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NYS AAUP Meeting - Spring 2006 |
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American Association
of University Professors Minutes Prof. Stephen Z. Goldberg, presiding, convened the meting at 2:20 PM, March 31, 2006 Present: Profs. Robert Bandchwitz(Columbia University), Ellen Banks (Daemen); Patricia Bentley (UUP/Plattsburgh); Eileen Burchell, (Marymount); Arnold Cantor (Baruch! CUNY); Patrick Cihon (Syracuse); Leo Cooley (Marymount);Meritta Cullinan (Molloy); William DiFitzio (St. John's University); Marilynn Fleckenstein (Niagara); Fred Floss, (Buffalo State);Estelle Gellman (Hofstra); Stephen Goldberg (Adelphi); Philip Gray (D'Youville); Frank Higman (Niagara U.); Martin Kaplan (Queens College/CUNY); Hadassa Kosak (Yeshiva University); Jeffrey Kraus, (Wagner college);Frank LeVeness (St. John's), David Linton (Marymount Manhattan);Cecilia McCall (PSC/CUNY); Peter Martineau, (NYSUT/UUP); Leonard Nissim (Fordham); Jeanine Plottel (Hunter & GSUC,CUNY); Ellen Schrecker (Yeshiva University);Kathleen Maurer Smith (Molloy); Sondra Stacki (Hofstra);Irwin Yellowitz (City College/CUNY) 1. The Minutes of the meeting of October 14 & 15,2005 were approved. 2. President's Report: (Stephen Goldberg) Written report attached: Appendix A 3. For this year the delegates to the AAUP National Meeting shall be appointed by resolution (Motion below) and a Constitutional change will be put forward at the fall 2006 meeting on the procedure for the election of these delegates.
4. Report of the Vice-President: (Eileen Burchell) Written report attached.
5. Report of the Treasurer (Patrick Cihon) Report attached:
6. Report of the Standing Committees:
7. Reports of Councils:
e) Report of the Regional Councils. There was no report. f) Report of the Executive Director: (Jeanine Plottel) - written report attached.
8. Report of the Committee to Monitor Medaille: (Ellen Banks)
9. NY Academe - no report at this time. Motion: To recess for dinner and reconvene at 9:30 AM Saturday, April 1, 2006 Saturday Morning, April 1, 2006 Hunter College, CUNY West building Meting called to order by Prof. Goldberg at 9:45 AM The fall meeting will be in the Buffalo area on October 27 and October 28,2006. 12. Old Business:
13. New Business:
Meeting adjourned 12:00 PM Respectfully submitted Report of Stephen Z. Goldberg President, New York State Conference
AAUP This has been a relatively quite period of time for me as Conference President, and I am grateful for that since I had a number of other professional projects to deal with since our October meeting. On the other hand, the lack of activity suggests to me that there are serious issues regarding the role of the Conference. Can the conference work effectively to assist local chapters? What is the proper relationship between the Conference (and its committees) and the National and (its committees)? At our October meeting we passed a number of resolutions, which our members of National Council brought before the Council. The response to these resolutions was tepid at best and hostile at worst. I will leave it to our Councilors to report at greater length on these matters, but that fact that National Council so casually dismissed serious deliberations by a State Conference is distressing to me. I do not mean to imply that there have not been positive developments involving the national office. I understand that much progress has been made regarding Nyack College and it is quite likely that Committee A will recommend to the National Meeting that Nyack be removed from the list of censured institutions. I also understand that some progress has been made at Yeshiva; although developments there have not advanced as far as has been the case at Nyack. Unfortunately there seems to be little if any progress with respect to changes necessary to remove SUNY or St. Bonaventure from the censure list. At this meeting we will once again hear a report about the situation at Medaille. I think it is fair to say that the 2006 National Meeting will be the last one at which Medaille will be on the agenda as part of a Committee A report. As has been the case in the past, developments at Medaille always seems to occur either just prior to or immediately after a meeting at which the case is considered at either the state or national level. Given the intense feelings surrounding the situation at Medaille it is also not at all surprising to me that reports have a 'Rashomon-like' character. I hope that we will be in a position to make a recommendation that has enough evidence behind it so that the National AAUP will take it seriously and be guided by those who have most carefully examined the facts. The strike by graduate students at N.Y.U. has disappeared from press coverage - there was a brief article in the Chronicle on February 10. The PSC and CUNY have not yet settled their contract and I am sure we will hear about that during this meeting. While the "Academic Bill of Rights" remains an issue of concern, passage of legislation to implement it has not occurred in any state. Another, and in many ways more dangerous, development is a move to apply a No-Child Left Behind approach to outcomes testing in higher education. Such a simplistic view of assessment is a threat to the quality of higher education, and opposition to a high stakes testing approach is something around which students, faculty and administrators in both the public and private sectors can and should unite. We have been burdened with an unwieldy set of rules for carrying out the election of our delegates to the national meeting and to the ASC. As a stopgap measure we will have a motion at this meeting to designate that elected members of our executive committee serve as these delegates. I believe that it would be advisable to amend our constitution to more firmly establish the concepts outlined in the motion you will be asked to consider. Once again, Jeanine Plottel has done yeoman's work in taking care of the day to day operations of the Conference, whether involving the paperwork for the reauthorization of comprehensive dues, or the application for per capita grants, etc., or in fielding the calls from individuals or chapters. We all, especially I, owe Jeanine a debt of gratitude. She has done her job so well that you may not realize that she has officially stepped down as Executive Director, but has agreed to stay on until we are able to find a replacement. While I know that there is no way she will ever overstay her welcome, neither should we take excessive advantage of her sense of responsibility to us. We must work to find a replacement for her as expeditiously as possible. Similarly, we must decide which of our committees are really performing useful work. We must deploy our limited resources of volunteer labor to make it as effective as possible. We must recruit a new cadre of leaders into the Conference. The New York Conference is a large one with large membership in both the public and private sectors. We should have a more significant voice at the national level and we should be more effective at the local level. Given the developments, both positive and negative over the past several months it is good that we will have ample opportunity at this meeting to discuss the structure and activities of the Conference. March 31- April 1, 2006 Spring Meeting I want to tell you that it has been a pleasure to work for and with the New York State Conference, and I thank you for your help and support. There is a French saying: Plus cela change, plus c 'est la meme chose (The more things change, the more they remain they same). I refer to former executive directors of this conference, namely the stated lack of consultation between national and the conference in matters of concern to New York State. For example, in 1992, the final report of the Executive Director, Ed Duryea, states: My relationship with the National Office has remained good. Over the years, staff members have provided to us with valuable backup advice, data, and assistance. Yet, there persists a question as to the sensitivity of the Washington staff to the role and thus needs of the Conference and conferences in general. The Washington staff is helpful and cooperative. Jonathan Knight, Jordan Kurland, Bob Kreiser and Roger Bowen have always answered requests promptly and courteously, and they have often even been helpful. It seems to me that the problem is a structural one: The roles and functions of the New York State Conference are ill defined, as are the mechanisms for consultation. The Conference has little influence and no power to shape its policies. As the AAUP's agenda becomes, in the words Roger Bowen used before the City University Faculty Senate, "more unabashedly progressive" it will have to find a way to include views of members who either do not share this agenda, or who may wish to define it differently. For instance, many of us fail to share AAUP's support for Tariq Ramadan, one of the keynote speakers for the annual meeting for the second year in a row. I am referring to T.Q's double views towards women and his conflicting public statements and actions on freedom of expression. We may question whether the Association's recent international focus is appropriate in view of a limited budget. I wonder whether it is not leading to the neglect of our domestic and less glamorous concerns, our core tasks centering on the protection of the professorate. There is also the matter of flow of information. For example, I understand from the Hunter grapevine and from correspondence in my faculty mailbox that there are issues of academic freedom at CUNY, and that AAUP is involved in some way. It is awkward for the Executive Director of this Conference to be kept completely ignorant about my own institution, one of the largest employers in the country. Why the secrecy? Is the New York State Conference properly served? Coming down from these heights are the every day tasks of the Executive Director: advising chapters and individual members, organizing meetings, coordinating committee work, answering queries, maintaining lists, receiving bills, circulating New York Academe, corresponding with members, sending out notices, and attending to many, many clerical odd jobs. I remain available to help my successor in any way that I can. THE NEW YORK STATE CONFERENCE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS Report of the Vice President and Committee on Chapters, Members,
and Dues Committee Members: Eileen Burchell, Marymount College of Fordham University (2004-06), Chair Ellen Banks, Daemen College (2004-06) Philip Gray, D'Youville College (2005-07) John Schmidt, SUNY Stony Brook (2005-07), Kathleen M. Smith, Molloy College (2004-06) New York State Conference Membership According to the most recent information available from the national AAUP office (3/28/06), the NYSC has 4,633 members at approximately 100 institutions in the public and independent sectors across New York State. There are a small number of additional members without affiliation. New York State Conference Chapters According to the most recent information available from the national AAUP office, the following are formally constituted AAUP chapters in the NYSC: Adelphi University The following chapters appear on the NYSC website with chapter officer contacts but not on the national AAUP roster:
We have a chapter contact at Columbia University, but no formal organization. We should also revisit the following institutions where we have had AAUP contacts and/ or a formal chapter:
RPI reactivated its chapter this year with assistance from our Executive Director. New York State Conference Collective Bargaining Chapters According to the most recent information available from the national AAUP office (3/28/06), the 12 NYSC chapters engaged in collective bargaining have 3,309 members and represent approximately 74% of Conference membership:
Communication with Chapters and Members The President sends e-mail to each chapter for which we have contact information at least once a year and as necessary throughout the year as issues arise. The Executive Director also sends out postings with regard to meetings and events. She communicates with individual chapters, as do NYSC Committee Chairs. New York Academe is sent to all chapters and members and will resume a regular publishing schedule to be determined by the Executive Committee in consultation with editor Jeff Kraus of Wagner College. Observations and Suggestions
In preparation for the Fall 2006 Conference meeting, the VP can coordinate phone and/ or e-mail contact by committee members with each institution. This is an opportunity to use local/ regional issues as a basis for chapter and membership development. I will transfer all relevant files to the incoming VP and am willing to assist in whatever capacity the committee wishes. To: Members of the Executive Committee The letter below was sent to our list of current Chapter Presidents. I would appreciate it if you would assist me in generating the data requested. I am sure that you are cognizent of the health benefits available to Active Faculty at your institution. I am also quite certain that you, as FUTURE RETIREE, are equally alert to the benefits that would be applicable to you after retirement.. I would appreciate it therefore, if you would update me about the situation at your facility. If there are hard copy documents available concerning health benefits, I would like copies sent to me at:: Martin L. Kaplan 32-20 92nd Street #611 In addition, would you please provide me with written answers (by email or regular mail) to the following inquiries:
I would appreciate your reply as soon as feasible for you. Send it to me by email or regular mail Thank you for your cooperation in providing data useful to all
of us in NYSAAUP. REPORT OF NEW YORK ACADEME The first issue of New York Academe for the 2005-2006 Academic Year was published in February 2006. The next eight-page issue will be published in May 2006. The plan is to publish 4 issues per year. The plan is to add paid advertisements (and increase the issue size) with the August 2006 issue. Respectfully submitted, Jeffrey Kraus, editor
Treasurer's Report [PDF] Submitted by Pat Cihon |
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