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Dear AAUP Colleagues:
October 15 and 16 I will be meeting with Herb Ricardo and the Florida state leadership in Daytona. We will be working to establish a new chapter at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. On October 30 I will join with Bob Allen and our activists in Arkansas for their Annual Meeting in Fort Smith. On November 6 I’ve agreed to meet with Dana Waller and members of the Colorado State Conference at their fall conference in Lakewood.
This communication is to make you aware of some of the other activities, programs and achievements of the Assembly of State Conferences, since my last communication with you.
On September 10 and 11 I met with members of the new chapter at Newman University in Wichita, my birth place. Two state officers from the Kansas Conference were present at the meeting, one from Newman and one from Wichita State University. The turnout was good and the faculty is determined to institute a true system of tenure at the private religious institution. Although there is currently a tenure system, virtually no one is approved for tenure and the percentage of faculty with tenure is miniscule. There are also governance issues that the chapter is addressing. The faculty was fired up at the end of the meeting and determined to sign up a minimum of 50% of the faculty as AAUP members. The chapter currently has about 30% membership among the full-time faculty. I want to thank Charles Merrifield, the acting state president in Kansas and a member of the Newman University faculty, for his terrific organizational work and for being a wonderful host while I was in town. My appreciation also goes to Elmer Hoyer, the current Committee A Chair in Kansas and a former Kansas State President. His insight as we worked through the tenure and governance issues was invaluable. The future is very bright for the Newman University Chapter, which in turn will greatly strengthen the Kansas Conference.
On September 18 I traveled to Hammond, Louisiana to speak with the faculty at Southeastern Louisiana University. A new chapter is a certainty because an election of an executive committee and approval of chapter bylaws has already been concluded. The turnout was outstanding even though the event was 48 hours after Hurricane Ivan wreaked its havoc in the Southeast. I gave a presentation on changing the culture at SLU, leadership and chapter development and the chapter is on fire to turn the campus upside down. In a short period of time the local organizers have already signed up twice the number of members necessary for a chapter. Al Burstein, who organized the meeting, did a marvelous job of putting things together. Manjit Kang and the entire group of state officers showed up for the event. Manjit, Bill Stewart, Linda Carroll and Harry Bruder continue to provide strong state leadership down on the bayou. I want to thank Bill Stewart for being the perfect host while I was in the state. Annette Olsen-Fazi presented a session on academic freedom and the war on terrorism. Three faculty members from the LSU Medical School were present and were inspired to go back to the health sciences center to recruit and start a chapter of their own.
The ASC conducted a very successful mini training workshop held in conjunction with the fall ASC Executive Committee meeting Saturday September 25 in Nashville, Tennessee. We had 25 minute training sessions on “AAUP’s First Committee”, “Contingent Faculty and Academic Freedom”, “Shared Governance in the Academy”, and “Lobbying at the State Capitol.” At the conclusion of the workshop the ASC held a reception with members of the Tennessee Conference and concluded the evening with a dinner shared by all present. We had a good turnout and a very good event. We would like to thank Katherine Osburn, the Tennessee State AAUP President for her help in recruiting local members for the event and the Immediate Past State AAUP President in Tennessee Ken Scherzer, who has worked with me in planning for the event since April of 2004.
The ASC would like to thank Janet West (Nebraska), Mel Steely (Georgia), Charles Baker (Massachusetts), Linda Carroll (Louisiana), David LaPalombara (Ohio), Candace Kant (Nevada), John Milbauer (Oklahoma), Bob Grosvenor (Michigan), Ellen Banks (New York), Mike Livingston (Minnesota), Jim Perley (Maine), George Holmes (District of Columbia), Amy Carrell (Oklahoma) and Rudy Fichtenbaum (Ohio) for their service on various ASC committees necessary for the 2004 Annual Meeting.
We would like to congratulate James Dennison, the chapter president of the new McNeese State University Chapter, who was selected as the 2004 winner of the John Hopper Award. With support from the Hopper funds, Jim attended his first Annual Meeting in June of 2004.
Our next ASC/CBC fall training seminar is scheduled for October 23, 2004 in Columbus, Ohio. We already have a healthy number of people registered for the event. The ASC will offer two $275 ASC scholarships for each state conference to send trainees to Columbus. The scholarships must be requested by the appropriate state conference president or executive director. Sessions on strategic communications, chapter development, understanding a university budget, lobbying at the state capitol and negotiating a contract will be covered at the seminar.
Our spring ASC/CBC Leadership Training Seminar took place on March 27, 2004 in Denver, Colorado. The ASC made available scholarships for state conferences to send trainees to Denver. We had participants from eight different state conferences in attendance. The attendees were eager and engaged and the event was a success.
Members of the ASC Executive Committee traveled to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Minnesota, Illinois, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Florida, Arkansas, New Mexico, Mississippi, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Colorado, Louisiana, California, Texas, New York, Indiana and Michigan to represent the Association and the ASC in recent months!
I represented the ASC and spoke at both the Michigan State Conference 50th Anniversary Annual Meeting on April 3, 2004 and at the Oklahoma Annual Spring Conference on April 17, 2004. The Michigan event was well planned and executed. We have a strong state conference in the Wolverine State. Tom Dietz, Bob Grosvenor, Joel Russell, Ariel Anderson and the other leadership in Michigan did a great job in planning and executing the conference. Happy Birthday Michigan!
The ASC initiated a new and important service for the state conferences. Any state conference can now make a request of the ASC, and receive automatically generated electronic updates on new members in their conference four times a year. Many leaders at the grassroots level have been requesting such information for several years. The Department of Organizing and Services, through Eileen Garner, has helped make this new service a reality! The updates are available in September, November, February and April of each year.
Our Conference Communication and Assistance Program (ConCAP) has been a tremendous success. All seven members of the ASC Executive Committee traveled the country to represent the ASC, and to serve as a talented speakers’ bureau for the Association. Each member of the ASC Executive Committee has done a commendable job of contacting state leaders assigned to them, to serve as a sounding post, and to offer advice, upon request, to various conference leaders.
Since our 2003 meeting and mini training workshop in Louisiana, two new chapters at McNeese State University and the University of Louisiana-Alexandria, have been formed in the Bayou State. Several issues of an electronic newspaper for the state conference have been put together and disseminated statewide. Manjit Kang, the new state president of the Louisiana Conference, attributes the recent successes in his state, in part, to information he and others learned at the ASC workshop in New Orleans in 2003. To build on the momentum in Louisiana, at the invitation of the chapter leadership, I made a presentation for the McNeese State Chapter on February 7, 2004. It focused on chapter development for the fledgling MSU Chapter and also crucial issues facing the academy such as post tenure review. William Kritsonis and Diana Gunn did a good job in putting the event in Lake Charles together.
The ASC Executive Committee met in Oklahoma City on September 19 and 20, 2003. Local AAUP chapter leaders were invited to a leadership development workshop on September 20. We shared dinner with our local Oklahoma guests on Saturday night. We have found these regional leadership dinners to be an excellent opportunity for ASC, chapter, and conference leaders to exchange ideas, and put faces with names. This adds a human element to our interactions with local leaders. It is in addition to regular electronic communications on the XDIR list serve, which assists the ASC in initiating and sustaining state conferences with direct communications with conference leaders on issues crucial to their success in building viable organizations in their states.
We signed up several new members at a leadership training workshop in Oklahoma City. They are committed to revitalizing the University of Oklahoma Chapter. A new chapter has been formed at Seminole State College since the workshop took place. The Oklahoma Conference followed up with a training seminar on the Seminole State College campus in November of 2003. Siegfried Heit continues to provide important leadership in Oklahoma, in his current role as state president.
The ASC Executive Committee met in Jackson, Mississippi on February 21, 2004. We conducted a mini-training workshop for approximately 10 local activists on Saturday following our business meeting. Since the Mississippi Conference has approximately 200 members, the turnout represented ~5% of the members in the state. If one of our large state conferences with 5,000 members had a 5% turnout for an event that would mean 250 attendees! The workshop was followed by a reception and dinner which included our Mississippi guests. These mini workshops, which were first instituted in Denver in October of 2002 have been a big success. They have netted new chapters or conferences or both since we instituted the practice.
With the help and support of the ASC and the national staff, Colorado was able to form a new State Conference in April of 2003. We were able to form a provisional Mississippi State Conference in November of 2002. Both Colorado and Mississippi were formally admitted into the ASC as full-fledged members at the 2003 Annual Meeting. We now have 41 state conferences, including the D.C. Conference. Recruiting activity in South Dakota may well lead to adding our 42nd state conference in 2005!
This is the first time since the 1960’s that a state conference has existed in Mississippi! Mike Forster, the current Mississippi State President, attended his first Annual Meeting, as a recipient of the 2003 Hopper Travel Award from the ASC. Since active chapters and conferences are the first lines of defense protecting academic freedom and shared governance, we are very excited about developments in Colorado and Mississippi. Glenn Howze, Linda Carroll and I joined our Mississippi colleagues on November 22 for their 2003 fall conference to build on our recent gains in the Magnolia State. The state officers continue to do an excellent job of moving the state conference forward!
Many state conferences are already scheduling their fall 2004 meetings, and members of the ASC Executive Committee plan to attend a number of them. As you begin planning for these conference meetings, remember that the only way the elected officers of the ASC know what's going on in the chapters and state conferences is if the leaders of the state conferences and the ASC leadership, engage in continuous communication. Consider inviting one of the ASC officers to your conference meeting. We'd be glad to participate, and the ASC will pay for our travel expenses. The local conference is responsible only for food, lodging and transportation while our ASC Executive Committee members are in your state.
While we're talking about money, the ASC has money for the state conferences through the Flexible Response Grant Program. The ASC was able to approve grants to more than 20 state conferences in 2003. If your conference has a new program or initiative, consider asking for a Flexible Response Grant to supplement your own conference's contribution to the new program. The application process is simple. Just write or e-mail your request to me (tguild@ucok.edu). I can approve requests of $500 or less. Flo Hatcher, the ASC Vice Chair, George Lang, the ASC Treasurer; and I review requests from $500 to $1,000. The full Executive Committee of the ASC approves requests for more than $1,000. Even then the process is expeditious, with most requests being approved by electronic meetings of the committee.
Participation in the ASC per capita rebate program is very strong for 2004. We awarded ~$37,000 to 22 state conferences that met the rigorous requirements for inclusion in the program. This is ~$7,000 more than we distributed in 2002.
Please contact me if you have any questions or comments.
Your brother in the cause,
Thomas E. Guild, Chair
Assembly of State Conferences
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