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Summary Report for UIUC AAUP Policy Committee Meeting on September 18, 2013
Present: Ken Andersen, Connie Caveny, Bettina Francis, Michael Grossman, Harry Hilton, Walter McMahon, Robert Parker, John Prussing, David O’Brien, Art Robinson, Robert Spitze, H. F. Williamson
The meeting began at about 12:10 p.m.
President's Report
(1) Review of the Minutes for April 29, 2013 Meeting of Policy Committee. The minutes for the meeting were approved.
(2) Review of Report on August 18, 2013 Executive Committee Meeting. Hilton noted that many of the items in this report will be discussed later in the meeting.
(3) Discussion of Informational Meeting on May 6 and Annual Meeting. It was noted that a copy of President’s report for 2012-2013 prepared by Leslie Struble was part of the packet.
(4) Review of Roster for Policy Committee Members were asked to check their entries for accuracy.
(5) Review of fall schedule of regular Policy Committee meetings: Given the decision to switch the meeting date to Wednesday, the meetings for the rest of the fall will be the third Wednesday in October (October 16) and the second Wednesdays in November and December: November 13 and December 11. The location for the October 16 meeting is most likely to be at the Levis Center again. It is hoped that we will be back at the Illini Union in November. Williamson was requested to draft a plan for the spring meetings so that planning for meetings with campus administrators could proceed.
Action Items
(7) Composition of Continuing Chapter Committees for 2013-2014. Hilton proposed that we continue with the leadership of the continuing committees: (a) Government Relations (Andersen, McMahon, Aminmansour)); (b) Academic Freedom (Prussing, Robinson, Struble); (c) Programs (Hilton, Liebersohn); (d) Membership (Caveny, Williamson); (e) Communications (Caveny) and (f) Campus Governance (Hopkins, O’Brien). There was discussion of possibly adding a Benefits Committee. Williamson will lead the discussion of this option
(8) Invitations to Campus Administrators to meet with Policy Committee. The possible visitors were divided roughly into two categories: (a) administrators: e.g., Chancellor Wise would be the first we would invite; and (b) “experts” – that is, those who would address a particular topic such as the Chair of Senate Faculty and Academic Staff Benefits Committee or the new University Librarian.
(9) Role of AAUP Chapter in CB Campaign. The status of the campaign was discussed as well as the role that the Chapter might take if it was decided that a card campaign was going to be undertaken.
(10) Implications of the Open Access Act. There was a brief discussion with the understanding that this would become a more important topic for discussion at future meeting.
(11) Academic Freedom Cases. There was a discussion of the actions taken by the Senate Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee as well as the Chapter’s committees.
(12) Report on National AAUP Meeting and on Illinois AAUP Fall Meeting. Andersen reported on his concerns regarding the actions taken at both the national and state conference levels.
(13) Spring Tenure Workshop. Hilton has contacted the office of the Provost to determine what the possible date for the meeting will be.
(14) Membership Drive. Various strategies were discussed to interest continuing and new faculty in joining the AAUP.
(15) Chapter Web Site. Caveny reported that she was planning the revisions such as replacing the information about the Annual Meeting and posting recent minutes for the Policy Committee.
