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The California Conference of the American Association of University Professors (CA-AAUP), represents all four divisions of higher education in the state of California: community colleges, California State Universities, the University of California system, and the private colleges and universities. Together, we are California's higher education professionals: we are adjuncts, lecturers, graduate students, researchers, scientists, tenured and tenure-track faculty. With members at more than 130 universities and colleges across the state, AAUP leads the fight for academic freedom and shared governance, and for the respect we deserve as higher education professionals.
special issue of academe about libraries & librarians
This special Spring 2023 issue of Academe is focused on academic libraries and librarians in higher education. Guest edited by Danya Leebaw, director of the social sciences department at the University of Minnesota Libraries, the new issue stresses the need for solidarity between "traditional faculty" and academic librarians. read more
faculty real wages decreased three years in a row
The AAUP released preliminary data and findings from our annual Faculty Compensation Survey, which concluded data collection last month.
FLORIDA BILL ATTACKS ACADEMIC FREEDOM, SILENCING FACULTY AND STUDENTS.
What's new with academe?
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Our December newsletter includes two online-only articles that supplement the fall 2022 issue of Academe, which centered on revolutionizing higher education budget and finance. Also included are two book reviews from our upcoming winter 2023 issue, which will be released in early February, as well as a selection of recent posts from Academe Blog and an article from our archives. Visit https://www.aaup.org/academe to read more.
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The fall 2022 issue of the AAUP's magazine Academe calls on faculty to become actively engaged in budget and finance issues on their campuses and in their states. Contributors explore the power of coalitional organizing to push back against austerity measures, demand transparency, and hold institutions accountable for their obligations to faculty, staff, students, and the communities beyond their campuses. READ MORE |
AAUP affiliates with AFT
Delegates to the Biennial Association Meeting voted overwhelmingly to affiliate with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), joining forces to build a more powerful and inclusive academic labor movement that will be better able to take on the challenges facing higher education as well as the threats to our democracy.
Professors are Facing Targeted Harassment on College Campuses
Read or listen to this story on The Takeaway Here
The 2022 AAUP Summer Institute was held in Reno, Nevada! July 21–24.
In two years, the world of higher education has changed radically, with new COVID-safety concerns, more austerity budgets targeting faculty and staff, and rising governance and academic freedom violations. That’s why Summer Institute was needed more than ever. Faculty, students, and academic workers all over the country are rising up and taking a stand on their campuses to advocate for the standards and resources our students and communities need to thrive. 2022-aaup-summer-institute.html READ MORE
View the complete program.
In two years, the world of higher education has changed radically, with new COVID-safety concerns, more austerity budgets targeting faculty and staff, and rising governance and academic freedom violations. That’s why Summer Institute was needed more than ever. Faculty, students, and academic workers all over the country are rising up and taking a stand on their campuses to advocate for the standards and resources our students and communities need to thrive. 2022-aaup-summer-institute.html READ MORE
View the complete program.
AAUP / AFT Affilation NEWS
The AAUP has announced that a tentative agreement on an affiliation with the AFT has been reached.
The tentative agreement reflects the four core principles that the AAUP's governing Council laid out at the beginning of this process:
● Preserve the AAUP’s independence and autonomy
● Increase the AAUP’s reach and influence among the profession
● Maintain the AAUP’s brand in higher education
● Be fair to the AAUP staff
READ MORE
The tentative agreement reflects the four core principles that the AAUP's governing Council laid out at the beginning of this process:
● Preserve the AAUP’s independence and autonomy
● Increase the AAUP’s reach and influence among the profession
● Maintain the AAUP’s brand in higher education
● Be fair to the AAUP staff
READ MORE
announcing a new podcast from the AAUP: AAUP Presents
AAUP's first batch of three episodes are now available on these topics:
- AAUP’s work this year as it relates to the pandemic, to academic freedom, and to the New Deal for Higher Education
- the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on governance
- the annual report on the economic status of the profession
STATE AAUP CHAPTERS REACT TO GEORGIA alterING TENURE
The Arch at the University of Georgia
faculty handbooks are not meant to be ironic documents
Read CA-AAUP's Secretary/Treasurer, Alex Zukas' blog essay here
"Faculty Handbooks Are Not Meant to Be Ironic Documents," Academe Blog, October 1, 2021, https://academeblog.org/2021/10/01/faculty-handbooks-are-not-meant-to-be-ironic-documents/
"Faculty Handbooks Are Not Meant to Be Ironic Documents," Academe Blog, October 1, 2021, https://academeblog.org/2021/10/01/faculty-handbooks-are-not-meant-to-be-ironic-documents/
Labor Day 2021 feels very different from Labor Days past. Even more, Labor Day 2021 feels very different from what many of us started looking forward to last spring, when we were rolling up our sleeves to get vaccinated. COVID-19 still represents a global public health crisis, the Delta variant is more contagious and more virulent, hospitals in many locations are full and turning patients away, more children are at risk of very serious illness or death, and there is no end in sight. It didn’t have to be this way.
The way to end the pandemic is with collective action. Read More
The way to end the pandemic is with collective action. Read More
Summer Institute Resources
Summer Institute Online concluded on July 29.
The Summer Institute is the AAUP's premier training program for faculty advocates, and one of the best sources available for learning the practical skills that faculty unionists need to build their organizations and run them successfully. Webinars discussed shared governance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the New Deal for Higher Ed, advocacy organizing, and campus policing. Workshops provided training in bargaining, organizing, research, and government relations. AAUP members are invited to check this page for resources and recordings.
Contingency and Upper Management Growth on the Rise in Higher Ed
The steady rise of contingent faculty appointments and the growth of administration in higher education present a significant threat to academic freedom and shared governance.
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Six Governance Sanctions and One Censure Removal |
The governing Council of the American Association of University Professors voted to add Canisius College (NY), Keuka College (NY), Marian University (WI), Medaille College (NY), National University (CA), and Wittenberg University (OH) to the AAUP’s list of sanctioned institutions. AAUP sanction is imposed when an administration or governing board violates generally accepted standards of college and university governance, as set forth in the Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities. Prior to the restructuring of the AAUP that took effect in 2020, censure and sanction were imposed by vote of the annual meeting; they are now imposed by vote of the governing Council.
In September 2020, the AAUP’s executive director appointed a special committee to investigate and report on the crisis in academic governance that occurred in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on cases at eight institutions. The special committee’s report was published on May 26, 2021, in time for the Committee on College and University Governance to bring its six sanction recommendations before the AAUP’s June council meeting.
We highlight the sanction statement for San Diego's National University:
COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY GOVERNANCE:NATIONAL UNIVERSITY (CALIFORNIA)
With the COVID-19 pandemic underway, as described in the report of the investigating committee, the president of National University announced at a virtual“town hall” meeting “the need to take quick and decisive action.”That action, taken unilaterally by the administration, with the concurrence of the institution’s governing board, included the abrogation of all faculty contracts in order to issue new ones,the suspension of the university’s Faculty Policies, the issuance of the administration’s own version of the faculty handbook, and the replacement of existing faculty governance bodies with a new governance structure.Additional action taken by the administration and governing board in flagrant disregard of widely accepted standards of academic governance included making unilateral changes to the governance structure of the university without respecting the primacy of the faculty’s judgment in relation to general educational policy; merging, in March 2020, all eleven National University system libraries into one central library absent meaningful consultation with the faculty or the library staff; closing several significant academic centers throughout California and in Nevada without taking faculty recommendations into account; and preempting the faculty’s primary responsibility regarding the discontinuation of academic programs by expediting the decision-making process. Whatever the reasons for the board and administration’s contravention of norms and standards of academic governance, the report found, they did not include significant financial difficulty. The report concluded that the actions by the governing board and administration involved a trinity of egregious violations of widely accepted governance standards: their abrogation of faculty contracts, their suspension of the institution’s Faculty Policies, and their unilateral replacement of an elected faculty senate with a university senate. As a result of these actions, the report further concluded, traditional academic governance at the university has been plunged into an abysmal condition. The investigating committee found that the governing board and administration of National University had thoroughly violated AAUP- supported principles and practices of academic governance, as set forth in the Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities and derivative AAUP policy documents.The Committee on College and University Governance recommends to the AAUP’s governing Council that National University be added to the Association’s list of institutions sanctioned for substantial non-compliance with standards of academic government
Read the other sanction statements: Canisius College | Keuka College | Marian University | Medaille College | Wittenberg University
The Committee on College and University Governance delayed making a recommendation to the Council concerning the imposition of sanction on Illinois Wesleyan until fall 2021, pending action by its board of trustees on a remaining faculty hearing. At the University of Akron, a successful negotiation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the chapter and administration on shared governance led the Committee on College and University Governance to make no recommendation on sanction. However, in its statement, the committee wrote that it “remains deeply concerned about the continued presence in the collective-bargaining agreement of language equivalent to the technically deleted ‘force majeure.’” In light of subsequent developments, the AAUP’s Council referred consideration of a recommendation on sanction back to the Committee on College and University Governance.
Illinois Wesleyan University | University of Akron
AAUP governance investigations are conducted under the aegis of the Association’s standing Committee on College and University Governance by AAUP members who have had no previous involvement in the cases under investigation. The investigating committee is charged with independently determining the relevant facts and the positions of the principal parties before reaching its findings. The committee’s draft report, if approved for publication by the parent committee, is distributed to the administration and the relevant faculty bodies for comment and correction of fact. The AAUP takes these comments into account when preparing the final report. If the investigating committee’s published report finds that serious violations have occurred and an appropriate resolution cannot be achieved, the AAUP may place an institution on its sanction list, which informs the academic community and the public that conditions for shared governance at the institution are unsound.
The investigating committee was co-chaired by Michael Bérubé, Pennsylvania State University and Michael DeCesare, Merrimack College, chair of the AAUP’s Committee on College and University Governance. Additional members were Ruben J. Garcia, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Pippa Holloway, University of Richmond; Susan Jarosi, Hamilton College; and Henry Reichman, California State University, East Bay, chair of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure.
The Council also voted to remove Bastyr University from the Association's list of censured administrations. Since 1938 the AAUP has censured administrations of higher education institutions for failing to observe generally recognized principles of academic freedom.
- Censure removal statement: The AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure recommended the removal of censure on Bastyr after the adoption of policy correcting inadequacies in the dismissal procedures that had led to the imposition of censure and after three faculty members whose cases prompted the censure accepted the administration’s apologies for the actions taken against them.
- Investigative Report: Academic Freedom and Tenure: Bastyr University
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Diane Klein, CA-AAUP Vice President for Private Colleges and Universities models a CA-AAUP t-shirt.
FACULTY COMPENSATION SURVEY RESULTS
Glenn Colby, AAUP Senior Researcher, has shared with us the results of the AAUP’s 2020–21 Faculty Compensation Survey, released April 12 2021. Real wages for full-time faculty decreased for the first time since the Great Recession, and average wage growth for all ranks of full-time faculty was the lowest since the AAUP began tracking annual wage growth in 1972. After adjusting for inflation, real wages for full-time faculty decreased at over two-thirds of colleges and universities. The number of full-time faculty decreased at over half of institutions. READ MORE
meet Shawn Fields --- aaup western region lead organizer
Shawn Fields is the Western Region Lead Organizer for the AAUP. Her work centers on collaborating with and providing support for advocacy and collective bargaining chapters, their members, and their organizing efforts. Shawn was previously an organizer with United Academics of Oregon State University. She joined the labor movement as a member of the Graduate Employees Organization at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During her time as a graduate employee, she served as a steward chair, a bargaining team member, and president of her local and served on several national committees and task forces for the American Federation of Teachers. Contact Shawn
- DOWNLOAD Shawn's presentation from the 2021 Annual Meeting of the CA-AAUP:
- ORGANIZING DURING A PANDEMIC
Download File
organzing_during_a_pandemic.pdf
18th annual meeting of the California AAUP
TEACHING, LEARNING, AND CREATING EQUITY
AT A DISTANCE
took place online
FRIDAY MARCH 12, 2021.
SATURDAY. MARCH 13, 2021
In past years, this has been an in-person event, but this year we took it online.
Panels explored the connections between the AAUP's core concerns (academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance) and the new California Ethnic Studies requirement, emergency remote teaching/distance education, and pandemic-driven faculty workforce reduction.
Thanks to all who attended!
FOR MORE MEETING DETAILS, PLEASE VISIT the CA-AAUP Events page here
Panels explored the connections between the AAUP's core concerns (academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance) and the new California Ethnic Studies requirement, emergency remote teaching/distance education, and pandemic-driven faculty workforce reduction.
Thanks to all who attended!
FOR MORE MEETING DETAILS, PLEASE VISIT the CA-AAUP Events page here
aaup officer and council election results
In a mail ballot election, AAUP chapter and section delegates elected Irene Mulvey of Fairfield University as the new president of the 105-year-old faculty-led organization. Paul Davis of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College was elected as vice president, and Christopher Sinclair of the University of Oregon was elected as secretary-treasurer. Chapter and section delegates also elected Nivedita Majumdar and Glinda Rawls as at-large Council members.
Watch the 2020 AAUP officer and Council candidate campaign speeches here.
AAUP Opposes DHS Ban on International Students
Last week, the higher education community reeled from the shock of a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ruling that bars international students from being in the United States if they are enrolled in institutions that will only offer online instruction this fall. This news came at a time when many colleges and universities had already made announcements about the new academic year, which meant that plans for remote learning made with public health in mind would have the unintended effect of excluding international students.
Yesterday, the AAUP released a statement about the ruling. READ MORE
Yesterday, the AAUP released a statement about the ruling. READ MORE
Budget letter to state leaders from the reclaim California
Higher Education coalition
June 11, 2020
Governor Gavin Newsom, Speaker Anthony Rendon, Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins California State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA
Dear Governor Gavin Newsom, Speaker Anthony Rendon, Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins,
We are the Reclaim CA Higher Education Coalition, stakeholders committed to the reaffirmation of California’s Master Plan for Higher Education. We are the student, staff, faculty, and labor groups of the California Community Colleges, California State University, and the University of California – representing more than three million constituents.
Our mission is to fully restore the Master Plan for Higher Education as it was enacted in 1960 – tuition- and fee-free, accessible to all, and of the highest quality. While the state faces a daunting budget situation, we believe that our public colleges and universities must be fully supported because they are essential to the health of our communities and the economic recovery of our state.
We recognize there are many difficult decisions to be made this budget cycle. We offer options and lines of thinking that would be beneficial to our students, workers, and institutions in light of the dire budget.
While we have already advocated for internally and flexibly moving around funds in reserves to meet budget needs on a one-time basis, this is not a replacement for sustained and adequate state funding for public higher education.
We encourage state leaders to be similarly flexible in its various funding streams to each segment to allow for critical operations to continue to function.
Other areas in the state budget for higher education that can be eliminated or paused and then reappropriated include:
- California Community Colleges
- Eliminating CalBright College, which is unaccredited and duplicative of pre-existing colleges, can redirect $137 million to the other existing 114 colleges.
- Pausing or eliminating the student-centered funding formula to focus on making sure community colleges can handle likely surges in enrollment
- Funding growth for California Community Colleges to accommodate greater numbers of students, due to high rates of unemployment and access to Community Colleges
- California State University
- CSU can and should be expected to draw down a significant portion of its $1.7 billion
surplus, not just the $470 million of it that has been designated a rainy day fund. The legislature should require a portion of these reserves to be allocated to preventing damaging layoffs and furloughs. We believe doing so, in concert with the state’s maintenance of the same base allocation as last year, will enable the CSU to continue to provide the services our students deserve while managing the additional resource needs caused by the pandemic. We are opposed to a potential 10% budget cut for the CSU because the Governor and the Legislature have a responsibility to our students, in no small part because investing in the CSU is central to the future economy of California. - CSU has a number of administrators making more than the Governor and many millions of dollars in requests for construction projects that can be deferred. These are both sources of potential savings, and the latter could allow CSU to focus on more pressing deferred maintenance needs.
- CSU can and should be expected to draw down a significant portion of its $1.7 billion
- University of California
- UC has reserves, liquidity, and access to low-cost borrowing, but would likely be willing to do so for the duration of the crisis if the state commits to at least provide the same level of financial commitment from state funds as last year and to fully funding UC in the future including funds to pay back what UC orroed or spent down during this emergency.
- UC’s President and Chancellors have voluntarily taken 10% pay cuts, which should be expanded to UC’s other top-paid employees including those in the Senior Management Group and football and basketball coaches. Progressive cuts on only those salaries that are above $250,000 could save the UC as much as $900 million.
We cannot compromise the quality of our public higher education in California, the best in the world, in response to this crisis. Even before the pandemic, state funding for public higher education remained below pre-2008 levels, and colleges were already educating more students with less funding. The vital teaching and research missions of the UCs, CSUs, and CCCs require continued support for this core commitment and the faculty and graduate students who carry it out, ahead of other non-research and non-educational priorities
We are deeply aware of the contribution the CSU system makes to the state. CSU produces over half of the K-12 teachers, a sizable portion of nurses, and literally thousands of well-educated first-generation students who are well equipped to be productive and engaged citizens. We cannot and must not close the doors of opportunity that a CSU education provides to those students.
Our higher education system must not be pushed down the path to becoming fully online, with large classes, and focused solely on workforce development. As we continue to robustly invest in the education of our state’s people, we also must ensure that education retains its quality while meeting the need to deliver it in an accessible and equitable manner.
Further, this shift in work has made more apparent many inequities within our faculty and staff. Non-tenure-eligible faculty (lecturers, adjuncts, and graduate students) are paid the least and are most likely to face extreme challenges in working from home, including a lack of private or dedicated workspace, childcare and educational responsibilities to children, and lack of technology (hardware, software, and connectivity) necessary for online teaching.
Workers also do not have the tools and equipment to allow for a safe work environment as the location of the workplace shifts to the home, such as a lack of ergonomic chairs and desks for extended periods of work. Funding is needed to purchase equipment necessary to perform work from home in a healthy manner This is only fair, given that workers are now subsidizing the University’s operational costs with their own personal property and out-of-pocket expenses.
The last recession and state budget cuts in response to it led to unprecedented levels of higher tuition in all three systems. Raising tuition, on the backs of California families and students, to make up for lost state funding is not the answer to balancing the state’s budget -- especially with potentially depressed enrollments and soaring unemployment. Graduating students in 2021 and beyond with even more debt in a depressed economy will only lead to a worse situation. Significant tuition reduction, or better yet, a return to the tuition-free model, will provide economic relief to thousands while preparing them to lead the economic recovery.
Students and their families filled out financial aid requests in the first quarter of the year based on their economic circumstances in 2019, which for so many is drastically different from today. With the sudden change in the economy, we must also make our financial aid eligibility requirements more flexible to meet the new needs of our students and families beyond the cost of tuition/fees such as rent, food, and technology needed to learn/work remotely when necessary.
Our state will be in danger if we are not able to keep producing the same number of graduates needed for our critical services and economic recovery. Outgoing high school students and college students negatively affected by more difficult learning during this time and adverse economic situations may also take much longer to finish their higher education.
All funding for education now is an investment towards a stronger economic recovery for California. As public institutions, our funding should be seen as part of the recovery efforts, not a subsidy or bailout.
Higher education has already been on the frontlines and essential in responding to the pandemic and economic situation, but needs support from our elected leaders to continue being able to do so. Our state’s leaders took many laudable actions in the last few months putting the public good first amidst a crisis. We need to continue that by supporting public higher education as another necessary public good -- one that has fueled California’s economic engine since the adoption of the Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960.
We call on our state leaders to prioritize higher education and act with flexibility in ensuring it is funded adequately to support our students, families, workers, and economic recovery.
We thank the Senate and Assembly for their leadership in proposing a budget on June 3rd that prioritizes higher education funding and takes action on the aforementioned ideas such as dismantling CalBright College and reappropriating its funding.
Signed,
University Council-American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT)
The Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA)
Faculty Association of Community Colleges (FACC)
California Community College Independents (CCCI)
California Part-Time Faculty Association
Teamsters Local 2010
American Association of University Professors - California Conference (CA-AAUP)
California Faculty Association (CFA)
Jonathan Abboud, Reclaim CA Higher Education Coalition coordinator & Santa Barbara City College Trustee
Cc:
President Janet Napolitano
Chancellor Eloy Oakley
Chancellor Timothy White
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May 14 COVID-19 Update
As summer approaches, the AAUP continues to develop guidance and plan webinars to help us organize and respond to the challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guidance on Reopening Campuses
The decision to reopen a campus raises not only logistical and health and safety concerns but also concerns about how best to achieve the academic mission both during the COVID-19 pandemic and in its aftermath. The AAUP has developed guidance on reopening campuses for our chapters, faculty governing bodies, and administrations. As with all the AAUP’s resources related to COVID-19, we will continue to update this guidance as new information becomes available.
Financial Crisis FAQs
Colleges and universities are facing challenging financial situations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis. In some cases, particularly those in which ongoing financial problems have threatened institutions’ survival, the challenges are extraordinary. To assist members of the academy in addressing the challenges faced in times of financial stress, the AAUP has updated our web page with FAQs on financial crisis in order to help our chapters, our members, and the profession as a whole navigate this crisis.
International Student Visas
The AAUP has signed on to a letter sent by the American Council of Education and sixty-two other associations to the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of State in regard to international students.The letter from the associations outlines the role international students play in the US economy and their contributions to education and research, as well as some of the issues these students and colleges and universities will likely be facing in the fall. The groups urged the Secretary of State to prioritize applications for student visas once the consulates reopen. They also requested that the State Department and DHS extend regulatory flexibility for international students to begin their studies online if campuses are unable to open in the fall or student visas are delayed.
Rescind Proposed Rules for Distance Education
The AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers have submitted joint comments urging the Department of Education to rescind proposed rules for distance education. The comments emphasize that the rules would weaken the interaction between students and faculty members—the key relationship in higher education—and would allow increased outsourcing of core educational responsibilities. Read more here.
Support Faculty at Rutgers University Biomedical and Health Sciences
Clinical faculty in the AAUP-BHSNJ chapter need your support for their petition to win a fair contract after two years of bargaining. These members’ work on the frontlines of the COVID crisis, including work on developing a COVID-19 saliva test, is a real-life example of higher education for the common good. While Rutgers University’s president praises them as “heroes,” his negotiators take a hard line in bargaining by looking at layoffs and ways to de-tenure faculty. AAUP-BHSNJ hopes to revamp health and safety measures, clarify the role of family leave, and reduce gender pay inequity. Add your name.
Send a Letter to Your Member of Congress
Many of our states and communities face serious financial shortfalls as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ability of states to provide adequate funding for higher education and other public goods will be dependent upon the inclusion of relief for state and local governments in the next federal stimulus package. On Tuesday, we sent a message from AAUP president Rudy FIchtenbaum asking you to write to your US congressional representative and your senators and urge them to include relief for state and local governments in the next stimulus package. Here’s the link to send a letter now.
Check back here for more updates in two weeks.
In solidarity,
Julie Schmid
Executive Director, AAUP
COVID-19 AAUP Cancellations and Election Update
Event Cancellations and Changes
Due to guidance issued by the CDC and state and local governments, the AAUP will be unable to hold the June 18–21 AAUP Conference and Biennial Meeting as scheduled. The AAUP Biennial Meeting scheduled for June 19–20, 2020, has been postponed in part. The non-election portion of the Biennial Meeting is postponed and will be rescheduled when feasible. The election of AAUP officers and Council members scheduled for the Biennial Meeting will be conducted by a secret mail ballot of chapter and section delegates starting on or about June 19, 2020. AAUP Conference programming, including plenary presentations and peer-to-peer sessions, has been cancelled.
Additionally, the AAUP will be unable to hold the 2020 AAUP Summer Institute—planned for July 23–26 at the University of Nevada, Reno—as scheduled. More details are forthcoming.
Although the AAUP is unable to move forward with in-person events for AAUP members, we are expanding our webinar offerings—we have two webinars coming up in the weeks ahead and will be announcing others—and continue to share new resources on our coronavirus information page.
2020 Officer and Council Election
Nominations for officer and Council positions closed on March 15, 2020, and the nominees are listed here in ballot order. The deadlines and procedures for chapter and member good standing and for delegate registration remain the same, with the exception that delegates will not be expected to be credentialed at the meeting. Delegates will cast the ballots equal to the number of members in the chapter or section. If a chapter or section has more than one delegate, each delegate would receive ballots representing an equal portion of the votes to which the chapter or section is entitled, with the delegation distributing any remaining votes. The ballots will be mailed to each delegate’s home address on record with the AAUP on or about June 19, 2020, and must be returned in the return envelope provided and received no later than 28 days after mailing. Additional information regarding the election is available at https://www.aaup.org/2020-election-information.
In solidarity,
Julie Schmid
Executive Director, AAUP
new california aaup advocacy chapter formed at LMU
The CA-AAUP is delighted to announce that the Loyola Marymount University AAUP chapter has been granted an AAUP advocacy charter. The LMU AAUP Advocacy Chapter was founded in March 2020 to advocate for higher education, defend academic freedom, strengthen shared governance, and promote the interests of faculty of all ranks and contracts at Loyola Marymount University and throughout California, in partnership with our colleagues within the CA-AAUP. We look forward to organizing together!
You can find us at: lmuaaup.org.
You can find us at: lmuaaup.org.
UPDATES FROM THE A A U P
Spring Academe Preview and Data Snapshot
The AAUP just published a preview of selected content from our forthcoming spring Academe issue on the politics of knowledge. Visit the Academe home page to read new articles by Robert Post and Judith Butler, a Q&A with leaders of Rutgers University AAUP-AFT, a pair of new book reviews, and highlights of the recent coverage of COVID-19 on Academe Blog.
The Academe home page also features a data snapshot by senior program officer Hans-Joerg Tiede on attitudes toward faculty freedom of expression. It is by now well-established that the current highly polarized political atmosphere is reflected in attitudes toward higher education. The findings in this data snapshot show that support for faculty freedom of expression has been falling in recent years, particularly among conservatives. Recent findings about differences in attitudes toward higher education between liberals and conservatives may be related to attitudes toward academic freedom as well.
In Case You Missed It
The AAUP joined other higher education groups in the Washington Higher Education Secretariat and signed on to a letter asking Congress to provide funding for institutions of higher education and their students (especially low-income students) who are affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
We also signed on to a letter in support of legislation that ensures veterans are able to keep their GI Bill benefits in situations where institutions have been forced to move courses online due to the COVID-19 crisis. The legislation was signed and enacted on March 21.
The AAUP joined 44 other free expression organizations and signed on to the National Coalition Against Censorship's letter opposing the censorship of LGBTQ books.
Resource Highlight: COVID-19
We are monitoring the impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic on higher education and have collected resources and guidelines here. This page will be regularly updated for AAUP members and others in the higher education community.
The AAUP, together with our organizing partner the American Federation of Teachers, has formulated principles to guide higher education's response to COVID-19. You can find them here.
Facebook Group for Members
The effects of the COVID-19 crisis on curriculum and instruction, the treatment of employees, intellectual property, and protection of whistleblowers are all areas of importance in a rapidly changing environment. To help facilitate conversation about these issues, we created a Facebook group for members to discuss questions, challenges, organizing ideas, and other topics as they relate to the current situation. You can join here.
And as a reminder, the AAUP Chapter Leader Facebook group is also a resource for discussions at the leader level. You can join that here if you haven’t already.
March 31, 2020
COVID-19 and AAUP principles
Like the rest of society, higher education continues to be shaken by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of us have already been required to move courses online, often abruptly and without adequate institutional support. Labs are being shuttered and research projects curtailed, and what we had initially hoped would be only a brief disruption is now likely to continue through the remainder of this academic year. Many members of our campus communities—including graduate student workers, support staff, students, and all categories of faculty—are faced with uncertainty around employment status, health benefits, and paid leave.
The AAUP has put together a coronavirus information web page for AAUP members and the higher education community. We have been collecting resources from the government, other higher education organizations, and our chapters to help all of us respond to this challenge. We will continue to add to the page as new resources become available.
As many of you know, some administrations have been leaving the faculty out of decisions pertaining to curriculum and program, online teaching and intellectual property, and the faculty role in navigating the financial impact of COVID-19 on our campuses. Faculty governance bodies and academic unions must insist on involvement in decision-making about the effects that this crisis is having on our campuses, and we will be sharing guidance from the national AAUP, as well as strategies some of our chapters have developed as they grapple with the crisis.
These are trying times for our students, our profession, and our nation. But even as we respond to the immediate needs of our students and families, we must also be diligent in defending the AAUP’s core principles of academic freedom, due process, and the faculty voice in decision-making on our campuses. If we do not defend those principles, we run the real risk that college and university administrations will use this emergency to reshape higher education, serving an agenda that is too often influenced by corporate interests rather than by a commitment to the common good. Please check out our coronavirus information page for a statement on COVID-19 and the faculty role in decision-making, AFT and AAUP principles for higher education’s response to COVID-19, and other resources already available for responding to any administration overreach you may be experiencing.
We have survived and grown stronger in times of crisis before, and, working together, we will do so now. Please demonstrate your support for AAUP principles at this critical time by joining the Association or renewing your membership.
In solidarity,
Rudy Fichtenbaum
AAUP President
March 26, 2020
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17th Annual Meeting of the California AAUP explored the theme: Restoring Faculty Leadership to Strengthen California Colleges and Universities held from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM on SATURDAY, FEB. 22 Mosher Alumni House on the campus of the University of California Santa Barbara. |
photos from the 17th Annual Meeting of the CA-AAUP
Click HERE to view more photos of participants in the 17th Annual Meeting of the CA-AAUP
We focused on the double challenge that shared governance is facing: first from administrators and also from the exclusion of the majority of faculty from shared governance because they are non-tenured.
The meeting began with a panel of speakers from each sector of higher education in California: the University of California, California State University, Private Colleges and Universities, and California Community Colleges. These leaders participated in a conversation on the current state of shared governance in California and on emerging and future challenges to it, reflecting on the relationship between faculty unionization and shared governance. The panelists addressed the question of whether and how, "non-senate" faculty should be more involved in shared governance.
The panel members included these leaders :
In the future, we will draft a CA-AAUP decalogue of shared governance principles and practices that grow out of the ideas discussed by our distinguished panelists, reports from the small groups discussions, and our Faculty Leadership survey.
The meeting began with a panel of speakers from each sector of higher education in California: the University of California, California State University, Private Colleges and Universities, and California Community Colleges. These leaders participated in a conversation on the current state of shared governance in California and on emerging and future challenges to it, reflecting on the relationship between faculty unionization and shared governance. The panelists addressed the question of whether and how, "non-senate" faculty should be more involved in shared governance.
The panel members included these leaders :
- Kum-Kum Bhavnani Chair, Academic Senate, University of California
- Julie Bruno Past President, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
- Diane Klein President, University of La Verne AAUP Chapter
- Catherine Nelson Chair, Academic Senate of the California State University
- Mia L. McIver President UC-AFT
- Chris Sinclair President, United Academics, University of Oregon
- Moderators were Claudio Fogu, President, CA-AAUP and Steven Filling, President-Elect, CA-AAUP
In the future, we will draft a CA-AAUP decalogue of shared governance principles and practices that grow out of the ideas discussed by our distinguished panelists, reports from the small groups discussions, and our Faculty Leadership survey.
PROGRAM SCHEDULE
8:30 – 9:15. Check-in & Continental Breakfast
9:15 - 9:30. Welcome by SBFA / CA-AAUP President Claudio Fogu
9:30 – 11:00. Opening Panel: “Sharing governance in unionized and non-unionized environments”
11:45 – 12:15. First plenary session
12:15 – 1:30. Lunch
1:30 – 3:00. Second Panel: “Sharing governance among all faculty”
3:45 – 4:30. Plenary drafting of Decalogue of Best Governance Practices
4:30 – 5:00. Business meeting and Steps Forward
8:30 – 9:15. Check-in & Continental Breakfast
9:15 - 9:30. Welcome by SBFA / CA-AAUP President Claudio Fogu
9:30 – 11:00. Opening Panel: “Sharing governance in unionized and non-unionized environments”
- Kum-Kum Bhavnani, Chair, Academic Senate, University of California
- Chris Sinclair, President, United Academics, University of Oregon
- Diane Klein, President, University of La Verne AAUP Chapter
- Moderator: Steven Filling, President-Elect, CA-AAUP
11:45 – 12:15. First plenary session
12:15 – 1:30. Lunch
1:30 – 3:00. Second Panel: “Sharing governance among all faculty”
- Julie Bruno, Past President, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
- Catherine Nelson, Chair, Academic Senate of the California State University
- Mia McIver, President, UC-AFT
- Moderator: Claudio Fogu, President, CA-AAUP
3:45 – 4:30. Plenary drafting of Decalogue of Best Governance Practices
4:30 – 5:00. Business meeting and Steps Forward
| ucsb_campus_map.pdf |
comments from ca-aaup attendees at 2019 AAUP Summer Institute in Chicago
Countless thanks to the CA-AAUP for the opportunity to participate in the AAUP Summer Institute. I will continue to draw inspiration from the S.I. as I take on leadership roles in my institution's Faculty Senate and help build-up the membership base at our chapter in the coming years. Raphi Rechitsky
Overall, the Institute provided AAUP principles in ways that we can confidently espouse to administrators and our Board. It was encouraging to confirm our advocacy efforts for our Faculty Handbook. The interactions with other participants are invaluable. Marcia Godwin
Thank-you for the support to attend the Summer Institute in Chicago in July. It was great to get a more in-depth introduction to the organization. I am a new member on the Budget Advisory Committee at my campus and Howard Bunsis' guidance helped to refine some of the key data analysis underlying our auditing efforts. Tony Lewis
Overall, the Institute provided AAUP principles in ways that we can confidently espouse to administrators and our Board. It was encouraging to confirm our advocacy efforts for our Faculty Handbook. The interactions with other participants are invaluable. Marcia Godwin
Thank-you for the support to attend the Summer Institute in Chicago in July. It was great to get a more in-depth introduction to the organization. I am a new member on the Budget Advisory Committee at my campus and Howard Bunsis' guidance helped to refine some of the key data analysis underlying our auditing efforts. Tony Lewis
Dangerous Times for Public Higher Education in Alaska
In the face of a devastating 41 percent reduction in state funding imposed by the governor, Alaska AAUP members are mobilizing to save their public university system.
In an open letter to state legislators, AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum and Abel Bult-Ito, president of United Academics of the University of Alaska (AAUP/AFT), urged legislators to override the governor's crippling reductions.
“The governor may view these cuts as a means to balance the budget. But as university faculty and higher education advocates, we believe the budget cuts would mean the end of Alaska’s public university system,” they wrote.
Add your name to a letter of support to AAUP/AFT members who are fighting back.
Here’s more from the open letter sent yesterday: “Despite its small size, Alaska’s public university system plays a big role in educating Alaskans. Rural and lower-income communities depend on the University of Alaska system for improving their job skills and providing accessible degrees beyond a high school diploma, ranging from certificates to PhD degrees. . .
“The governor’s 41 percent reduction in state funding to Alaska’s public university system would mean closing campuses across the state and endangering the university’s accreditation. Alaskan students would have fewer options for continuing their education, and those options would be poorer in quality.”
This devastating cut is an assault on higher education as a common good.
Show your support for University of Alaska faculty, employees, and students. Add your name and comments of support now.
In solidarity,
The AAUP
P.S. Want to know more about the cuts? Here’s an article from the New York Times.
In an open letter to state legislators, AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum and Abel Bult-Ito, president of United Academics of the University of Alaska (AAUP/AFT), urged legislators to override the governor's crippling reductions.
“The governor may view these cuts as a means to balance the budget. But as university faculty and higher education advocates, we believe the budget cuts would mean the end of Alaska’s public university system,” they wrote.
Add your name to a letter of support to AAUP/AFT members who are fighting back.
Here’s more from the open letter sent yesterday: “Despite its small size, Alaska’s public university system plays a big role in educating Alaskans. Rural and lower-income communities depend on the University of Alaska system for improving their job skills and providing accessible degrees beyond a high school diploma, ranging from certificates to PhD degrees. . .
“The governor’s 41 percent reduction in state funding to Alaska’s public university system would mean closing campuses across the state and endangering the university’s accreditation. Alaskan students would have fewer options for continuing their education, and those options would be poorer in quality.”
This devastating cut is an assault on higher education as a common good.
Show your support for University of Alaska faculty, employees, and students. Add your name and comments of support now.
In solidarity,
The AAUP
P.S. Want to know more about the cuts? Here’s an article from the New York Times.
full victory!!
April 1, 2019
We are overjoyed to announce that UC-AFT Unit 17 (librarians) has overwhelming ratified a new and fair contract with UC and won recognition of academic freedom not only for them but for all “non-faculty academic appointees […] engaged in teaching, research, scholarship, or the public dissemination of knowledge.”
See contract and proposed policy at:
https://ucaftlibrarians.org/2019/04/01/new-uc-aft-unit-17-librarian-mou-overwhelmingly-ratified/
https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/academic-personnel-policy/policies-under-review/apm-011.html
This is a very good day for California Higher Education!
We are overjoyed to announce that UC-AFT Unit 17 (librarians) has overwhelming ratified a new and fair contract with UC and won recognition of academic freedom not only for them but for all “non-faculty academic appointees […] engaged in teaching, research, scholarship, or the public dissemination of knowledge.”
See contract and proposed policy at:
https://ucaftlibrarians.org/2019/04/01/new-uc-aft-unit-17-librarian-mou-overwhelmingly-ratified/
https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/academic-personnel-policy/policies-under-review/apm-011.html
This is a very good day for California Higher Education!
follow-up to Wright State Strike & Appeal for support
Dear CA-AAUP members,
You may recall our recent support for AAUP-WSU’s strike which ended on February 11 with a contract that successfully "rolled back” the most pernicious elements of the contract that WSU had wanted to impose on faculty in January, but also obliged WSU faculty to take a substantial “financial hit.” Unfortunately, this was not the end of the struggle. AAUP-WSU President Martin Kich has just communicated to all supporters of the strike that WSU is taking an additional financial hit they had not anticipated: WSU has put the responsibility of lost instructional time on the backs of strikers, with the result that "members are being docked for about 7.5% of their base pay, all of which is being deducted from their last four spring checks.” As Kich tell us in his letter “it is extremely important that faculty not be dissuaded from striking out of concern over the financial consequences and that no precedent be set that this is an effective strategy for breaking a strike or a union.” AAUP-WSU has thus filed a grievance that will probably go to arbitration. But in the meantime WSU faculty is suffering more severe consequences than anticipated and their Solidarity Fund has been transformed into a Strike fund to which we are all invited to contribute by clicking
https://www.gofundme.com/aaupwsu-strike-fund?teamInvite=XrKsR8c1pnknynyIbjLAiLah6mA3qH8B3sGy5OcKrTmq9YUkKavAa6u7n9KmF6Tr&fbclid=IwAR1xQVGNUcNcDu4C2Oe-8j7vXB8jW-XK1uUhvPppMkKn5xh-JQBwBaZ3rNc.
CA-AAUP Steering Committee
You may recall our recent support for AAUP-WSU’s strike which ended on February 11 with a contract that successfully "rolled back” the most pernicious elements of the contract that WSU had wanted to impose on faculty in January, but also obliged WSU faculty to take a substantial “financial hit.” Unfortunately, this was not the end of the struggle. AAUP-WSU President Martin Kich has just communicated to all supporters of the strike that WSU is taking an additional financial hit they had not anticipated: WSU has put the responsibility of lost instructional time on the backs of strikers, with the result that "members are being docked for about 7.5% of their base pay, all of which is being deducted from their last four spring checks.” As Kich tell us in his letter “it is extremely important that faculty not be dissuaded from striking out of concern over the financial consequences and that no precedent be set that this is an effective strategy for breaking a strike or a union.” AAUP-WSU has thus filed a grievance that will probably go to arbitration. But in the meantime WSU faculty is suffering more severe consequences than anticipated and their Solidarity Fund has been transformed into a Strike fund to which we are all invited to contribute by clicking
https://www.gofundme.com/aaupwsu-strike-fund?teamInvite=XrKsR8c1pnknynyIbjLAiLah6mA3qH8B3sGy5OcKrTmq9YUkKavAa6u7n9KmF6Tr&fbclid=IwAR1xQVGNUcNcDu4C2Oe-8j7vXB8jW-XK1uUhvPppMkKn5xh-JQBwBaZ3rNc.
CA-AAUP Steering Committee
Read the latest updates from Marty Kich, President of WSU-AAUP and more on the caaaup.org Blog here
on Sat. March 2, 2019
the 16th annual meeting of the CA-AAUP
was held @CSU Maritime Academy
in Vallejo, CA
the 16th annual meeting of the CA-AAUP
was held @CSU Maritime Academy
in Vallejo, CA
Claudio Fogu, President of CA-AAUP welcomes attendees to the 16th Annual Meeting of the CA-AAUP at CSU Maritime Academy
""
" Are Academic Freedom & shared governance one and the same ?"
Keynote speaker: Henry Reichman
chair, AAUP Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure
aUTHOR of The Future of Academic Freedom
https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/future-academic-freedom
"The Future of Academic freedom"
click here to see photos of the 16th Annual Meeting of the CA-AAUP
at CSU Maritime Academy
Workshops and Panelsl included these topics and more:
FAIR USE FOR ACADEMICS: What rights professors have & why they are underutilized
ACADEMIC FREEDOM BEYOND THE ACADEMIC SENATE: The case of UC Librarians
SERVICE V. GOVERNANCE: Using Pacific Lutheran's NLRB categories to evaluate your University's faculty governance documents & structures
CREATING JUST SPACES ON CAMPUS: Forging lasting alliances with communities and students
click here to view descriptions of the workshops and their leaders
15th ANNUAL MEETING of the CA-AAUP
at Pepperdine University's West Los Angeles Graduate Campus
FEBRUARY 10, 2018
Building and Strengthening Shared Governance:
Challenges & Solutions
keynote speaker:
Faculty Resistance & Voice: Shared Governance in Troubling Times
Theresa Montaño
Vice President, California Teachers Association
Professor of Chicana/Chicano Studies, CSU Northridge
Click here for more details about the program
Click here to see photos from this meeting
members of the CA-AAUP Steering Committee, keynote speaker, and staff at the 15th Annual Meeting at Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, February 10, 2018 --
L to R: George Beckwith, Rosalinda Quintanar-Sarellana, Theresa Montaño, Janis Crystal Lipzin, Katie Graham, Mary Ann Irwin, Karen Davis, Alex Zukas, Steven Filling
Attendees at the 14th Annual Meeting of the CA-AAUP enjoying the view of San Pablo Bay during the closing reception.
to see photos FROM THIS MEETING, PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK IN THE LEFT COLUMN: CA-AAUP EVENTS
Saturday, march 18, 2017
14th annual meeting of the CA-AAUP
"Dis-information and Democracy:
Meeting the Challenges to higher education"
California State University Maritime
200 Maritime Academy Dr, Vallejo, CA 94590
Keynote : Academic Freedom Under the Trump Regime
presented by Henry Reichman, First Vice President of AAUP; author of Censorship and Selection: Issues and Answers for Schools; Chair of AAUP's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure
Workshop presenters:
Jason Elias, Western Regional Coordinator for the AAUP; Senior Program Officer for the AAUP
Mickey Huff, director of Project Censored and president of the nonprofit Media Freedom Foundation
George Beckwith, CA-AAUP Vice President for Private Colleges; Professor, Master of Science Program in Educational and Instructional Technology, National University, San Diego
Betsy Eudey, Director/Professor, Gender Studies , California State University, Stanislaus
Steven Filling, President, California Faculty Association, California State University, Stanislaus
workshop topics included:
Organizing on the Frontlines for Academic Freedom
Project Censored: Critical Media Literacy the Antidote to 'Fake News' in a Post-Truth Society
Starting and/or Improving an AAUP Chapter
Creating Inclusive Communities: Challenging Oppression and Advancing Social Justice
schedule for program march 18 annual meeting CA-AAUP
9:30 Check-in at Compass Room 2 in Building #14 (New Dining Bldg.) coffee/tea & muffins
10:00 Welcome from Alex Zukas, President, CA-AAUP and Scott Saarheim, President CFA, Maritime Chapter - Compass Room 2
10:30 Workshop 1: Organizing on the Frontlines for Academic Freedom and Truth - Compass Room 1 -workshop leader: Jason Elias
10:30 Workshop 2: Starting and/or Improving an AAUP Chapter - Compass Room 3 -workshop leader: George Beckwith
Noon Lunch provided with registration fee
1:00 Keynote Speech: Henry Reichman Academic Freedom Under the Trump Regime
1:45 Refreshment Break for all registered attendees
2:00 Workshop 3: Project Censored: Critical Media Literacy the Antidote to 'Fake News' in a Post-Truth Society - Compass Room 3 -workshop leader: Mickey Huff
2:00 Workshop 4: Creating Inclusive Communities: Challenging Oppression and Advancing Social Justice - Compass Room 1 -workshop leaders: Betsy Eudey and Steven Filling
3:30 Business Meeting for members of CA-AAUP - Compass Room 2
4:30 Closing: Accomplishments and Steps Forward
5:00 Reception
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Some scenes from the 13th Annual Meeting of the CA-AAUP 2. 20. 16
San Diego State University
photos by Karen Davis
San Diego State University
photos by Karen Davis
Rudy Fichtenbaum, AAUP President
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Cecil Canton and Mark Wheeler
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Wendy Ng and Cathy Zaretsky
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Lorna Zukas and Alex Zukas
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George Beckwith
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Rudy Fichtenbaum presenting keynote speech: Neo-liberalism, Corporatization and Crisis in Higher Education
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Jason Elias Workshop: Troubleshooting Power
Mernie Aste and Charles Toombs
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Jonathan Karpf
Workshop: Fighting for Lecturer Equity
Rosalinda Quintanar, President, CA-AAUP and Steven Filling conversing over lunch
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John Yudelson, Chris Nagel and Cecile Bendavid enjoying a lunch break
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L to R: Anne Sebanc, Leslie Brody, Lorna Zukas, Andrew Wallis, Joyce Kaufman
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Patrick Olson speaking to Workshop: So You Want an AAUP Chapter, Now What?
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Mark Wheeler speaking to Workshop: Shared Governance, Academic Freedom, and the Public University
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Scott Saarheim
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SAT. FEB. 20, 2 0 1 6
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA 92182
13th Annual Meeting of the California Conference of the AAUP
Our theme is the "AAUP and the Battle for Quality Higher Education." The keynote speaker was Rudy Fichtenbaum, AAUP President, who addressed the role of privatization in higher education.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
9:30 Arts & Letters Bldg. Room AL 101: Check-in & coffee +
10:00 Welcome from
CA-AAUP President, Rosalinda Quintanar & Charles Toombs, CFA and AAUP Chapter President, SDSU
10:30 Workshops
1. So You Want an AAUP Chapter, Now What?
2. Shared Governance, Academic Freedom & the Public University: In the Absence of Adequate State
Appropriations, Who is in Control?
Noon LUNCH
1:00 Keynote speaker: Rudy Fichtenbaum, President, AAUP
Neoliberalism, Corporatization and Crisis in Higher Education
1:45 Refreshment Break
2:00 Workshops
3. Troubleshooting Power: The Politics and Mechanics of Building Strong Faculty Organization
4. Fighting for Lecturer Equity in a Wall-to-Wall Bargaining Unit: What CFA Has Achieved, & Challenges We Still Face
3:30 CA-AAUP Business Meeting
4:30 Closing: Accomplishments and Steps Forward
Workshop details
1. So You Want an AAUP Chapter, now What?
Moderator & panelist: Alex Zukas, Vice President, National University AAUP Chapter
Panelists:
George Beckwith
Preston Chipps
Jack Hamlin
Patrick Olson
This workshop will explore how to establish and grow an AAUP chapter at a university in an environment of administrative hostility. Using the experience of the officers of a new chapter at National University, it will discuss the situation leading up to the establishment of a chapter, the reasons for its creation, how the chapter was started, how the chapter is growing, and strategies for dealing with administrative hostility.
Topics for discussion will include: issues of shared governance and academic freedom, tenure (or its absence), membership growth in a culture of insecurity, the role of a Faculty Senate and Faculty Policies, faculty leadership, organizing, among others.
Participants are encouraged to share their experiences and concerns in organizing a chapter and to consider how local AAUP chapters could work together across the State of California to support each other’s efforts.
2. Shared Governance, Academic Freedom, and the Public University: In The Absence Of Adequate State Appropriations, Who Is In Control?
Presenters:
Mark Freeman, Chair, SDSU Senate Freedom of Expression Committee
Mark Wheeler, Founding Member of SDSU Senate Freedom of Expression Committee
This workshop is an opportunity to consider the potential impacts of ever-decreasing state appropriations—and the concomitant ever-increasing importance of private funding—for public university programs. In the new fiscal context, who is in control of the public university? How can we protect academic freedom? How can we ensure shared governance?
Topics for discussion will include: Should faculty share control with administrators over the terms of agreements made with private sector donors, especially when these agreements directly affect academic policy, planning, programming, and research? How can we ensure that faculty control the curriculum, when private sector donors are funding curricular development, academic programming, instructional budgets, and academic positions? How do we protect academic freedom and intellectual property rights in this new environment?
Participants are encouraged to share their experiences and to consider how AAUP might help to develop appropriate policies in response to these and related concerns.
3. Troubleshooting Power: The Politics and Mechanics of Building Strong Faculty Organization
Presenter:
Jason Elias, Western Regional Coordinator, AAUP
In this workshop, AAUP Western Regional Coordinator Jason Elias will facilitate a discussion of the impediments to building strong faculty organization, including perceptions of faculty power in shared governance, cynicism, lack of support in the sciences, and the ability to motivate colleagues, or the lack thereof. Why is it that some "world class" top-tier research universities have a highly motivated unionized faculty, while others have barely a semblance of faculty organization or shared governance? Why are faculty at state and community colleges more motivated to organize around taking control of their own working conditions? We will explore how building a culture of organizing can help many campuses overcome their challenges in motivating and organizing faculty, and will have an opportunity to work through what strategies and techniques in organizing are best to build strong campus organization.
4. Fighting for Lecturer Equity in a Wall-to-Wall Bargaining Unit: What CFA has Achieved, and Challenges We Still Face.
Presenter:
Jonathan Karpf, member of the state-wide Bargaining Team of CFA
This workshop presentation will discuss the history of Lecturer inclusion within the California Faculty Association (CFA) - the union that represents the 25,000 Tenure-line and Lecturer (adjunct) faculty, Librarians, Counselors and Coaches within the 23-campus California State University System (CSU) - including establishing a preference-for-work order, 3-year appointments with contractual successor appointments, equity in health and retirement benefits, and more. Also discussed will be the challenges of balancing the needs of different constituencies in such a unit, as well as ongoing challenges to equity that Lecturers still face
QUESTIONS? email [email protected]
about the presenters
RUDY FICHTENBAUM is a Professor Emeritus of Economics at Wright State University. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia was a faculty member at Wright State University from 1980-2015. He has authored more than forty-five articles and chapters in books, dealing primarily with race and sex discrimination, changes in income distribution, the impact of unions on wages and benefits, and the effect of occupational structure on earnings. He served twice as Faculty President from 1990-91 and 1996-97 and in 1997-98 helped organize the faculty at Wright State. He served on the Executive Committee of AAUP-WSU, as the Chief Negotiator, from 1998-2015.
In addition, he has served as President of the Ohio Conference of the AAUP, helped organize the faculty at BGSU and more recently led a successful drive to organize the full-time non-tenure track faculty at Wright State. He helped lead the fight against SB 5 collecting signatures, testifying before House and Senate Committees and speaking at several rallies. More recently he has met with editorial boards of Ohio’s major newspapers with other leaders from We Are Ohio to explain why “Right-to-Work” would be bad for Ohio.
From 2002-2007 he served as a member of the National Council of the AAUP and was again elected to Council in 2011 and served on the Executive Committee as a member-at-large. He also served two terms (2004-2007) as a member-at- large on the Executive Committee of the Collective Bargaining Congress (CBC) then served as Treasurer of the CBC for two terms. Since 1999 he has also worked as a consultant analyzing the finances of colleges and universities for AAUP and have presented numerous workshops for faculty on understanding university and college finances, costing contracts and health benefits. In 2010, he was the recipient of the CBC’s Sternberg Award. In 2012, he was elected to be the fiftieth President of the AAUP and was reelected for a second term in 2014.
ALEX ZUKAS is a Professor of History in the Department of Social Sciences in the College of Letters and Sciences and has been a full-time faculty member at National University for 20 years. Alex earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine. He has been Faculty Senate Chair and Chair of the University Faculty Personnel Committee. Alex has been a member of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) since 2003 and is Vice President of the National University AAUP Chapter.
GEORGE BECKWITH is a Professor in the Department of Teacher Education in the School of Education and has been a full-time faculty member at National University for 13 years. George earned his Ed.D. from United States International University. He has been Faculty Senate Chair and Senate Academic Personnel Committee Chair. He has been a member of the AAUP since 2006 and has presented papers at the National AAUP on Academic Freedom and Shared Governance in a Private, Non-Tenured University and Creating a Culture of Academic Learning and Assessment via Shared Governance. He is currently President of the National University AAUP Chapter.
PRESTON CHIPPS is a Part-Time Faculty Member in the School of Education at National University. Preston has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from UCLA, a Master of Science in Counseling from SDSU, and is a National Certified Counselor and Certified Rehabilitation Counselor. He has taught at National University for 17 years and is currently the Treasurer of the National University AAUP Chapter.
JACK HAMLIN is an Associate Professor in the Department of Professional Studies in the School of Professional Studies and has been a full-time faculty member at National University for 12 years. He holds Bachelor Degrees in Sociology and Psychology from San Diego State University, a Masters in Forensic Sciences from National University, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of San Diego, School of Law. He serves on the Faculty Senate and is a member of the Faculty Senate Faculty Policies Negotiating Team. He is currently Secretary of the National University AAUP Chapter.
PATRICK OLSON is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Information, and Media Systems in the School of Engineering and Computing and has been a full-time faculty member at National University for 10 years. Patrick earned his Ph.D. in the Management of Information Systems from Claremont Graduate University. He has been Faculty Senate Chair and Vice Chair and is a member of the Faculty Senate Faculty Policies Negotiating Team.
MARK FREEMAN is a documentary filmmaker. He chairs the SDSU Senate Freedom of Expression Committee and the University Film and Video Association's Freedom of Expression Committee. markfreemanfilms.org
MARK WHEELER is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at San Diego State University. He is a past President of the SDSU Chapters of the California Faculty Association and the AAUP, is currently an elected representative from SDSU to the Academic Senate of the California State University, and is a founding member of the SDSU Senate Appointed Freedom of Expression Committee
JASON ELIAS is the Western Regional Coordinator for the American Association of University Professors. Before coming on board with AAUP in 2013, Jason helped to lead the LA and Orange County Cities and Special Districts Region for SEIU Local 721 for 14 years, and has a broad range of experience in community, labor and environmental justice organizing, as well as leading public policy campaigns for a variety of organizations and coalitions. He has organized janitors, part-time gardeners and lifeguards, nurses and hospital workers, and engineers and architects as well as faculty, and believes that there are lessons to be learned and shared from each of these groups of workers.
JONATHAN KARPF is a Biological Anthropologist and has been a Lecturer in Anthropology at San Jose State University (California State University or CSU) since 1987. He is the Lecturer Rep for his campus, and sits on the Faculty Rights Committee, where he is responsible for handling the grievances of the 60% of the faculty who are contingent as well as tenure-line grievances. Karpf also is one of the statewide officers of the California Faculty Association (CFA), where he sits on the statewide Bargaining Team, the small Bargaining Team, the Health and Benefits Committee, and the Representation Committee. He served in the past as a CFA delegate to the AAUP, and has given workshops at many AAUP Summer Institutes. He gives workshops throughout the 23 campuses of the CSU on Pensions & Benefits, Lecturer Contract Rights, and Lecturer Unemployment Rights
CHARLES TOOMBS is Chair and Associate Professor of Africana Studies, San Diego State University (SDSU). His areas of specialization and research include: Africana literature (African American, African, and Caribbean), American literature, and Black Queer Studies. His degrees are: BA (English), MA (English), MS (Industrial Relations), Ph.D. (English), all from Purdue University. He is Associate Vice President-South of the California Faculty Association (CFA) and CFA and AAUP Chapter Presidents, SDSU. He has published several works on African American literature. His most recent work is “Harlem Renaissance in San Diego: New Negroes and Community” in The Harlem Renaissance in the American West, Routledge, 2012. “African American Uprising,” a book chapter, will appear in California Literature, Cambridge UP, 2015. He has presented papers, chaired panels, and served on panels at professional meetings and conferences, including lectures and workshops on African American Literature and Africana Studies at Gorlovka State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages, Gorlovka, Ukraine. He is a faculty consultant to the Educational Testing Service. He was selected as African American Educator of San Diego Country for 2011 by Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. He is committed to social and cultural justice, and is the San Diego State University Faculty Diversity Award recipient for 2014.
ROSALINDA QUINTANAR, graduated from Stanford University with a Ph.D. in the area of Literacy, Language and Culture, and a Masters in the area of International Education and Development. Presently, she is a professor at San Jose State University, where she teaches First and Second Language Acquisition, Sociology of Education and Multicultural Education. She has written numerous articles on language acquisition and language development, social justice and multicultural education. She has also taught at Stanford University, UC Davis, Universidad Metropolitana in Mexico City, Universidad de Monterrey, México; INACAP in Santiago, Chile; Sanko Schools in Gaziantep, Turkey.
Rosalinda Quintanar is currently President of the CA-AAUP Conference, a Tri-Chair for the CFA Latina-o Caucus, and Chair of the CFA Retirement and Benefits Committee.
In addition, he has served as President of the Ohio Conference of the AAUP, helped organize the faculty at BGSU and more recently led a successful drive to organize the full-time non-tenure track faculty at Wright State. He helped lead the fight against SB 5 collecting signatures, testifying before House and Senate Committees and speaking at several rallies. More recently he has met with editorial boards of Ohio’s major newspapers with other leaders from We Are Ohio to explain why “Right-to-Work” would be bad for Ohio.
From 2002-2007 he served as a member of the National Council of the AAUP and was again elected to Council in 2011 and served on the Executive Committee as a member-at-large. He also served two terms (2004-2007) as a member-at- large on the Executive Committee of the Collective Bargaining Congress (CBC) then served as Treasurer of the CBC for two terms. Since 1999 he has also worked as a consultant analyzing the finances of colleges and universities for AAUP and have presented numerous workshops for faculty on understanding university and college finances, costing contracts and health benefits. In 2010, he was the recipient of the CBC’s Sternberg Award. In 2012, he was elected to be the fiftieth President of the AAUP and was reelected for a second term in 2014.
ALEX ZUKAS is a Professor of History in the Department of Social Sciences in the College of Letters and Sciences and has been a full-time faculty member at National University for 20 years. Alex earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine. He has been Faculty Senate Chair and Chair of the University Faculty Personnel Committee. Alex has been a member of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) since 2003 and is Vice President of the National University AAUP Chapter.
GEORGE BECKWITH is a Professor in the Department of Teacher Education in the School of Education and has been a full-time faculty member at National University for 13 years. George earned his Ed.D. from United States International University. He has been Faculty Senate Chair and Senate Academic Personnel Committee Chair. He has been a member of the AAUP since 2006 and has presented papers at the National AAUP on Academic Freedom and Shared Governance in a Private, Non-Tenured University and Creating a Culture of Academic Learning and Assessment via Shared Governance. He is currently President of the National University AAUP Chapter.
PRESTON CHIPPS is a Part-Time Faculty Member in the School of Education at National University. Preston has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from UCLA, a Master of Science in Counseling from SDSU, and is a National Certified Counselor and Certified Rehabilitation Counselor. He has taught at National University for 17 years and is currently the Treasurer of the National University AAUP Chapter.
JACK HAMLIN is an Associate Professor in the Department of Professional Studies in the School of Professional Studies and has been a full-time faculty member at National University for 12 years. He holds Bachelor Degrees in Sociology and Psychology from San Diego State University, a Masters in Forensic Sciences from National University, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of San Diego, School of Law. He serves on the Faculty Senate and is a member of the Faculty Senate Faculty Policies Negotiating Team. He is currently Secretary of the National University AAUP Chapter.
PATRICK OLSON is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Information, and Media Systems in the School of Engineering and Computing and has been a full-time faculty member at National University for 10 years. Patrick earned his Ph.D. in the Management of Information Systems from Claremont Graduate University. He has been Faculty Senate Chair and Vice Chair and is a member of the Faculty Senate Faculty Policies Negotiating Team.
MARK FREEMAN is a documentary filmmaker. He chairs the SDSU Senate Freedom of Expression Committee and the University Film and Video Association's Freedom of Expression Committee. markfreemanfilms.org
MARK WHEELER is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at San Diego State University. He is a past President of the SDSU Chapters of the California Faculty Association and the AAUP, is currently an elected representative from SDSU to the Academic Senate of the California State University, and is a founding member of the SDSU Senate Appointed Freedom of Expression Committee
JASON ELIAS is the Western Regional Coordinator for the American Association of University Professors. Before coming on board with AAUP in 2013, Jason helped to lead the LA and Orange County Cities and Special Districts Region for SEIU Local 721 for 14 years, and has a broad range of experience in community, labor and environmental justice organizing, as well as leading public policy campaigns for a variety of organizations and coalitions. He has organized janitors, part-time gardeners and lifeguards, nurses and hospital workers, and engineers and architects as well as faculty, and believes that there are lessons to be learned and shared from each of these groups of workers.
JONATHAN KARPF is a Biological Anthropologist and has been a Lecturer in Anthropology at San Jose State University (California State University or CSU) since 1987. He is the Lecturer Rep for his campus, and sits on the Faculty Rights Committee, where he is responsible for handling the grievances of the 60% of the faculty who are contingent as well as tenure-line grievances. Karpf also is one of the statewide officers of the California Faculty Association (CFA), where he sits on the statewide Bargaining Team, the small Bargaining Team, the Health and Benefits Committee, and the Representation Committee. He served in the past as a CFA delegate to the AAUP, and has given workshops at many AAUP Summer Institutes. He gives workshops throughout the 23 campuses of the CSU on Pensions & Benefits, Lecturer Contract Rights, and Lecturer Unemployment Rights
CHARLES TOOMBS is Chair and Associate Professor of Africana Studies, San Diego State University (SDSU). His areas of specialization and research include: Africana literature (African American, African, and Caribbean), American literature, and Black Queer Studies. His degrees are: BA (English), MA (English), MS (Industrial Relations), Ph.D. (English), all from Purdue University. He is Associate Vice President-South of the California Faculty Association (CFA) and CFA and AAUP Chapter Presidents, SDSU. He has published several works on African American literature. His most recent work is “Harlem Renaissance in San Diego: New Negroes and Community” in The Harlem Renaissance in the American West, Routledge, 2012. “African American Uprising,” a book chapter, will appear in California Literature, Cambridge UP, 2015. He has presented papers, chaired panels, and served on panels at professional meetings and conferences, including lectures and workshops on African American Literature and Africana Studies at Gorlovka State Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages, Gorlovka, Ukraine. He is a faculty consultant to the Educational Testing Service. He was selected as African American Educator of San Diego Country for 2011 by Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. He is committed to social and cultural justice, and is the San Diego State University Faculty Diversity Award recipient for 2014.
ROSALINDA QUINTANAR, graduated from Stanford University with a Ph.D. in the area of Literacy, Language and Culture, and a Masters in the area of International Education and Development. Presently, she is a professor at San Jose State University, where she teaches First and Second Language Acquisition, Sociology of Education and Multicultural Education. She has written numerous articles on language acquisition and language development, social justice and multicultural education. She has also taught at Stanford University, UC Davis, Universidad Metropolitana in Mexico City, Universidad de Monterrey, México; INACAP in Santiago, Chile; Sanko Schools in Gaziantep, Turkey.
Rosalinda Quintanar is currently President of the CA-AAUP Conference, a Tri-Chair for the CFA Latina-o Caucus, and Chair of the CFA Retirement and Benefits Committee.
California AAUP 12th Annual Meeting
Advancing Social Justice in an Era of Intolerance
California State University, Maritime
Vallejo, California
New Dining Facility Building #14 on map, 2nd floor
Compass Room 2
Saturday, March 14, 2015
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM
a low-cost meeting with a big bang for your buck informative, stimulating, solution-oriented and collegial.
Click on the CA-AAUP Events tab in the left column for more information & photos from this event
attendees at keynote talk by Cecil Canton on March 14, 2015
12th Annual Meeting of the California Conference of the AAUP
12th Annual Meeting of the California Conference of the AAUP
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THE NEXT HUNDRED YEARS
November 6, 2014 Dear Colleague, This isn’t another message about higher education in crisis. This is a message about what higher education should be. Today, the AAUP is launching our Centennial Declaration—a charter of values that should define the colleges and universities of the twenty-first century. I’m asking all AAUP members to sign on as a show of their commitment to these goals. Read the AAUP Centennial Declaration and sign it today. Our Centennial Declaration is important because it defines the qualities of a higher education system that fosters academic freedom and shared governance. The academic standards that AAUP has defended for the last one hundred years make vital contributions to the public good. But those standards cannot flourish without strong public colleges and universities. If higher education is threatened as a public good, then so are AAUP principles. Take a stand for public higher education and sign the AAUP Centennial Declaration. We’ll use these signatures to show trustees, administrators, lawmakers, and other faculty that we demand a better university for the twenty-first century. Together, we can recapture the promise of public higher education. A strong AAUP depends on it. In Solidarity, Rudy Fichtenbaum AAUP President The mission of the AAUP is to advance academic freedom and shared governance; to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education; to promote the economic security of faculty, academic professionals, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and all those engaged in teaching and research in higher education; to help the higher education community organize to make our goals a reality; and to ensure higher education's contribution to the common good. Visit the AAUP website and Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. |
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Meet Some AAUP Members
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Visit the national AAUP youtube channel to see AAUP members from all types of institutions talk about budgets and other challenges in higher ed, the explosion in contingent appointments, the importance of new organizing, and why the AAUP's role is key.
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Elizabeth Hoffman of California State University discusses the problems posed by contingent faculty appointments and the benefits of unionization.
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Photo Credit: Banner, Bodega Bay by Janis Crystal Lipzin