|
|
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 ________________________________________________________________________ April 2006 _____________________________________________________________________________ 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 Spring Meeting of the Texas Conference, American Association of University Professors, was held on Friday, February 17 and Saturday, February 18, at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel in Austin. Faculty members representing Baylor University; College of the Mainland; North Harris College; Sam Houston State University; Schreiner University; Texas A&M University, College Station; Texas Tech University; and University of Texas, Austin participated in the meeting.
On Friday afternoon, prominent higher education attorney Gaines West addressed a joint session of the Texas Conference, AAUP, and the Texas Council of Faculty Senates. Mr. West discussed the legal status of academic freedom and the challenges of litigation in higher education. Catherine Parsoneault of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board provided an overview of recent developments in her agency. Participants in the joint session also received updates on shared governance issues at Texas A&M University, Kingsville, and faculty evaluation issues at University of Texas, Austin.
The Texas Conference, AAUP, held two business sessions during the Spring Meeting. During the “Round-up Discussion” late Friday afternoon, faculty members discussed academic freedom, shared governance, and related issues on their respective campuses. During the second business session on Saturday morning, colleagues reviewed the situation at Texas A&M University, Kingsville; discussed upcoming national AAUP events; and planned for the statewide election of new Texas Conference officers by all AAUP members in Texas.
The Fall Meeting of the Texas Conference, AAUP, will be held on Friday, October 20, and Saturday, October 21, 2006 at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel in Austin. All AAUP members and supporters in Texas are cordially invited to attend. Faculty members attending for the first time are eligible for stipends to defray travel expenses. For more information on the Fall Meeting or the Texas Conference, AAUP, please call (832) 692-2306; send email to DSmith@com.edu; or visit http://www.ktcinet.com/aaup/.
Commission on the Future of Higher Education Hears
from the AAUP—from the AAUP web site Mar. 20, 2006 Accountability. Given the degree of accord between our objectives and the Commission’s, we were somewhat taken aback at the hostile tone that, according to reports, seemed to dominate your December 8-9 meeting. Most of the harsh comments, particularly from your opening speaker, Senator Lamar Alexander, and from you, were concerned with accountability. The inaccurate and unfair claim that faculty, and by derivation, colleges and universities, are “accountable to no one” seemed to rule the day. Let me explore that notion with you. Faculty members are accountable for their work in many ways – much more so than most professionals in private industry. Their work is reviewed by peers in their field every time they propose to publish an article or book, and every time they seek funding for a new project. Their work is reviewed within their academic departments – usually annually – for salary and promotion considerations. Even after a seven-year probation and a rigorous re-examination of the credentials and accomplishments, many colleges and universities require additional periodic “post tenure reviews” for all faculty. And finally, their work is constantly reviewed by their toughest critics – their faculty colleagues and their students. Pressures on faculty for higher grades and easier student workloads come from several directions, including from students, parents, influential alumni, and sometimes from administrators. Counter-balancing pressures for more rigor and respect for their academic disciplines come from their peers in those disciplines. Conscientious faculty members – and here I include the vast majority of my faculty colleagues – know that their ultimate responsibility is to the common good. They struggle within the resources and time they are allotted to meet that highest responsibility. Comprehensive Education. Faculty responsibility for education for the common good includes a concern for comprehensive education that prepares students for lifelong learning, by providing a context for new questions, imparting tools for inquiries and proofs, and evoking an appreciation of highly developed contributions to creative, scientific, and social knowledge. While a high quality college and university education does not train a student for a specific place in a specific industry, it does prepare a student to learn how to learn, and thus increases the likelihood of a positive contribution in a wide range of fields. Variety of Colleges and Universities. In this country, colleges and universities have pursued these responsibilities as an independent sector within the society. The independence of the higher education sector, and the great variety of institutions among our colleges and universities, is a hallmark of a thriving and highly regarded educational “system” that has, for centuries, fed our nation’s economy with the creativity and skill that arise from unfettered thinking and learning. When we picture this rich assortment of higher education institutions being called to toe a single line of government- mandated “outcomes” we have to question the wisdom of such an objective. Nationalization of higher education might be appropriate in a newly developing country, or in one in which the higher education system was completely nonfunctional. We question whether the Commission is prepared to conclude that our higher education system fits either of these categories.
AAUP Finds FBI
Statement Inadequate—from the AAUP website Pomona College president David Oxtoby promptly issued a statement protesting the “chilling effect this kind of intrusive government interest could have on free scholarly and political discourse.” A few days later, the FBI’s Los Angeles field office issued a statement saying, “there was no intent on the part of the FBI, regarding the timing or location, to place the professor, his students or Pomona College in an uncomfortable position.” Los Angeles County sheriff Lee Baca also expressed regret, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times. He would have preferred that the deputies had “avoided the college grounds or at least called ahead.” The statements by the FBI and the sheriff’s office are welcome but fall short of adequately addressing the chilling effect that President Oxtoby protested. The questions put to Professor Tinker-Salas and his students about his classes and the sources of his ideas would be objectionable whether asked on or off the campus, or whether at a meeting that was pre-arranged. Academic Freedom and Homeland Security in Time of Crisis—from AAUP website USA Patriot Act An AAUP Chapter is Your Most Effective Option By Tom Wells What is your best recourse when there is real trouble on your campus? What can you do when academic freedom is curtailed, when shared governance is abandoned, or when you (or a colleague) are denied due process?
The AAUP attempts to assist faculty in developing, maintaining, and protecting academic freedom and shared governance on their respective campuses. This help can come from the national level or it can come from the state level. But the faculty on the scene at the campus knows the situation best. They do not have to overcome the barriers of distance and the limitations of resources which virtually always confront state and national officials of the AAUP. Also, the local faculty has the most to gain (or to lose) when a crisis arises.
When a problem arises, or a faculty member is singled out for inappropriate punitive action, there is safety in numbers. If an organization is present to respond there is more likely to be effective action. Administrators may be able to isolate individuals, but it much more difficult for them to confront a united group of faculty. Too often an AAUP Chapter is organized in response to a crisis. It is better to have an ongoing active chapter to pre-empt such problems.
To organize a chapter at your institution you need to have at least seven members of the AAUP. You can get help with the details from the officers of the Texas Conference. Contact information is listed elsewhere in this newsletter.
Teaching is the University’s Primary Mission. By Tom Wells “My
academic colleagues probably think that what I'm doing is not good science, and
I would agree with them. I'm not trying to do basic science. What I am trying to
do is to understand what we know from science and apply it. That's a very
different business.” Donald A. Norman
On each announcement of all faculty vacancies at Schreiner University, the following sentence appears: “Teaching is the University’s primary mission.” Each new faculty member comes to campus with the understanding that teaching comes first at Schreiner. Additional expected duties and efforts involve committee work, advising students, service to the University and the community, and scholarship (not necessarily in that order.) Obviously, these expectations constitute a full plate for anyone, but especially for faculty entering their first academic assignment. However, it needs to be noted that the biggest serving on the plate is teaching. The University, its administration, and faculty peers expect and demand that new faculty teach and teach well. And, most do just that – they teach well and with enthusiasm. After all, teaching is the University’s primary mission. Academicians who apply to become a faculty member at a small, liberal arts university like Schreiner expect to be able to spend their time teaching and helping students navigate their four or five year trek toward graduation. However, of late, rumblings have begun to emerge from some recently hired faculty who claim that an inordinate amount of pressure is being brought to bear for said faculty to do more “research.” Whether this feeling is real or perceived, it does exist in some faculty and needs to be addressed. A couple of points need to be made. A minimum course load for faculty at Schreiner consists of 24 academic hours per academic year, normally split up as 12/12. But, newly hired faculty often teaches overloads each term for two reasons: (1) the pay scale for instructors and assistant professors is so low, this encourages working “overtime;” (2) in an impress-your-boss attitude, new faculty will “volunteer” when asked by their Dean or Chair. Also, throw into the mix, the fact that new faculty members are often asked to sponsor various clubs or organizations (see service to the University), advise students and attend required advising sessions, and possibly teach courses not in their area of specific expertise. The questions then become: When are new faculty expected to do research? Is there time in their schedule the first three – five years on campus? Schreiner University is a teaching university and, hopefully, will remain as such. Perhaps, the biggest contribution Schreiner and its academic programs can make to scholarship and research is to turn out students who are actively literate. These are students who not only can read, but who also can understand what they have read and then write and speak about it clearly and concisely. Would not Schreiner be considered special if our graduates left here with the reputation of being prepared for true scholarship and research at the graduate programs or organizations of their choice?
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
|