Highlights
of the Spring 2003 Conference Meeting
The Spring
2003 Conference Meeting started on the afternoon of Friday, March 28
at the CUNY Graduate School and University Center at Fifth Avenue and
34th Street in Manhattan, and continued later that day and on Saturday,
March 29 at the Columbia/Princeton Club half a mile uptown. It was
followed there by a Leadership Conference on the 29th and 30th.
1. The Business Meeting
President Frank Higman (Niagara University) expressed gratitude
to our new Executive Director, Jeanine Plottel (Hunter College/CUNY
emerita) for having obtained financial support from TIAA-CREF for the
Conference Meeting. He reported that the New York State United Teachers
(NYSUT) and the AAUP¹s Assembly of State Conferences (ASC) had
contributed funds towards the March 8 Symposium at Daemen College.
Committee Reports
Irwin Yellowitz (City College/CUNY emeritus) reported that Committee
A on Academic Freedom and Tenure (which he chairs) has been involved with four
items of business concerning individuals and two concerning process. (In keeping
with the desire to maintain confidentiality, his descriptions were very abstract.)
The three continuing items involving individuals include a case of
dismissal in which committee A could take no action; a matter of alleged
discriminatory treatment that does not involve a current threat of
an attack on tenure (the Committee has provided counsel), and a threat
of dismissal which did not materialize and has been amicably concluded.
Neither of two continuing questions of process in which the Committee
has invested much time and effort has thus far led to the adoption
of changes in personnel procedures.
The Conference Committee's one new item has to do with a failure to
recommend reappointment for a probationary faculty member. The Committee
determined that the person should use procedures available at the college,
and that it should not become involved at this point.
(None of the foregoing is about the happenings at Medaille College,
which national Committee A has investigated and is drafting a report
about.)
Jeffrey Kraus (Wagner College) reported for the Conference Committee
on Government Relations that legislative alerts having
to do with Governor George Pataki¹s (R) proposed Budget for Fiscal 2004
have been put onto the Conference¹s website.  The budgetary proposals cut funds drastically for education generally,
higher education in particular. The Committee sent concerned letters to legislators
in Albany.
The State is looking for new sources of revenue; there has been no
change in the SUNY tuition for six years. It seems now, said Kraus,
that funds for the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) will be fully restored
in the final budget accepted by the Legislature. Patricia Bentley (SUNY-Plattsburgh)
said she feared that there would be a reduction in the Executive Budgets
as a tradeoff for no increase in tuition; this would hurt small businesses
in towns where there were SUNY colleges.
Cecelia McCall (Professional Staff Congress/Baruch/CUNY) said that planning
was under way for joint lobbying on Capital Hill Day (June 12) by the PSC,
UUP, and AAUP. CUNY is lobbying in particular for reauthorization of the Higher
Education Act. To assist in its lobbying efforts, the PSC has been sending
students to Albany monthly, and it will send some to Washington in April. Four
hundred faculty members at CUNY have retired, she said, but there has been
no freeze on hiring.
Leonard Nissim (Fordham University) submitted an interim report for
the Conference Committee on College and University Government.
There have been no further developments in the case at Vassar College
referred to this Committee by Conference Committee A. At Fordham University,
there have been faculty discussions to form a list of issues to be
taken up with Fordham¹s new president, who takes office on July
1.
Nissim said that for the Conference¹s 2003 survey of governance
at New York colleges and universities, the Committee was using the
instrument "Indicators of Sound Governance" developed for
national AAUP by Keetjie Ramo (see our Fall 2002 issue -ed.). The results
in so far indicate tentatively that communications between faculty
members and administrators and real influence by the faculty in institutional
decision-making were the most problematic areas in 2002; this year
so far they have been identified as communications and mutuality (trust
and respect between the faculty, the administration, and the governing
board). There will be a final report by the Conference¹s Governance
Committee later this year.
Some of those present at the Spring Meeting thought the survey needed
to be done only every few years, not annually. Others hoped that it
might be possible to establish differences between conditions at collective
bargaining chapters and others; between public institutions and private
ones; and between campus administrations and the managers of the systems
of which many campuses form a part.
For the Conference's Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession,
Patricia Bentley (SUNY-Plattsburgh) urged that members make the AAUP's
new book on the Family and Medical Leave Act better known. (see p.
10 -ed.)
Martin Kaplan (Queens College/CUNY), as Chair of the Conference's Committee
on Retirees, suggested that the Internet be used to reach retired professors.
For the Conference¹s Collective Bargaining Council, Estelle
Gellman (Hofstra University) said that the Summer Institute would
consider a topic not much dealt with at the Annual AAUP Meeting --
health. Canisius College, she said, is ready to vote for representation
by a NYSUT-AAUP coalition. She said that rumors of CB chapters to merge
with the AFL-CIO were unfounded.
Elections started on Friday afternoon, but were continued Saturday
morning so that those unable to attend on Friday could vote. Marilyn
Fleckenstein (Niagara University) was elected Secretary, succeeding
Martin Kaplan (Queens College/CUNY); Patrick Cihon (Syracuse University)
was unopposed in his bid to be re-elected Treasurer. Jeffrey White
(St. Bonaventure University) was reelected Member-at-Large, and Grace
Vernon (Fordham University) was elected to succeed Bernard Sylvester
(Niagara University). All elections were for the two-year term 2003-05.
It was agreed that John Diehl (Syracuse University emeritus) and Leonard
Nissim (Fordham University) would represent the Conference at the national
AAUP Meeting June 11-15; and Ellen Banks (Daemen College), Philip Gray
(D'Youville College), Frank Higman, and Kathleen Maurer Smith (Molloy
College) would represent the Conference at the included Annual Meeting
of the ASC. Other New York state AAUP members will attend these events
in other capacities; as members of the national Council or of national
committees; as chapter delegates; etc.
Executive Director Jeanine Plottel's request for paid clerical
help was sympathetically received.
Discussion of the scheduling of the Fall Meeting led to a consensus
that Friday, October 24 / Saturday, October 25 would be an appropriate
time, and the Albany area a good location, although the Buffalo area
was also a possibility. The Executive Director and the Member-at-Large
of the Executive Committee will look into and recommend possibilities.
Conference meetings have alternated between upstate and down, although
some upstaters pointed out that Albany (upstate) was closer to New
York city than to anywhere west of Syracuse.
There was, of course, a Conference Dinner on Friday, which drew more
participants (24) than the Business Meeting (17).
2. Burgan: To Attract
Younger Profs,
Provide Ideas to Improve the Academic Profession
In the first of the two talks given
at the Princeton Club at the Conference¹s Saturday morning meeting, Mary
Burgan, the General Secretary of the AAUP, considered the question,
why is it hard getting younger faculty members to join and become active
in the AAUP? She spoke of the changed nature of academic work, and
the things that the AAUP might do to improve it.
It is hard to attract younger people, she said, not only because of the
graying of the profession, which makes the younger ones feel out of place,
but because of narrowing notions of academic citizenship and the ratcheting
up of requirements for getting tenure.
Work as a professor, she maintained, used to be better. But faculty members
believe that the way things are now is the way they must continue to
be. And this belief is internalized. The AAUP needs to be the source
of new ideas as to what an American professor should be.
One could formerly get rewarded, including receiving tenure, for a wide
range of activities; one didn't have to have published a book. Now, particularly
at the more prestigious institutions, the emphasis is more narrowly on
research, as shown by a publishing record. Consequently, many faculty
members don¹t join the AAUP, the association of their profession;
and they don't serve on faculty senates, or even want to take the time
to write letters of recommendation. The prevailing institutional attitude,
which is encouraged by the Association for the Advancement of Higher
Education, is, let researchers research, and be freed of -- kept away
from -- other activities. Parts of our jobs have been outsourced, unbundled,
taken away from us.
The emphasis is on building a graduate program -- notably in the sciences,
where many are hired just to set up the labs which bring prestige. Faculty "losers"
are saddled with undesired, laborious instructional responsibilities.
Graduate students, Dr. Burgan continued, are advised to seek positions
only at two-course-a-semester research institutions; there junior members
will be
"protected" -- "protected" from teaching, even at land-grant
institutions which were founded specifically to provide instruction to a state's
citizenry.
Better and less exclusive grounds for the awarding of tenure are now
needed. Faculty members have not been, but should be, encouraged to interact
with high school teachers as to how to prepare students for college.
Faculty members should keep in touch with freshmen. They should reclaim,
for instance, the teaching of freshman composition, and not consign it
to temporary part-timers who cannot get tenure or compensation. Professors
who teach extra courses as a substitute for publishing should be rewarded.
What can an AAUP
chapter do in all this? AAUP officers should circulate and advocate
ideas for improving the quality of academic life, contacting colleagues
directly or on the phone. Which is admittedly hard work. And meanwhile
they should orient new faculty members to the institution. They should
advise newcomers how to get tenure. And they should set up workshops
for the committees that recommend tenure. They should run workshops
on the importance and contents of faculty handbooks. They should run
governance workshops. They should consider how all aspects of life
at their institutions impact on the educational process. The AAUP's
Faculty-Administration Conference this fall, which will be held at
Indiana University, will consider the effect of athletic programs on
institutional culture.
Dr. Burgan tangentially gave advice on getting people to attend meetings,
which applied at least as much to State Conferences as to chapters. (About
23 people were present to hear her.) Get politicians as speakers at meetings;
they like the exposure, and will draw people. And check the rhythm of
academic life; watch out for exam periods and vacation periods; don¹t
try to get people to attend December through February.
3. TIAA-CREF Presentation
at our Spring 2003 Meeting
by Kathy M. Smith (Molloy College)
Member-at Large, NYSC-AAUP Executive Committee
TIAA-CREF, the company which handles retirement funds for so many
faculty members in higher education, underwrote the cost of the Spring
Meeting of the New York State Conference-AAUP; and on Saturday morning,
March 29, provided a special financial education seminar, "Reexamining
the Rules of Investment." The presentation was made by John
Panagakis, the Director of the New York City Regional Office
of TIAA-CREF. Given the volatility of the present economy, this was
a very timely topic.
Mr. Panagakis urged long-term optimism about the economy. He pointed
out that, even though there is currently an equity market slump,
the U.S. has the strongest economy in the world. American financial
systems are fundamentally sound and resilient. Historically, they
have responded quickly to change and crisis, and macro-policy decisions
generally have been excellent. It should also be remembered that
the U.S. has a long history of coping with unpredictable global situations.
The financial volatility now occurring can be explained by the fact
that equity markets are constantly reacting, and sometimes overreacting,
to events and societal conditions. Equity markets are also shaky
because of recent corporate scandals. Investment losses seems especially
ominous if compared to the great gains of the previous decade. Panagakis
noted that the returns of 20% to 50% in the 1990¹s equities
markets were highly unusual, since ordinarily returns have been closer
to 11%.
Significant downturns in equity markets have occurred many times
in the past, followed by recovery and increases in market returns.
It is, therefore, important, Panagakis maintained, to stay fully
invested, although it makes sense for investors to re-examine their
investment strategy in the context of changing economic realities.
He recommended that when revisiting asset allocations, it is wise
to look to the long term, to resist "market timing," to
manage risk by diversifying holdings among different classes of asset
-- stocks, bonds, money market funds -- and to take advantage of
opportunities to invest more.
He made a case for using TIAA¹s various facilities. Its Customized
Planning Services can provide a personal portfolio review to analyze
current holdings and offer allocation suggestions that will provide
the best possible returns in light of each investor's situation.
Customized Planning Services can be accessed via phone, web address,
in person, and through educational seminars. And the TIAA-CREF
Web Center, which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
can provide access to information on account performance, personal
account information, and product information. The Telephone Counseling
Center can be reached at 1 (800) 842-2776 every day of the week to
discuss retirement saving and planning, as well as income options
and payments. In addition, the Planning and Service Center can be
contacted by calling 1 (800) 223 -1200 to discuss TIAA-CREF mutual
funds and after-tax personal annuities.
Panagakis concluded his presentation by pointing out that TIAA-CREF
has a commitment to ethical leadership and corporate responsibility.
It has been a leader in overseeing corporate governance and will
approach companies that it has invested in to try to change the way
they are doing business if there is any concern with their practices.
---
Executive Director
Jeanine Plottel
50 East 77th Street
New York, NY 10021
(212) 535-6668 or
1-866-883-4812 (PIN 5400)
Fax: (212) 879-4105
jeanine.aaup@verizon.net
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