Minutes of the AAUP Executive Committee Meeting of April 25, 2007
Present: E. Chudacoff, W. Ensminger (Chapter President), W. Kaplan, C. Kauffman, K. Kearfott, J. Lehman (SACUA Liaison), R. Lomax, T. Moore, C. Smith, M. Thouless
W. Ensminger called the meeting to order at 12:10 p.m.
Agenda. The proposed agenda was adopted as submitted.
Announcements. C. Smith announced that Athletic Director W. Martin will address the Senate Assembly at a meeting at 3:15 p.m. on Monday, May 14, 2007, in the Forum Room of the Palmer Commons. He added that the Committee on the Economic Status of the Faculty and the Budget Study Committee would also make reports at the meeting.
Minutes. The minutes of the April 11, 2007 meeting were adopted unanimously as submitted.
Treasurer's Report. C. Smith delivered the Treasurer's Report on behalf of M. Crichton. He said that the Chapter had received $246.95 in payroll deduction dues, had sent $572.00 in payroll deduction dues to the national AAUP and $143.00 to the Michigan Conference, and that the current balance in the Chapter's checking account was $825.79. He also reported that a letter had been sent to each Chapter member which announced the 2007 Annual Meeting and requested donations to support Chapter programs. The Committee voted unanimously to accept the Treasurer's report.
Active Cases. T. Moore reported to the Executive Committee on the case of the faculty member who is being charged by the dean of his unit with academic misconduct in a dispute over authorship. He said that the faculty member had met with the dean, the central Faculty Ombuds, and Deputy General Counsel D. Sharphorn but nothing had been resolved. It was noted that the charges by the dean have resulted in the failure of the faculty member to obtain a position with the Federal Trade Commission and that serious damage has been done to the faculty member's reputation. There was general agreement that measures must now be taken to restore the faculty member's reputation. The Committee discussed the possibility of taking this case to SACUA's Faculty Hearing Committee.
Faculty Governance. J. Lehman reported that at its meeting of April 16, 2007 the Senate Assembly unanimously voted to suspend its rule prohibiting a SACUA chair from serving two consecutive terms for the year 2007-2008 therefore enabling C. Smith to serve a second term as SACUA chair.
J. Lehman told the Committee that he and other members of the Academic Affairs Advisory Committee (AAAC) had delivered an extensive report at the April Senate Assembly meeting which dealt with the following topics:
J. Lehman informed the Committee that the Senate Assembly had approved and endorsed the advisory policy on the scheduling of final examinations, the advisory report on the McDonald-Weiss Committee proposal, and the advisory report on the Spellings Commission Report. M. Thouless noted that the only opposition to the advisory report on the McDonald-Weiss Committee came from representatives of the Medical School.
C. Smith reported on the meeting of the Provost with SACUA on Monday, April 23, 2007. He said that Provost Sullivan had announced that the State of Michigan would withhold its payment to the University for the last two weeks of August, although there was a possibility that the funds would be restored after October 1, 2007. J. Lehman commented on the position of the Provost and the University with respect to a request filed by the New York State Attorney General in a case involving payments made by colleges and universities to financial institutions that make student loans. He noted that the University has decided to ignore the request for information made by the New York State Attorney General for to act otherwise would acknowledge jurisdiction of the State of New York over the University of Michigan. C. Smith reported that the Michigan Daily has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for data presented by the Committee for a Multicultural University at the March meeting of the Senate Assembly. He added that the chair of the committee had declined to respond to the request by the Michigan Daily since he felt that the report that he had given was only preliminary and that further evaluation of the data that he had presented was necessary.
All Campus Labor Council (ACLC). R. Lomax reported that he had been unable to attend the last meeting of the ACLC and that a substitute could not be found. C. Smith said that it was his understanding that the ACLC had discussed the health benefit package that the unions would be negotiating with the University. He added that the contract that the Lecturer Employees Organization negotiates this summer will give considerable insight into the direction in which the University is moving with respect to health and retiree benefits.
Chapter Annual Newsletter. C. Smith reported that D. Burns had put together the 2007 Annual Newsletter and would oversee its printing and delivery to the University mail services for distribution to instructional faculty. He said that the newsletter should be delivered within a week of the time that it goes to the printer.
Chapter Annual Meeting. The Committee discussed the upcoming 2007 Chapter Annual Meeting and the talk by University of Texas-Austin Professor Mary Steinhardt, but, in the absence of D. Burns, who has been arranging the meeting, was unable to make any further plans. C. Smith reminded the Committee that both SACUA and the Office of the Provost are co-sponsoring the talk by Professor Steinhardt and will be sharing the costs of the meeting.
State Conference. The Committee reviewed the 2007 Conference Annual Meeting that was held in Lansing on Saturday, April 14, 2007. Several Committee members noted that University of Michigan Provost T. Sullivan had delivered an excellent keynote address on shared governance, which had been followed by an outstanding panel discussion led by J. Lehman. C. Smith commented that the Chapter sent seven representatives to the meeting. He added that W. Kaplan had been appointed parliamentarian for that meeting.
Other. C. Kauffman distributed a handout and discussed at some length aspects of problems regarding teaching and office space assignments that he has been having in the College of Engineering.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:25 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
C. B. Smith
Chapter Secretary
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