American Association of University Professors Illinois Conference Policy Council Minutes of Open Business Meeting, Saturday, April 17, 2004, Columbia College, Chicago IL Present: Pangratios Papacosta (Columbia College), President, Joan Berman (Barat College, DePaul University, Emeritus), Vice President, Joseph Felder (Bradley University), Secretary, Leo Welch (Southwestern Illinois College), immediate past President and Advocate in Springfield, Lynne Meyer, Executive Director, Jan Cook (ISU), Walter J. (Jerry) Kendall (The John Marshall Law School), Lesley Kordecki (Barat College, DePaul University), Lisa Townsley (Benedictine University), John Wilson (ISU Graduate Student), Editor of IL Academe Absent: Michael Collins (Loyola University Medical Center), Robert Hippensteele (Illinois Wesleyan University), Michael McIntyre (De Paul University), Frederic W. Widlak (National-Louis University) The meeting was called to order at 3:25 p.m. The minutes of the previous year’s Business Meeting were approved. President’s Report. All agreed that the Annual Meeting, just ended, had been outstanding, though poorly attended. 1) Report of the President, Pan Papacosta a) Pan made the arrangements for the Annual meeting and thanked Ken Anderson for getting our speaker, Dr. Sylvia Manning, Chancellor of the U of I-Chicago. b) Pan reported that our Treasurer, Anne L. Draznin (U of I Springfield), resigned mid-term for medical reasons. Since there were no volunteers, Pan stepped in as Acting Treasurer and provided a brief Treasurer’s report. Pan informed the Open Meeting that we now have a valid IRS Tax ID number. c) Pan reported that we now had a new accountant and that the previous accountant, while putting u on a sound footing, had been more expensive than anticipated. d) Pan reported that we had received two grants from the Council of State Conferences e) Pan reported that we have received tentative approval of our current dues level from the National office. f) Thanks to John Wilson, editor, there were three editions of of IL Academe. John sent them to all state conferences and to college presidents throughout the state. g) We renewed our contract with the company that maintains our website. h) Pan and John Leahy (DePaul University), Past President, were guest speakers at chapters that requested speakers. i) We will continue to try to identify chapter officers. j) We will improve the webpage, newsletters, and IL Academe. k) We will prepare a brochure: “What Your Conference Can Do For You,” and distribute it to chapters. It would about $1000-$1500. New Business a) Pan informed the Open Meeting that the Council, the previous night, had authorized the executive committee to formally apply for 504-C tax status, and to sign, on behalf of the Illinois State Council, all state and federal legal documents necessary to establish and maintain our status as a tax exempt organization. The Open Meeting endorsed this authorization. a) “Administrator of the Year” award. Jerry Kendall made a motion to appoint a committee to develop criteria and process for such an award and to report back to the Council at our next meeting. John Wilson proposed that the award be open to administrators and to non-faculty, including, for example, legislators and journalists. b) Report of the Nominating Committee. Members present and reporting: Lisa Townsley (Benedictine University) and Walter (Jerry) Kendall (The John Marshall Law School). Other members were Peter N. Kirstein (History & Political Science, St. Xavier) Ken Kantor (sp?) (National Lewis), Ken Andersen (U of I). Walter Kendall chaired. Nominees are: President: Pan Papacosta V.P.: Leo Welch Treasurer: Lisa Townsley Council members at large: Peter N. Kirstein (History & Political Science, St. Xavier), Lee Maltby (Social Work, St. Augustine) We also discussed creating a new Council seat for contingent faculty and appointing Joe Berry to that position. c) External Activities: Pan Papacosta, Ken Andersen, and Leo Welch attended the Annual National Meeting as voting delegates from Illinois. John Wilson and Joe Felder also attended (Joe as a member of the National Council). The Illinois Conference sent Lynne Meyer and Leo Welch to an AAUP Summer Institute in New Mexico. Pan Papacosta was the keynote speaker at the Kansas State Conference. d) Leo Welch suggested that we consider providing workshops on Academic Freedom at the meetings of other organizations, such as the Statewide Teaching and Leaning Conference in Springfield. e) IL-Academe. John Wilson (ISU Graduate student), editor, reiterated the need for news from chapters. John is considering adding state legislators to the distribution list. f) Barat and Mergers, generally. Lesley Kordecki (Barat College, DePaul University), proposed addressing the Barat experience and the concept of mergers in IL-Academe and elsewhere. She stated that AAUP should be involved in developing policies and standards. g) Legislative Report, Leo Welch. Leo attended the ACS CBC Conference in Denver, where he learned about an attempt by state legislators to identify and publicize the political affiliations of the humanities faculty. While the attempt is on hold, public universities have agreed to look into the political affiliations of their faculty. This may be the start of a national movement. Leo reported on IL HB 4073 that would have empowered public university trustees to determine criteria for tenure and make tenure decisions. The sponsor’s intent was to reduce perceived racial bias. The sponsor tabled the bill after many groups, including AAUP expressed strong opposition and presented the argument for leaving tenure decisions up to the faculty. Leo reported that there is a Legislative Coalition for increasing funding for higher education. We will look into joining the coalition. h) Delegates to the Annual National Meeting. We agreed that the Conference would sponsor 4 delegates, Pan Papacosta, Leo Welch, Ken Andersen, and John Wilson. Joe Felder will also be a state delegate, but he goes at no expense to the Illinois Conference because he is a member of the National Council. i) Summer Institutes. We agreed that the Conference can sponsor one or two people to attend summer institutes. j) New Business: None Meeting Adjourned at 4:30 p.m. Page 1 of 3