Summary Report for UIUC AAUP Policy Committee on February 9, 2009

Present: Abbas Aminmansour, Geneva Belford, Linn Belford, Connie Caveny, Bettina Francis, Walter McMahon, John Prussing, Art Robinson, Robert Spitze, Leslie Struble, Donald Uchtmann, and H. F. Williamson.

The meeting began at about 12:25 p.m. with Donald Uchtmann presiding.

President's Report

(1) Review of the Minutes and Summary Report for January 20, 2009. (Copies sent earlier and will be available at the meeting.)

(2) Review of Policy Committee Meeting with Vice Provost Barbara Wilson. Committee members agreed with her concern about the importance of providing better training and oversight for department heads. Uchtmann will send her a note thanking her for joining us and reminding her that members of our academic freedom and tenure committee will be making an appointment to meet with her.

(3) Other. Uchtmann noted that Vice President Rao is currently away from campus. He will contact her about meeting with a group from the Policy Committee when she returns. It was suggested that we consider having the Dean of the Graduate College meet with the Policy Committee. There was also a discussion of procedures to avoid in doing college-wide searches particularly with regard to considering whether or not to include inside candidates

Action Items

(4) Planning for Tenure Workshop. The tenure workshop is scheduled for 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 5, 2009 in the Latzer Room at the University YMCA. The announcement for Inside Illinois has been prepared and will be in the next issue which comes out two weeks prior to the workshop. The panelists so far are Provost Katehi, Vice Provost Barbara Wilson, and Billie Jean Theide, Chair of the FAC. We will invite a panelist who has been a member of the Campus Promotion and Tenure Committee and, if possible, some from the AAUP. Caveny will arrange to have the information on the Workshop placed on the Chapter web site. Williamson circulated copies of memorandums that can be used to publicize the event.

(5) Selection of Nominating Committee. “A nominating committee of not fewer than three members shall be appointed by the President early in the spring semester and the membership informed of this decision.” (By-Laws, Section VII). A committee of Hilton, Spitze, and Williamson was chosen. Williamson was directed to organize the committee.

(6) Selection of Date for Annual Meeting. As a first step toward choosing a date, we discussed the choice between Reading Day, Thursday, May 7 this year, and a date with fewer possible conflicts such as the Tuesday of exam week which would be Tuesday, May 12.

(7) Discussion of the statement regarding Financial Planning and Academic Policy. Uchtmann circulated a copy of (a) the current draft of McMahon’s statement on “Financing Strategies at the University Level” and (b) his cover memorandum sending this “think piece” to Vice Presidents Knorr and Rao. He thanked McMahon for all the work he put into preparing and revising this document. It was suggested that he also send it to Nick Burbules in his role as chair of the SEC asking Nick whether there are others to whom it could be sent.

(8) Status of the Global Campus Initiative. Prussing noted that the Senate continues its plans to provide input on this issue especially when concerns arise. As noted in the discussion at previous meetings, the process continues to operate within the UIC while seeking independent accreditation for the program.

Reports

(9) Report on Chapter Web Site. Caveny continues to check that the site is current. As noted earlier, one first step is to arrange to add the announcement for the tenure workshop.

(10) Senate Actions. Aminmansour noted that there are some plans to review programs as part of the discussion of the budget crisis. He reported on meetings that have occurred concerning the future role of the IBHE.