The meeting lasted about 90 minutes and there was a calm and reasoned discussion of pressing issues of import. The HA was there.

Increasing membership was discussed, and the fact that Commissioner Meredith and Dr. Aubrey Lucas value the AAUP was noted.

Recent events that indicate the administration is following a similar path as in the past were reviewed. AAUP members expressed disappointment that the current administration is still engaging in actions that are detrimental to the university, and that the processes used to guide these actions seem poorly thought out (e.g., the recent GA plans, rumors of mid-year raises, outsourcing physcial plant, the CoEP hires fiasco). Potential actions to be taken were discussed.

This board was also discussed. No immediate action will be taken (except perhaps increasing the number of moderators), but the group seemed to be leaning toward distancing AAUP from all open boards. That is, it is possible that we will ask the board operator to no longer call this the AAUP-USM Message Board, and to eliminate the link from the AAUP website (or include the link as one of many that would be of interest to the university community).

As ususal, feel free to add or correct...

reaction wrote:

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Regarding this board. I don't blame your AAUP chapter. I think you should distance yourself from all the negative posts that are being made. You will be accused of abandoning free speech and that will be correct. Let somebody else support free speech.....academics run from it when it gets hot or you can't control it. Lucas and Meredith....what else would they say?

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Dear Mr. or Ms. Reaction:

We do not pay for the board or manage the board, and it is not registered in our name. We had quite a few posts on this topic a few days ago, and the bottom line is that spam and anonymous posts written with the intent to harm AAUP, such as yours, have lead us to conclude that we may need to go in another direction. Your post only serves to affirm our actions. Thank you.

Your last remark about about Drs. Lucas and Meredith provides me with the opportunity to say why this is breathtakingly important (thank you again). The current administration attempted a PR slam camapign against AAUP--you may recall that Shelby said AAUP was like a "union," for example. That Drs. Meredith and Lucas have had official face to face meetings with AAUP reps says a lot about how things have changed. It would have been very easy for Dr. Meredith to not meet with us or to work with us. That he did so is a very important statement to the university community.  

Mitch,

What needs to be done to get The Independent to cover some of these things?  I suspect their coverage will be more aggressive than the HA's ever will.