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American
Association of University Professors
Illinois Conference Policy Council
Notes From the Open Meeting, April 27, 2002
The Faculty Club, Chicago IL
Council Members
present: Leo Welch, President (Southwestern College),
Joe Felder, Secretary (Bradley University),
Connie Caveny, Treasurer and Executive Secretary (UIUC),
Jim Johnson (Loyola),
Melba Buxbaum (Blackburn College),
Pan Papacosta (Columbia College)
Others Present:
Ann Draznin (U of I at Springfield),
Brigitte Erbe (Roosevelt),
Barbara Kaiser (Loyola),
Sharon Telleen (U of I at Chicago),
Frederic W. Widlak (National Louis University)
I. The
Open Morning Meeting focused on the IBHE Report entitled
“All Faculty Matter!
A Study of Nontenure-track Faculty at Illinois Public
Colleges and Universities.” (Copies provided. The web link
is http://www.ibhe.state.il.us/).
The study was done by The Center for Governmental Studies, Northern
Illinois University (NIU). (Summary Results provided.) Leo Welch
summarized the report and led the discussion. Points raised in the
discussion were quite critical of the report. They included:
· Survey Problems: Leo pointed out that the interviewers
were total strangers to those being interviewed. They called the
interviewees at their home phone numbers and conducted the interviews
in that initial phone call.
· Sampling Problems and Problems with Disaggregation: Connie
pointed out that neither the sample nor the results were broken
down by type of part-time or temporary employee. “Happiness”
with pay, benefits, and working conditions might differ across types
and averages might be affected by the proportions of types in the
sample.
· Tenure: Pan emphasized that the trend toward part-timers
and temps erodes tenure. But tenure is the backbone of academic
freedom, shared governance, and the primacy of faculty in curricular
matters.
· Vulnerability and Abuse: There was consensus on the fact
that part-time and temporary faculty members are very vulnerable
and are subject to abuse.
II.
Related matter:
Unionization is making significant advances among part-time faculty,
even at private institutions. Certainly, no one can argue that they
are “management”.
III.
Announcement and Request:
The Association of American Colleges and Universities
(AACU) (aacu-edu.org) is urging all college presidents to sign on
and pledge to help educate the public about the value of liberal
education for all college students. To see the text of the “call”
go to:
http://www.aacu-edu.org/CALL/CALLtext.cfm.
To see if the president of your institution has signed on go to:
http://www.aacu-edu.org/CALL/CALLsigners.cfm.
If your president has not signed, please urge him or her to do so.
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