The New York State Conference-AAUP held its Spring
2005 meeting on April 1 and 2. The location was the Marymount College
of Fordham University in Tarrytown, amidst the scenic beauty of the
lower Hudson valley.
Business Meeting - Medaille
Perhaps the most significant development at the business meeting
was the passage of a resolution urging national AAUP to censure Medaille
College. The Conference had monitored developments at Medaille since
the unwarranted firing of two tenured faculty members (Therese Warden
and Uhuru Watson) in 2002. June 2004's AAUP Annual Meeting had agreed
that Medaille's actions warranted censure, but, on the recommendation
of national Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, abstained
from imposing it, on the grounds that discussions were in progress
which promised to result in a righting of all wrongs. While settlements
were subsequently reached by the College with the individual professors,
neither Committee A nor the Conference nor the Medaille College AAUP
Chapter found any evidence that conditions at the College had improved.
The new faculty handbook devised by the administration was deemed
unsatisfactory. (And was on May 18 so judged by a Medaille faculty
meeting -ed.) The Conference Spring 2005 Meeting urged that Medaille
be censured by the 2005 AAUP Annual Meeting, in Washington, DC on
June 9-12.
 Conference President Stephen
Goldberg (left) (Adelphi University) appointed a committee to monitor developments
at Medaille: Ellen Banks (Daemen College), Martin Fried (Syracuse
University, School of Law), Phil Gray (D'Youville College), and Sanford
Segal (University of Rochester). John Schedel is the President
of the Medaille College AAUP Chapter.
Committee Reports
Ellen Banks (Daemen College), Philip Gray (D'Youville
College), Frank LeVeness (St. John¹s University), and Kathleen
Maurer Smith (Molloy College) were appointed Conference Delegates
to the AAUP Annual Meeting. Professors Goldberg and Frank Higman (Niagara
University emeritus) were named delegates to the Meeting of the Assembly
of State Conferences within the Annual Meeting. Other New Yorkers
will attend the Washington goings-on in various capacities.
There were no changes in the status of the four institutions on the
AAUP censured list -- the State University of New York (SUNY), Yeshiva
University, Nyack College, and St. Bonaventure University -- and
the one institution on the sanctioned list (Elmira College).
 Irwin Yellowitz (City College/CUNY emeritus), on behalf of
Conference Committee A, recommended to national AAUP the complaint of a dismissed
faculty member at Hamilton College, where there appear to have been violations
of AAUP standards.
The aged and ailing John Diehl (Syracuse University emeritus)
sent in a report saying that he would be willing to serve as NY
Academe editor until December 31, 2005. There was a brief discussion
about finding a successor.
Leonard Nissim (Fordham University) reported for the Committee on Governance
that responses to the Committee's questionnaire indicated that governance conditions
had changed little since last year, with faculty participation best in areas
where decisions about money were not involved. Other news: "Informal help
has been given to an institution that is rewriting its faculty handbook, to
make its governance procedures adhere to AAUP guidelines. ... One member of
the Committee is serving on the committee to track developments at Medaille
College."
Estelle Gellman (Hofstra University) moved that members of the national
Council from New York State get placed on the Council agenda "a review
of the standard of evidence for dismissal procedures with an eye toward accommodating
[AAUP principles] to the realities of collective bargaining. ..." This
would apply as well to other areas of potential conflict. At present "...
the standard of evidence required by the Redbook is 'clear and convincing evidence'
while the standard used in arbitration is 'the preponderance of evidence.'
Many of the AAUP's CB Chapters rely on binding arbitration for resolution of
dismissal cases, but also would like to comply with the Redbook." (The "Redbook" is
of course Policy Documents and Reports, the AAUP's compendium of recommended
principles and procedures for institutions of higher learning - ninth edition,
2001.)
Professor Gellman's motion also asked "that a report on the
disposition of this item by Council be given to the Fall Meeting
of the Conference." Her motion carried unanimously.
There was a brief discussion of the relationship between the Conference's
Collective Bargaining Council and the various faculty unions engaged
in collective bargaining in New York. It was suggested that this
be the topic of our Fall Meeting, which, it was agreed, would be
held in the Albany area on October 14-15.
Fred Floss (UUP), on behalf of the Conference's Collective Bargaining
Council, reported that the UUP (United University Professions) had these plans:
to.. "Provide pension equity for State faculty and staff when compared
with other state employees. Restore civil and human rights of public employees
lost in recent Supreme Court decisions. Reform the Public University Trustee
Selection process to establish a screening committee to recommend qualified
candidates to the Governor and the Legislature. Enact the New York State Fair
Pay Bill ..."
Marilynn Fleckenstein (Niagara University) was elected Secretary of
the Conference; Patrick Cihon (Syracuse University), Treasurer; and Philip
M. Gray (D'Youville College) and John Schmidt (SUNY-Stony Brook),
Members at Large of the Executive Committee. Professor Schmidt fills out the
unexpired term of Grace Vernon (Fordham University).
Talks on diverse topics
There were also a number of talks by various hands scattered through
the Spring Meeting:
Slips in higher education funding: Frank
Mauro, Amy Paulin (Friday afternoon)
History of the National Labor Relations
Board: Arnold Cantor (After dinner Friday)
Preserving the Promise
of Higher Education: Mark Smith (Saturday morning)
---
Executive Director
Jeanine Plottel
50 East 77th Street
New York, NY 10021
(212) 535-6668 or 1-866-883-4812 (PIN 5400)
Fax: (212) 879-4105
jeanine.aaup@verizon.net
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