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TEXAS ACADEMETexas ConferenceAmerican Association of University ProfessorsPhone: (832) 692-2306 www.ktcinet.com/aaup
National Office: 1012 Fourteenth Street, N. W., Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 2005 Phone (202) 737-5900, Fax: (202) 737-5526, www.aaup.org ________________________________________________________________________ November 2005 _____________________________________________________________________________ AAUP's purpose is to advance academic freedom and shared governance, to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, and to ensure higher education's contribution to the common good. President’s Report By David Michael Smith
The Fall Meeting of the Texas Conference, American Association of University Professors, was held on Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22, 2005 at the Austin Ambassador Hotel in Austin. Several interesting speakers addressed a joint session of the Texas Conference, the Texas Council of Faculty Senates, and the Texas Association of College Teachers. David Rabban, General Counsel of the AAUP and Professor of Law at the University of Texas Law School, presented an overview of current litigation in which the AAUP is involved. Fred Brown, who represents District 14 in the Texas House of Representatives, discussed the 79th Texas Legislature’s actions on higher education issues and some of the issues which the next State Legislature may take up. Susan Brown, Cynthia Ferrell, and Catherine Parsoneault of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board provided an update of developments in their agency and their impact on higher education in Texas.
The joint banquet on Friday evening featured Bob McTeer, Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, as the keynote speaker. Chancellor McTeer discussed the recent controversial decision by the President of Texas A&M University, Kingsville to dissolve the Faculty Senate. Chancellor McTeer explained why he supported this action, and a lively round of questions and comments followed his presentation. The following morning, the Texas Conference unanimously passed a resolution expressing grave concern over the dissolution of the Faculty Senate at Texas A&M University, Kingsville and urging the resolution of longstanding problems within the framework of shared governance. The national office of the AAUP is in touch with faculty members on that campus, and professors throughout Texas will be watching the situation there in the hope that this crisis can be resolved soon.
The Texas Conference also held two business sessions during the Fall Meeting. Faculty members from Baylor University; College of the Mainland; Houston Community College; Schreiner University; Texas A&M University, College Station; and the University of Texas, Austin participated in these sessions. During the “Round-up Discussion,” colleagues reported on conditions and challenges on their respective campuses. During the second business session, participants discussed the presentation of the Jack Kilgore Academic Freedom Award to the family of former Texas A&M University, College Station President Frank Vandiver last May, the results of the 79th Texas Legislature, highlights of the AAUP Annual Meeting last June, and much more. Participants also approved Texas Conference financial support for AAUP chapter development throughout the state.
The Spring Meeting of the Texas Conference, AAUP will be held on Friday, February 17 and Saturday, February 18, 2006 at the Austin Ambassador Hotel in Austin. All AAUP members in Texas are cordially invited to attend, and faculty members who support AAUP principles but have not yet become members will also be warmly welcomed. For more information on the Spring Meeting or the Texas Conference, please call (832) 692-2306 or email us at DSmith@com.edu.
“Academic Bill of Rights” – From AAUP web site, updated Oct. 2005 The "Academic Bill of Rights" Campaign Proposes Government Oversight of Teaching and Learning. In the U.S., neither teachers nor students are responsible to the government for the content of their teaching or learning. Between 2004 and 2005, 14 state legislatures considered legislative proposals challenged the fundamental concept that higher education in the U.S. is and should be free of government control or interference. None of the 14 states approved the so-called "Academic Bill of Rights," which would involve the state and/or federal government in oversight of curricula and teaching, and faculty hiring and promotion in both public and private institutions of higher education. Colorado and Ohio legislatures worked out agreements with public colleges and universities to ensure that students were aware of their rights and existing grievance processes, and Pennsylvania decided to study the notion further. The Higher Education Act now before the U.S. Congress includes language drawn from the Academic Bill of Rights. Report on the 91st Annual Meeting Washington DC, June 9-12, 2005 By Bill Short
I was one of six delegates from Texas colleges and universities. This is my second year at the National Meeting. The heart of the meeting is the Plenary Sessions in which, among other business, schools are voted onto a list of censured institutions, removed from the previous list, or given notice that they are under scrutiny. As will be seen below, some significant decisions were made in the plenary sessions again this year that illustrate the importance of integrity and professionalism in the practice of higher education.
First major activity: The Orientation for Capitol Hill Day began at 9:00 a.m., Thursday morning. It was reassuring to me. Some do’s and don’t’s in visiting legislators and their staff were given by Mark Smith, the full-time AAUP legislative liaison. He spelled out some of our chief concerns. These were attractively printed out in a pamphlet, which we took with us. Mark very persuasively encouraged us to realize the importance of lobbying.
My first foray into legislative lobbying was led by Fred Smith, former Texas AAUP President, and Professor of Biology at Schreiner University, who had made appointments with various Texas congressmen and both our senators. The Texas delegation split up, one group to visit the senators’ offices, and the other the congressmen. I was assigned to go with Fred to “see” the congressmen. Actually, we spoke only with chiefs of staff. But the attention they gave us, and the knowledge they had of issues in higher education convinced me that our time was far from wasted. In fact, I began to realize that it is these staffers who are the very ones we need “on our side.”
At 4:30 p.m., at a reception in the Sam Rayburn Building, the AAUP President, Dr. Jane Buck, honored Senator Susan Collins (R--Maine) with the Henry T. Yost Congressional Award for her support of higher education. Senator Collins spoke appreciatively to us and hurried off for another vote in the senate.
On Friday morning I attended, first, the annual meeting of the Assembly of State Conferences, and then a pre-screening of a new PBS documentary that will be titled, “Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk.” The editor and director of the film was present to answer some of the angry questions from professors who felt their profession was being attacked. The film makes some good points, although I think it misses, or minimizes, the significance of the needed maturity change from high school to college; therefore, it also ignores the significance of college study in “disciplines.”
For the afternoon workshop on Friday, I chose, “Faculty’s Role in Accreditation.” Here it was pointed out that the AAUP has addressed this issue carefully in its Redbook, Policy Documents and Reports, ninth edition, 2001, Washington DC, AAUP, pp. 271-2. Dr. Greg Scholtz, of Wartburg College, who has served on numerous accreditation visiting committees, expressed concern arising from his perception that visiting committees are made up more and more of college presidents and other administrators who too often have little direct experience in academic matters. This is especially regrettable, he pointed out, when the administrators on the visiting committee do not even adhere to professional ethics. In fact, Edward Waters College of Florida, which had lost its accreditation after a report filed by visiting committee from SACS, filed a law suit alleging that the college had been denied due process and that the Southern Association had violated its own rules. Federal Judge Corrigan found fault with the entire SACS process of evaluating Edward Waters College, from beginning to end, and issued an injunction restoring accreditation. We made suggestions, discussed ideas and opinions, and were encouraged to be active in the accreditation process.
In the committee report on “Contingent Faculty and the Profession,” and throughout the Annual Meeting there was a grave concern expressed, in many different contexts, over the plight of an increasing number of “contingent faculty” in colleges and universities. It is estimated that somewhere near 70% of faculty now are part-timers who have no say in the courses they will teach, nor how the curriculum is constructed. (To be realistic, it must be noted that the “70%” includes graduate assistants). The contingent faculty typically have no medical insurance (except for the graduate assistants), no retirement, nor any other benefits, no share in school governance, and of course, no tenure. One example was given of a single parent driving a decrepit car between three colleges that had given her part-time work, who had no hope of ever receiving a full-time appointment with medical insurance for her and her children. The students are ultimately the ones who lose when the majority of their professors have no real stake in the school that employs them.
Other AAUP national committees reported on governmental relations with academe, faculty governance, the situation in which graduate and professional students find themselves, circumstances of historically black institutions, community colleges, faculty retirement conditions and criteria, the relationship of teaching and research, and women in the academic profession.
Detailed reports will be published in Academe on the circumstances that led to the following actions at the National Meeting:
1. Meharry Medical College (Tennessee), University of the Cumberlands (Kentucky), Virginia State University, and Benedict College (South Carolina) were voted onto the censured list. Violations of due process and professional ethics were so egregious in these cases that there was almost no debate. 2. Medaille College was reconsidered after a year of scrutiny. Once again, the AAUP was presented with a mixed picture at Medaille. The administration has made progress toward institution of due process and shared governance. One summarily dismissed professor was reinstated and another received a cash settlement. Both asked the AAUP to take no action against the school that would be detrimental to its reputation. The faculty and administration have collaborated in the development of a handbook, which the administration has submitted to the faculty for approval, and which “comports, in every major issue,” with AAUP guidelines. However, the trustees have yet to approve the new handbook, and somehow the rumor circulated among the faculty that any AAUP censure would be against the faculty, and would reflect unfavorably on their professional ability. The plenary session of the National Meeting voted, once again, to defer action until there is sufficient evidence upon which to act, a deliberate, considered action that, I believe, reflects the high standards of professional ethics for which AAUP stands.
3. Wingate University (North Carolina), and Southern Nazarene University (Oklahoma), were removed from the censured list, having adopted policies that insure due process and the protection of academic freedom.
4. The meeting voted to notify City University of New York that its administration would be under scrutiny for a year, so as to determine whether continued progress toward due process could be verified. Once again, the details will be published in Academe.
The recognition banquet, Saturday night, was a remarkable event. The Iris Molotsky Award, for excellence in journalistic coverage of higher education, was given to a Wall Street Journal reporter, Bernard Wyscocki Jr., who had uncovered practices that gave our profession a black eye! The founders of AAUP would be proud of such disinterested integrity, I believe. Young Mr. Wysocki had published an expose in the June 28, 2004, issue of the Wall Street Journal, describing unscrupulous methods in getting university research grants. He received a standing ovation for pointing out our failing! “Very AAUP,” in my opinion.
The speaker at the recognition banquet, Dr. Alan E. Goodman, former Political Science professor at Georgetown University and current President of IIE, provided another remarkable example of academic integrity at work. He recalled his experience at Georgetown as a young, tenure-track professor, when he published an article in Foreign Relations that was very critical of the CIA. The director of the CIA wrote a letter to the administration, copy to Goodman, in which he said that such an article was unworthy of Georgetown University, and that as an alum he was ashamed that they would harbor a professor who published such dribble. Goodman thought he had kissed tenure goodbye, and expressed this feeling to an older colleague. The older colleague said, “The director of the CIA is not part of the tenure process at our university. If you have any problems because of this letter, contact me, and we will get the AAUP involved. Have you ever heard of the AAUP?” Goodman had not, but he marveled that any professorial organization could be seen as protection in his situation. Dr. Goodman reminded us that our professional organization is far from impotent, although, of course, there are definite limits as to what it can do. (I would imagine that the more prestigious the school, the greater is AAUP’s influence, but that a much less well known school would, perhaps, feel safer in ignoring AAUP guidelines). This is far from a complete report. Other important issues were discussed, and other actions were taken, for example graduate students were declared eligible for full membership in AAUP, but the above issues and actions struck me as the most significant. Once again, I came away impressed with the professional integrity that is the bedrock of our proceedings, and wondering why any professor who takes his/her work seriously (Have you ever heard of the AAUP?) would not want to be a member.
Bill Short, McMurry University, served as Chapter Delegate for the Texas Conference of the AAUP.
Texas Conference AAUP Officers and Contact Information
President Vice President—East Texas David Michael Smith Glenn Ware College of the Mainland North Harris College (409) 938-1211 Ext. 217 (281) 618-5534 dsmith@com.edu glenn.ware@nhmccd.edu
Past President Vice President—South Texas Fred Stevens Paul Vowell Schreiner University Texas A&M University, Kingsville (830) 792-7248 (361) 593-2826 fstevens@schreiner.edu kfprv00@tamuk.edu
First Vice President Vice President—West Texas Marc Giaccardo Bill Short University of Texas, San Antonio McMurry University (210) 458-3013 (325) 673-5901 marc.giaccardo@utsa.edu shortb@mcmurryadm.mcm.edu
Secretary Vice President—Central Texas Tom Wells Ann McGlashan Schreiner University Baylor University (830) 792-7429 (254) 710-4282 tomwells@schreiner.edu ann_mcglashan@baylor.edu
Treasurer Member at Large (Position 1) Jonathan Coopersmith Lynn Tatum Texas A&M University Baylor University (979) 845-7148 (254) 719-4533 j-coopersmith@tamu.edu lynn_tatum@baylor.edu
Vice President—North Texas Member at Large (Position 2) Philipp Rosemann Arthur Hobbs University of Dallas Texas A&M University (972) 721-5166 (979) 845-3250 rosemann@acad.udallas.edu hobbs@math.tamu.edu
Texas Conference AAUP Website: http://www.ktcinet.com/aaup National AAUP web site: http://www.aaup.org
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