AAUP Meeting - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Dec 8, 2004

AAUP Meeting

Date: Dec 8, 2004

Is this a "loose lips sink ships" situtation? We'd love to know what's up, but not if it hurts the cause. Imagine SACS did come up, yes?

Date: Dec 8, 2004

Greetings!
The AAUP meeting was well attended. We had a report fromthe chair of Committee A on the Diane Stevenson investigation. Dr. Stevenson attended and we were privileged to hear her side of the story. I learned that Dean Pood did NOT interview the 30 students in her class, she only has about 15 and they were not questioned. I continue to be surprised by what I hear happening at this university. Tomorrow this topic will be covered in the called Faculty Senate meeting (5:00 in the library).

We decided to do another faculty-wide Sound Governance Survey. If you recall, we did this survey in the Fall of 2003. In the December 2003 general meeting of AAUP, I reported on the results of the survey. At that same meeting, Dr. Gary Stringer reported on our discussion with a local attorney about the Drug and Alcohol Policy, and Dr.Frank Glamser, president of the AAUPchapter reported on the enrollment scandal! Time flies.

The chapter voted to send a letter initiating an investigation from AAUPnational. I will be sending the letter out tomorrow or Friday and will simultaneously post it here and on the website. Essentially, we outline seven actions on the part of the administration that illustrate the continued pattern of blatant contempt that Thames et al. have shown the faculty and university.

We discussed the latest breaking news on the SACS probation.

We also were enlightened by Dr.Myron Henry about the MIDAS program and how that is bad for most of us here at the university. It harms departments and colleges by removing money from their control into MIDAS to fund the big bonuses by the few. SMall grants essentially pay into the system though the principal investigators will never benefit nor will their departments.

Amy Young, President
AAUP-USM

Date: Dec 8, 2004

Thanks Amy. Was there any mention of faculty requesting a no confidence vote? Some on this board were calling for another vote, and I wondered if anyone mentioned it at the meeting.

Date: Dec 8, 2004

How many faculty members are active in the AAUP. I have never heard of an official membership number or even a generalization for that matter. Can anyone give me an estimated membership?

Date: Dec 8, 2004

amy--can you clarify two comments? Pood didn't interview the students and her students were not interviewed. Where did the idea come that Pood interviewed her students or that her students were interviewed at all?

Date: Dec 8, 2004

Membership over the past couple of years has run about 100. However, because they tend to be among the more experienced and marketable faculty, AAUP members are disproportionately represented among faculty who have left for greener pastures. The great increase in junior faculty the past two years has reduced the pool of potential AAUP members somewhat. Therefore, it is very important that all faculty members work to maintain AAUP membership.

Date: Dec 8, 2004

Are you saying that the AAUP dosen't accept, members that are new to the University? Please clearify, because I would think that the AAUP would welcome new members regardless of the amount of time they have been employed.

Date: Dec 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Bum Alum
"Are you saying that the AAUP dosen't accept, members that are new to the University? Please clearify, because I would think that the AAUP would welcome new members regardless of the amount of time they have been employed."

No, AAUP accepts memberships from all faculty, including adjunct. It's just that many junior faculty members are unfamiliar with AAUP or can't afford the dues. It takes awhile for people to see the value of a national professional association that supports academic freedom and shared governance.

Date: Dec 8, 2004

Are dues to the AAUP really that expensive. I belong to several professional organizations but they are usually about $100/yr.

Date: Dec 8, 2004

There used to be a deal where new members got the first year half price. I don't know if that
is still available. Also, the rates vary by your position--I believe adjuncts or part-timers pay less.

Date: Dec 8, 2004

Just a reminder:

http://www.aaup.org/membership/joinaaup.htm

I like to remember that my dues go to a national organization, and it's not just about USM, it is about support for the profession as a whole.

Date: Dec 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: foot soldier
"There used to be a deal where new members got the first year half price. I don't know if that is still available. Also, the rates vary by your position--I believe adjuncts or part-timers pay less. "

I just visited the membership page on the national AAUP website at http://www.aaup.org/membership/Duestest.htm and found this under the link for Mississippi:

$140 Full-Time
$105 Public, Associate
$ 70 Entrant, Joint
$ 35 Part-Time
$ 10 Graduate

I can't speak to any join-up specials, though perhaps some other member can. I pay full-time dues, of course, and consider that they are worth every penny. The ideals of academic freedom and shared governance are under assault nationally.

For a fuller explanation of what we do, please see http://www.aaup-usm.org/2004%20Pages/2004-AAUP-whyjoin.html. And then please join us. The job you save may be your own.

Jameela

Date: Dec 8, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Curmudgeon
"

[...] It's just that many junior faculty members are unfamiliar with AAUP or can't afford the dues.[...]"

Or (as I did) they are waiting until they have tenure.

Date: Dec 9, 2004

In an AAUP general meeting earlier this semester, Dr. Pood requested a chance to address the membership. Inthis meeting he asserted that he had interviewed the 30 students in Dr. Stevenson's class. This also appeared in the Student Printz.

The shared governance survey will help us determine if there is sufficient support for a vote of no confidence.

There was some brief discussion in the AAUP meeting yesterday regarding a no confidence vote in Dean Pood.

Regarding AAUP membership, I encourage everyone eligible to join. You need not be terribly active, but the sustained large membership sends a message to the administration and simultaneously sends a loud message to national. Geven the level of national attention we (USM, AAUP-USM, Faculty Senate USM and others) garnered, large membership is difficult to ignore in the request for an investigation.

We are hearing stories of problems in the tenure and promotion processes across campus. Many wondered if the new deans would become the henchmen for Shelby Thames. We need to pay attention to this! If you or someone you know is in trouble, please let AAUP-USM know. That is why we have a committee A. YOU NEED NOT BE A MEMBER TO SEEK OUR HELP.

Amy Young

Date: Dec 9, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Amy Young
"In an AAUP general meeting earlier this semester, Dr. Pood requested a chance to address the membership. Inthis meeting he asserted that he had interviewed the 30 students in Dr. Stevenson's class. This also appeared in the Student Printz.
"

Is Pood so stupid that he doesn't think we will catch him lying to us? Or does he just not know the difference between 15 and 30? Did he interview anyone at all? I guess I should not be surprised, as this is the guy who sent around a job description for Assoc. Dean than said he/she would be required to use a mainframe computer and a stapler and stapler remover. I certainly hope Pood reports on her yearly evals that Denise von. H. is properly removing staples.

Date: Dec 9, 2004

RE: AAUP and Senate

Date: Dec 9, 2004

RE: AAUP Meeting

Date: Dec 9, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Anne Wallace
"The Faculty Senate meeting today is at 5 pm and is in 123 Cook. (This room can be hard to find"

Here's a link to a guide to Cook Library. It contains a map.

http://www.lib.usm.edu/about/publications/cook_guide.pdf

Date: Dec 11, 2004

Here is the letter AAUP-USM has sent to national AAUP

December 10, 2004

Jonathan Knight

Director, Office of Academic Freedom, Tenure and Governance

American Association of University Professors

1012 Fourteenth Street NW, Suite #500

Washington, DC 20005

Dear Mr. Knight,

Last spring, the AAUP-USM chapter informed the national office of many actions by the Shelby F. Thames administration taken in disregard of the principles of academic freedom, tenure and shared governance. These actions culminated in the attempt to fire two tenured full professors (Drs. Glamser and Stringer) who had criticized the administration and questioned the academic credentials of the Vice-President for Research and Economic Development.

Since the Glamser/Stringer settlement in May, AAUP-USM has monitored the administration. It is the chapter’s considered belief that the situation has not substantially improved. Throughout the summer and fall semesters, President Thames and his administration have continued their assault on faculty rights and appropriate faculty prerogatives. A list of the most egregious actions serves to illustrate:

Thames appointed high-ranking administrators without searches and without faculty input. Recent appointments include Cecil Burge, Vice-President for Research and Economic Development; Ken Malone, Chief Operating Office, Gulf Park Campus; Joan Exline, Assistant to the President for Planning, Accreditation and Articulation; and Gregg Lassen, Vice-President for Business and Finance.

Dr. Susan Siltanen, who resigned her post as Assistant to the Provost for Graduate Studies in the wake of an inflated enrollment scandal in fall of 2003, was recently reinstated to the same position on an interim basis. (The chapter had a lead role in exposing the inflated enrollments; the matter was “resolved” by Dr. Siltanen assuming blame and resigning following an inquiry by the system’s board of trustees.)

Without informing the faculty, the administration implemented and reported to the board of trustees on the performance of tenured faculty at the university. The procedures used for faculty assessment did not conform to the post-tenure review policy that the faculty drafted in 1998. Nor did the faculty know that their draft policy had evidently been approved by the administration and submitted to the university system’s Board of Trustees. The chapter believes that this action constituted a secret post-tenure review based on unspecified criteria of evaluation.

Annual merit raises were awarded at the start of the current fiscal year without following the faculty handbook-prescribed procedure of considering recommendations of departmental personnel authorities. Despite requests, no explanation of how raises were determined has been provided by the administration.

At the close of the fiscal year departmental “carry over” accounts were centralized (“swept”) without notice to department heads or faculty. It had been historical practice for departments to retain any money they managed to save for larger expenditures or for inadequately funded activities, including faculty development.

Another round of university restructuring took place without meaningful discussion with the faculty impacted. Administrative action moved and created departments, significantly altering three of five colleges.

Dr. Ken Malone, the Chief Operating Officer at the Gulf Park Campus, entered a classroom, without permission of the instructor, to “correct” alleged misinformation about the future direction of the campus given by the instructor to the students. Dr. Malone is not in the instructor’s line of authority, and the matter was not discussed with the instructor before Dr. Malone addressed the students.

AAUP-USM believes that these and similar actions by the Thames administration constitute a sustained pattern of blatant disregard, if not contempt, for principles of academic freedom, shared governance and due process. The chapter has, therefore, authorized me to request a national AAUP investigation of the administration of The University of Southern Mississippi.

Please advise me on the proper process from this point forward.

Sincerely,

Amy L. Young, President

AAUP-USM

cc: David Beckett, USM Faculty Senate President

Michael Forster, President, AAUP Mississippi Conference

Myron Henry, AAUP Committee on Governance

Dr. Richard A. Crofts, Interim Commissioner IHL

Date: Dec 11, 2004

Amy, thanks so much for your openess in sharing this letter for the entire world to read. If USM had been as open in conducting much of its business it would not be in the terrible shape it is in today. Personnel matters, of course, should remain confidential; but USM has been less than forthright about some other things which would have best been made available to the faculty. I fail to understand why, given the faculty is in the midst of a great crisis, each one doesn't run right out and join. I heard somewhere that USM does not even recognize AAUP. If that is correct I really feel for the institution.

Date: Dec 11, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: McCain's ghost
" I heard somewhere that USM does not even recognize AAUP. "

To quote Invictus on the Password thread: "Ain't a union, Polymerman"!

Date: Dec 11, 2004

HURRAY AAUP!

FYI, when AAUP recently solicited an extra donation from me, I sent them some money. You were supposed to mark which established fund you wanted it to go to: academic freedom, legal expenses, contingent faculty, etc. I really wanted to donate it to the FREE USM fund. I just hope in the cosmic scheme of things, that money helps pay for the investigation.

Join AAUP! NO QUARTER!