UIUC AAUP Policy Committee
Minutes for March 14, 2018
217 Illini Union
Web site:  http://www.aaup-ui.org/

Present:  Hadi Esfahani, Bettina Francis, Harry Hilton, Lewis Hopkins, Richard Laugesen, David O’Brien, Robert Parker, John Prussing, Leslie Struble (Skype), H. F. Williamson

The meeting began at about 12:02 p.m. with Harry Hilton presiding.  

(1)  Introductions.

(2)  Review of the Minutes for February 14, 2018 Meeting of Policy Committee.  The minutes were approved.

(3)  President’s Report.  Hilton reviewed the key topics in his report, some of which are covered further elsewhere in the minutes.
(a)  He continues to follow up on the status of the revisions in the Statutes regarding hiring policies that have been approved by the three senates and the Senate Council. They were transmitted to the president on December 5, 2016.
(b)  O’Brien, Prussing, and he will meet with Chancellor Jones and Provost Congellaris to discuss a number of issues including (a) suspension procedures; (b) possibly adding a faculty “advisor” to the staff in the Chancellor’s office; and (c) the role of faculty governance in the negotiations with the GEO.
(c)  He reported that the attendance at the March 8 Promotion and Tenure Workshop was not as high as last year but that the presentation went well and there was a lively Q&A period afterward.
(d)  Parker continues to track actions which are being taken at the state level regarding tenure and course content.  Hilton will continue to work with Parker and O’Brien to organize the Annual Meeting.
(e)  He summarized the situation with regard to the shared governance questionnaire.
(f)  The status of a request by an individual for the chapter’s help which is under review by the chair of the Chapters Academic and Freedom Committee (Prussing).

(4)  Review of schedule of meetings for spring semester.  As discussed in more detail elsewhere in the minutes in some cases, the schedule for the rest of the semester will be:
 (a)  Regular Meetings of Policy Committee:
Noon:  April 11; and April 25 (new date) in 217 Illini Union
(b)  Special Meeting for voting members of the Policy Committee with Chancellor Jones:  11. a.m., Monday, April 23, 2018, 217 Illini Union
(c)  Annual Meeting:  3:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 8, 2018; 314B Illini Union

(5)  Meeting with Campus Administrators.  No further meetings are scheduled for the spring in addition to those noted above including the Policy Committee meeting with Chancellor Jones at 11 a.m. in 217 Illini Union on Monday, April 23.  We will consider inviting the President and perhaps a member of the Board of Trustees to our meetings in the fall.

(6)  Preparation for Meeting with Chancellor Jones.  The draft agenda was reviewed.  The final agenda will be prepared at the April 11 meeting of the Policy Committee.

(7)  Preparation for Annual Meeting
(a)  Selection of Date:  The Annual Meeting will be at 3:00 p.m. on May 8 in 314 B Illini Union
(b)  Selection of Program:  The draft title of the program will be “The War Against Universities, Academic Freedom, Free Speech, and Science.”  Parker will moderate the discussion by the panelists Professors Rochelle Gutierrez and Donald J. Wuebbles.  Hilton and Parker will prepare the final draft of the poster.
(c)  Publicity:  Some suggestions for ways we could use in addition to EWeek were the Senate web site and organizations as CAFT, CFA, and IPRH. 
(d)  Related Topics:  Parker led a discussion of the general impact of trolling in academia and how we might prepare for further coverage of this topic.

(8)  Report from the Nominating Committee.  O’Brien (chair) reported that the individuals nominated were Hilton, President; Laugesen, Vice President; and Williamson, Secretary-Treasurer.

(9)  Report from Shared Governance Committee.  There was an extensive discussion of Esfahani’s report.  He discussed some of the preliminary conclusions and plans for following up on the survey.  The topics covered included how to improve the response rate and the format of the questions. 

There were no additional reports so the meeting adjourned at about 12:56 p.m.

As noted above, the next meeting for the spring semester will be will be on April 11, 2018 in 217 Illini Union.

Prepared by H. F. Williamson, Secretary