Author: admin

Covid-19 Accelerated the Erosion of Academic Governance

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The Chronicle of Higher Education has coverage of a recent AAUP report about the surge in unilateral decision-making by governing boards and administrations during the Covid-19 era. The full AAUP report is available online and states: “The COVID-19 pandemic has presented the most serious challenges to academic governance in the last fifty years.” And that faculty were forced to choose between participating “in ad hoc governance processes they knew to be flawed in the hope of shaping their outcomes or refusing on principle to participate at all, thereby allowing administrators and board members to move forward without them.”

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Report from the National AAUP Convention

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Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA, of which UCLA-FA is the UCLA chapter) President Constance Penley attended the historic National AAUP convention on June 16-18 in Arlington, VA, as the CUCFA delegate, which meant that she had an opportunity to vote on the proposed alliance between the AAUP and the AFT (AFL-CIO) and to fill six open AAUP Council seats. Read her report from the Convention at the CUCFA website.

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New 2022 AAUP Survey of Tenure Practices

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Tenure practices vary among institutions, however systematic studies of these practices are rare. The 2022 AAUP Survey of Tenure Practices is the first survey of its kind since 2004. It “offers a snapshot of prevailing tenure practices and policies at four-year institutions with tenure systems. Among the findings, the survey found that tenure is highly prevalent throughout US higher education, with 87 percent of four-year institutions that have a Carnegie Classification of bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral institution reporting having a tenure system.” Available online.

AAUP Amicus with NLRB re: Collective Bargaining Unit of Faculty and Staff

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AAUP’s summary: “The AAUP’s brief explains that, under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), where the union’s proposed unit is given deference: (1) bargaining units that include faculty and staff employed at institutions of higher education are not categorically barred, provided that faculty members are given a mechanism to express their desires on the issue; (2) AAUP policy statements concerning academic freedom and shared governance do not preclude faculty members from deciding to be included in a unit with staff; and (3) the exclusion of tenured and tenure-track faculty from a proposed bargaining unit comprised of contingent faculty and staff…

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AAUP / AFT Affiliation Agreement

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The AAUP and AFT have drafted a new affiliation agreement that will be voted on at the June AAUP meeting. Some details: “Under the terms of this affiliation agreement, all AAUP members, by virtue of their membership in the AAUP, will also be members of the AFT/AFL-CIO… AAUP members and AAUP chapters will have access to AFT support and services, including specific AFT member benefits… This affiliation will not result in an increase in national AAUP dues and, for current AAUP members, AFT per capita will be covered as part of the AAUP dues… The national AAUP and its chapters…

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Spotlight on Speech Codes, 2022

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Fire (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) has just released its yearly summary of the state of free speech at 481 public and private colleges and universities in the United States. FIRE defines free speech as “the overwhelming majority of speech protected by the First Amendment.” Few exceptions exist. The survey addresses a wide variety of issues with relevance to free speech, including: Free Speech Zone PoliciesPrior RestraintsSecurity Fee PoliciesPolicies Governing Speakers, Demonstrations, and RalliesPolicies on Bias and Hate SpeechInternet Usage PoliciesPolicies on Tolerance, Respect, and CivilityBullying PoliciesThreats and IntimidationHarassmentPolicies on Bias and Hate SpeechObscenityIncitement The report is both disappointing…

New Book “Understanding Academic Freedom”

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Hank Reichman — professor emeritus of history at California State University, East Bay; former AAUP vice-president and president of the AAUP Foundation; and from 2012-2021 Chair of AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure — has just published a new book: Understanding Academic Freedom. Hank describes the book: My purpose in writing Understanding was to provide a concise (the book is just 205 pages minus notes and index) and accessible introduction to the concept of academic freedom as practiced and preached in the U.S. (mostly by the AAUP) and an overview of both historic and contemporary challenges to it….

Faculty at U of Georgia will Defy Anti Mask Rules

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More than 50 faculty members in the life sciences at the University of Georgia have declared their intent to require masks in their classrooms, even though doing so is a violation of the University System of Georgia’s rules. More details at the Academe Blog. Ironically, it is those who most loudly and thoughtlessly lay claim to some twisted notion of individual “freedom” who would use the power of the state and university administration to constrict the academic freedom of the faculty to teach in safety. That scientists are taking the lead in standing up to this ill-advised policy is potentially…

AAUP has published volume 12 of the Journal of Academic Freedom

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Volume 12 of the Journal of Academic Freedom is available online. The theme of the volume this year is “Practices of Academic Freedom in Times of Austerity.” Here is a portion of an introduction to the volume from its co-editors, Rachel Ida Buff and S. Ani Mukherji: Our call for papers asked potential contributors to consider the relation of academic freedom struggles to broader movements and to envision the university in the larger context of the world and its historical processes. We focused on concrete practices, gathering examples as material for reflection and encouragements for further experiments in transformative change—change…