year which include continuing our active engagement on academic matters; maintaining relationships with campus administrators starting with our meeting with President White in October; expanding the Chapter’s membership and developing the Chapter’s standing rules. His fourth theme was a reflection on his academic career as he nears retirement. He feels that the University of Illinois has been a wonderful place to work and is thankful for the opportunity to have served on its faculty. Our university occupies a unique place in our society, and its faculty and staff have accomplished incredible things. He believes that our campus has a strong governance structure as illustrated by its effective engagement with administrative leaders this past year on matters related to the Global Campus Partnership.

(d) Presentation. Kenneth Andersen led a discussion titled “The Springfield Circus: Is Something Really Going to Happen?” Andersen started with his challenge that we need to speak up or we won’t link up. He then covered a wide range of topics such as (1) The Board of Higher Education and the Legislature; (2) Revenues and Expenditures; (3) Related Budget Issues; (4) Other Legislative Issues; and (5) Role of the University of Illinois in particular and higher education in general. Ken concluded by reminding the group of his initial challenge to speak up in order to link up.

(11) National Meeting of the AAUP, Washington, D.C.: Andersen reported on the national meeting. He felt that it was a more “upbeat” meeting than last year even though there are budget problems that must be addressed. Unlike last year, there was a financial report which included the expenditures that will be needed to compensate for past mistakes. A major task for the leaders (e.g., Nelson, Benjamin) has been introducing a new system for handling membership (there was a complete changeover in the staff in this area). A goal is to increase the membership – it has been stable over the past decade but the composition has shifted so that about two-thirds of the members are now from union chapters. The plans for a major reorganization were released. The proposal is to establish three groups: (a) Professional (similar to current AAUP but with more ability to lobby); (b) Foundation; and (c) Collective Bargaining Association. Andersen is not sure exactly how this will be set up though he did circulate a memorandum describing some of the details. Important items of business at the meeting included censures of all but one of the Universities examined in the report on Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans Universities (LSU Health Sciences Center was the exception since leaders there indicated an interest in correcting the errors that had been made). There were also significant cuts in the budget. Andersen was concerned that there was almost no time to discuss legislative issues. He had copies of two major reports. One was “AAUP Contingent Faculty Index 2006” in which the UIUC looked fairly good. The second was “AAUP Faculty Gender Equity Indicators 2006” in which the UIUC did not look as good. He asked members of the Committee for suggestions as to which campus administrators might find these documents of most value.