NEW YORK STATE AAUP FALL CONFERENCE 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009 & Saturday, October 17, 2009
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Present
Fri., Oct 16: Lenore Beaky (LB), LGCC/CUNY; Patrick Cihon (PC), Syracuse; Estelle Gellman (EG), Hofstra; Stephen Goldberg (SG), Adelphi; Jeanette Jeneault (JJ), Syracuse; David Linton (DL), Marymount; Cecelia McCall (CM), Baruch/CUNY; Thomas Policano (TP), RIT; Suzanne Wagner (SW), Niagara; Irwin Yellowitz (IY), CCNY/CUNY.
4:00 Open Meeting: Syracuse Univ - Robert Ashford; RPI – Jane Koretz, Peter Persans; St. John’s – Somnath Pal; RIT – Jeffrey Baker; Scott Consulting - Sandra Scott Cannon
Sat., October 17, 2009: Sally Dear (SUNY/Binghamton)
Proceedings
Friday, October 16, 2009
1. President Goldberg convened the meeting at 2:00, October 16, 2009.
2. The Minutes of spring 2009 were approved subject to editorial corrections. (Goldberg )
3. President’s Report, S. Goldberg (SG)
After altering the order of agenda items, President Goldberg reported: As a result of Vassar faculty establishing an AAUP chapter, he was interviewed by a reporter from a campus newspaper, The Vassar Miscellany. Vassar is moving ahead and has elected chapter officers. SG had asked permission of the editor of Academe, Jeff Krauss, to send a pre publication letter to the president of Cornell commending him for the citation that the college received. He took the opportunity to mention a small AAUP presence on campus. Otherwise, it has been a quiet period for the president. He referred to a discussion about the constitution, a later item on the agenda. In order to elect delegates to ASC, the constitution should be amended in accordance with amendment guidelines
4. Vice President’s Report, Jeanette Jeneault (JJ)
The Vice President’s remarks were directed toward strengthening the presence of the conference in NY State: increase coalition building with groups active in higher education; on-line petitioning, letter writing, faxes on various issues; an added section on the web about current issues and links to press releases; collective action to popularize the activities of the state conference.
JJ asked that the meeting draft a letter to the governor about the pending cuts to higher education and mentioned the retirement of Alan Lubin (NYSUT). After expressing interest in applying for an ASC grant, she was informed that the conference has received funds. She suggested that a grant could be used to invite members to a meeting or to training activities.
Commentary
A report from the Government Relations committee about use of ASC grants will be requested. Regional meetings should generate attendance from the campuses in the area. IY supported EG’s statement about lack of communication and information about chapters. There seems to be a lack of information circulated about the state conference as opposed to national. Small chapters operate as independent units. TP mentioned that he had recruited two people to attend an upcoming training session at national which is also planning a conference on violations of governance associated with a CBC meeting.
Recommendations
Outreach needs to be made to chapters in the locale of fall and spring meetings. A separate organizing meeting for the local chapters could be held in conjunction with the meeting. The executive committee will be responsible for communicating with chapters when necessary. Sponsorships should be extended, and a special session organized to help develop chapters. The summer institute was mentioned as an excellent vehicle for training and development.
A committee of Tom Policano, Jeanette Jeneault, Estelle Gellman and Steve Goldberg and Cecelia McCall will develop a plan for outreach and communication.
5. Report of Treasurer, P. Cihon (PC)*
Treasurer Cihon gave a line-by-line presentation of the budget, reporting a balance of $38,919.45; whereas, there had been a deficit of $21,489.09 in 2008 largely due to national’s tardiness with reimbursements to the conference.
2009 YTD more than $31,000 in dues have been received for an income of $65, 279.76.
2010 projected budget - $70, 865 with a projected deficit of $5, 030.00.
Expenses: Academe - $20, 500.00; ED salary is frozen at $28,000; YTD excess amount of $17,542
A dues increase may result in solvency.
Recommendations
Demand at the ASC meeting that there be a regular quarterly payment to each conference adjusted subsequent to actual figures. Jeff Krauss will be asked to make the recommendation to the ASC executive committee. Suzanne Wagner was directed to consult Mike Mauer about the way to collect dues from faculty who live in Canada.
Motion to adopt the budget carried (Linton/Jeneault).
6. Reports and Plans of Standing Committees
a. Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure: I. Yellowitz (IY)*
IY mentioned that it had been a quiet period; 120 responses on the survey have not raised the visibility of Committee A. Committee files are being transferred to the library of Syracuse University which holds the conference archives. Since sensitive and confidential material is included, he is asking that access to them be restricted for twenty years. There was a discussion of hard copy vs. digital and whether or not the material should be saved.
b. Committee on Chapter Members and Dues *, Joyce Furfero, David Linton, Jeanette Jeneault, John Marino, Marcia Newfield
Joyce Furfero had forwarded a pdf report that was summarized by David Linton.
Motion to commend Joyce Furfero and the committee for her report passed unanimously.
c. Committee on Minorities in the Profession
no chair
d. Committee on Government Relations, Patricia Bentley and Jeff Kraus
none
e. Committee on College and University Governance: Peter Gormori and Jane Koretz
none
f. Committee on the Economic Status of the Profession: Joan Levinson
none
g. Committee on Women in the Academic Profession: Patricia Bentley
none
The Collective Bargaining Council: Estelle Gellman
(Moved up on the agenda because of her early flight Saturday.)
EG reported that the January CBC meeting is being replaced by regional meetings. CBC News is no longer being published. Tips on how to react to the fiscal crisis will be published on the web. A no raid agreement has been reached with AFT and joint organizing is occurring. Discussions have begun with NEA. U of Conn is trying to organize for collective bargaining. She had been contacted by Fordham faculty, unaware of an existing chapter, to establish one.
Commentary
IY, as well, had received a query from a Fordham member about how to organize a chapter.
Recess: 4:07
Forum: 4:10
Discussion
A member of the Syracuse chapter mentioned that it should be of concern that the AAUP was more prominent in days gone by. President Goldberg mentioned that the issue had been discussed earlier in the meeting and asked for suggestions for outreach.
Syracuse: Serious problems of academic freedom were mentioned. Faculty fear salary consequences if the administration is challenged. There is a salary freeze and the speaker did not believe that the chapter had responded adequately. EG stated that there has to be a collective response from the faculty when the administration unilaterally issues mandates or makes decisions that adversely impact faculty. When IY mentioned AAUP’s focus on shared governance, it was stated that Syracuse’s senate is controlled by the administration, not the faculty. The issue is to bring faculty back into activity. A debate ensued about the efficacy of shared governance.
RPI : An attendee asked how the AAUP could help build a chapter on their campus in the absence of a faculty senate which had been unilaterally disbanded by the administration. President Goldberg referred to the work of Kathy Smith at Molloy where she organized an advocacy chapter to operate as a collective bargaining unit. EG said that faculty should be organized around a specific issue. When IY asked if national had been consulted, he was informed that RPI’s trustees did not recognize the authority of AAUP. The faculty had participated in the completion of a new constitution that was distributed to the tenured and tenure-tract faculty only. After they approved it, the Provost rewrote and undid the faculty committee’s constitution. The Provost took control of committees formerly the purview of the faculty. Jane Koretz wants national AAUP to investigate and censure RPI. EG suggested that national AAUP be encouraged to mediate and faculty organized around it.
TP asked what the conference could do. Jane Koretz asked that the conference draft a letter to national to take a leading role in support of the RPI faculty effort. LB mentioned that Committee T is looking for ways to be active on governance issues. SG asked the RPI attendees to draft a resolution for the conference’s use.
Resolution in Support of RPI (passed unanimously)
The Executive Committee of the NYS AAUP, meeting in Syracuse, NY on October 17, 2009, expresses its deep concern regarding the alarming deterioration of faculty governance at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The unilateral administrative dissolution of the Faculty Senate, repeated rejection of faculty efforts to resolve the situation, and ongoing disregard for established precepts of shared governance as enunciated in the documents of AAUP place the administration and trustees beyond the norms of academic governance.
We, therefore, urge the administration and trustees of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to enter into good-faith mediation with representatives of the national AAUP in order to satisfactorily resolve the ongoing conflict.
St. John’s: The administration had expressed the desire to include Saturday as a norm in scheduling of the classes. After considerable discussion among the faculty and others, and through formal and informal interactions with the administration, the proposal to schedule the classes for each course over two-days, namely, Monday-Wednesday, Tuesday-Thursday, and Friday-Saturday, was withdrawn. The floor of the University Senate was one of the platforms where such announcement was made and short discussion had ensued.
Robert Ashford of Syracuse distributed material about a forth coming conference on Socio-Economics. He hopes to generate law schools’ interest in academic freedom.
RIT J. Baker mentioned that the full-time lecturers and part-time adjunct faculty survey of two years ago redefined who the part-timers were. After sharing the results with the administration, the Provost appointed a committee to investigate p-t faculty issues. Sine the committee’s work was delayed, faculty intend to retake control of the project and develop another survey. SG asked for the survey to use to develop one for his campus. LB mentioned the CUNY faculty survey currently being distributed. SW volunteered to work on the survey as did Samanth Pal of St. John’s.
The president moved to the discussion of the amended section of the state constitution, Draft of Changes to the NYS AAUP Constitution:
Discussion
IY suggested approving the draft submitted by TP, but to include a provision for additional nominations. If done at this meeting, it could be used by 2011.
SG offered another amendment about change of officers. If electronic balloting isn’t possible, the election couldn’t occur. Language that he wrote previously about secret ballot had failed. He wants AAUP legal staff to help with the drafting of language.
EG stated that the issue is the language that deals with the process by which people vote.
Expressing cost concerns, SG suggested that the current language might enable the conference to do an election.
EG – the amendments don’t address the issue.
TP - if the current language allows an election, keep it.
EG – it must state that all officers are to be elected by secret ballot and that their duties include representing the state conference at ASC.
IY – need two consecutive meetings; if approved in spring, it can go to the membership in the fall and be ready for the 2011 meeting of ASC.
Adjourned: 6:39
8:00: Evening Session: Speaker, Dr. Sandra Cannon Scott, CEO of Scott Consulting
Academic Accessibility and Accountability: Are We There Yet?
The speaker brought greetings from Augusta, Ga. She gave much information about her personal experience and background in the segregated South where she grew up during the Civil Rights Era. She interwove particular HBCUs into the narrative, stating that their major role in seeding the schools in the South has changed. They now compete for the best students so that academically challenged students have become the core population. She was denied academic freedom at the HBCU where she had worked for two decades. Administrators presided while faculty wanted a voice. She was ostracized when she spoke up but managed to organize a chapter of AAUP. Other faculty are being dismissed without due process. Quiet voices have been silenced. She is on the outside without benefits. She said that every state in America is an at-will state. In Ga., everyone serves at the will of the president. Due process should be the right of all Americans. Students are expelled routinely. Her every job application has been denied, but she can’t prove that she has been blackballed. Firing continues; faculty are complaining about workload and salary.
She first attended AAUP in 2009 and learned much that would have been helpful.
She has been invited to serve on AAUP’s HBCU committee.
Discussion
Q. How would you have liked national to have advised you with what you encountered?
A. A saboteur was put in place to defeat the efforts; national sent material that she shared. They were too trusting.
Q. HBCU has been called the last vestige of the plantation system.
A. When an undergraduate, I didn’t think so, but the power of the presidents is such that they can do whatever they want; they are little dictatorships.
Q. What happened to students?
A. The students who stayed graduated in their majors; freshmen and sophomores were dismissed.
Reconvened Saturday October 17, 2009, 9:00
President Goldberg reconvened the meeting on Saturday the 17th and disposed of routine business:
a. Committee appointments
Chapter Development: Steve Goldberg, Jeannette Jeneault, Suzanne Wagner, David Linton and Tom Policano
Constitution Amendments: Estelle Gellman, Jeff Krauss and Tom Policano appointed to work with the national office to amend the constitution.
Nominating Committee for spring election of president, vice president and two officers-at-large: Steve Goldberg (chair), Tom Policano
b. Spring meeting: April 9 and 10 or April 16 and 17, 2010
Location: Vassar, Bard, Manhattanville, (backups of PSC, Hofstra and Adelphi)
Continuation of the Agenda
h. Committee on Contingent Faculty,* J. Jeneault (JJ)
JJ continued remarks begun on Friday when she had stated that a PSC sponsored bill on unemployment insurance had been sent back to committee. Contingent faculty at Cooper Union and Manhattan School of Music have been unionized under NYSUT and are negotiating contracts. A solid working relationship with Syracuse has been established.
Commentary
Linton: Adjuncts at Marymount are at the closing stages of negotiation. The salary increase is in excess of 10% and an additional 2% over two years. They may receive the same rights on intellectual property as the full-time faculty.
JJ advised that Northeast COCAL has not been organized but that the New Faculty Majority (NFM) is operating on behalf of contingent faculty. She displayed the Legislative Agenda page of NFM which is the focus for the moment.
NFM is asking financial support for their advocacy efforts.
Recommendations
The conference will consider allocating a grant to NFM upon the receipt of a proposal for a specific project.
JJ is looking into the part-time/full-time position at Syracuse in that members of her bargaining unit are being removed. Progress has been made in opening tenure lines to contingent faculty. P-t faculty should be evaluated in a similar way as f-t faculty.
She introduced Sally Dear (SD) of SUNY Binghamton who spoke of her experience: The Athletic Department had asked her to hold athletes to a lesser standard than other students. Her refusal and interview by a reporter of the NY Times resulted in not being invited back to teach. Subsequently, she has received a job offer. She has an intolerable work environment and been denied opportunities. UUP has offered full support. National AAUP has asked her for information. A one-sided investigation has been conducted by the administration without interviewing her. The issue has become larger than her. It is about academic integrity and academic freedom. She is willing to stand on the principle.
She does not trust anyone in the administration. Race has not yet been inserted into the issue. She has a limited support system though some colleagues are sympathetic.
Discussion
IY mentioned the number of resources available to her -- UUP, AAUP and the NY Times.
TP referred her to a colleague who has dealt with this type of issue.
SD mentioned the Drake Group that has offered help.
IY said that engaging a lawyer would obviate the other mechanisms available. She should first use the academic resources available.
Motion: The NY conference fully endorses Sally Dear’s effort to work with the national office of AAUP to resolve the issue, and the conference offers its support as well. (adopted unanimously)
(Tom Policano)
IY: PSC issues start at campus level.
SD: UUP Rochester’s resolution of support passed. The Human Development Dept is fearful. Should I continue involvement with press?
SG: Consider getting a publicist.
SD: Pete Hammil NY Times, Brent Staples NY Times; ESPN was at her house for 9 hours. Nick Doylan of HBN Sports is in contact. First article in The Times came out 3 weeks ago today. It did not release the names or details about any of the athletes. Despite some students failing, the institution claims that none have failed the course. Students must maintain a 2.5 GPA. The practice is that athletes failing are pulled out of courses and given independent studies courses.
SW: They did not change Sally’s grades but those of some other teachers.
IY: CUNY students can appeal a grade through Committee on Course and Standing. Is there a process at Binghamton?
SD: Faculty has ultimate authority, but there is an appeals process.
SG: Are you willing to give an article to NY Academe?
SD: Yes.
SG: Seems you may also be a victim of mobbing.
DL: There should be a fund raising push asking faculty/staff to contribute. Seems to me to be unethical? I consider this kickback. Thinking of writing a letter to Cohen, the NY Times ethicist.
JB: Even adjunct faculty at RIT have this pressure.
SW: We have a culture of giving… its always optional…. But I know that there is a ranking of Institutes based on faculty giving.
SG: This is true.
JJ: We have calculated our adjunct collective giving in time donated.
DL: What are the policies related to student mass emailing?
SG: At Adelphi faculty do not have the ability to send email to all faculty.
DL: Since the creation of mass mailing lists and due to complaints of over use all email mass mailed to students is forwarded and reviewed
TP: Having an alternative vehicle for mass communications allows for peer self regulation of inappropriate/excessive mailings.
SW: NU has entered into a health care consortium to reduce health care coverage costs. This may be a good cost reduction recommendation for faculty to make to administrations.
SG: We have contract language that the Institute has the freedom to shop for reduced costs but without reduction of coverage.
Council Reports Submitted but not discussed:
- The National Council: Lenore Beaky, Patricia Bentley, Ellen Schrecker *- Report [PDF]
- The Independent Council : Joyce Furfero * - Report [PDF]
*Written reports are appended.
Respectfully submitted by Cecelia McCall Secretary with Tom Policano 11/3/09.
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