This is the second time that I have attended and presented at a Board of Governors Meeting. In 1989, eleven years ago, I was invited to present a report on my discipline, Sociology/Anthropology. Bob Dagger was the Interim President. I do not remember the name of the Board President, but I do remember that he was the former major of St. Louis. I remember how gracious he and his wife were.

This year I am the President of the Truman Chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Just as a lawyer may join the American Bar Association in order to strengthen his or her professional relation to the legal profession, a university professor may join AAUP for the same type of reason. Just as a physician may join the American Medical Association in order to gain assess to the supportive resources that this organization offers the medical profession, a university professor may join AAUP for the same type of reason. Let me now pass out copies of our fall newsletter, "Footnotes," on changes in technology and education, and a flyer on AAUP membership benefits so that you can see the type of support that AAUP provides university professors. The professor benefits as a professor from being a member of AAUP, and Truman benefits from its professors being members of this national organization.

I was hired by President Charles McClain in 1988. During my first six years at Truman, I saw four different presidents. It is nice now to have continuity. I have also seen a lot of good faculty leave. Many of these faculty represented the best faculty that a university could have. Many were good friends. I identified with them. It was easy to share myself with them. They were outstanding colleagues. I sought to be like them and model my work after their fine example. Last year, I was surprised by how many outstanding faculty continue to leave Truman. How long can this continue?

To my mind, many of the people who left were the work horses in the university. They may not have been the best team players on campus. They cherished their autonomy and valued their academic freedom. They may not have been part of the good-old-boy network. They came from other places and had different cultural experiences. They, however, were workhorses; they were the people who helped maintain and build the excellent reputation of the University.

When you look at our AAUP Faculty Attrition survey, I would ask you not to overlook the positives. People who participated in the survey said many good things about Truman. They remember the excellent students, the congenial colleagues, the convenience, the ease and safety of a small campus and town, the travel support for conferences, the summer research grants, and the academic freedom in the classroom. When you read our survey, I would also ask you to look at the human side. It is not in the interest of our students if faculty become like migrant workers. Neither is it in the interest of the University or the Kirksville community. Many of the people who left were community oriented. They and their spouses made contributions. It hurts the Kirksville community when these people leave. Truman faculty must not be perceived like migrant workers who come tend the field of education, harvest the fine crops and then leave when the season is over and there is no more work for them.

As Professor Thomas Angelo said last night at our Baldwin Lecture, there are five dimensions of higher learning. Let me take advantage of having attended this presentation. We can learn the facts about faculty attrition. We can learn the what and the how. We can also learn the when and the where. As members of a liberal arts community, however, we also try to learn the why. But even more important than learning the why we try to learn "how to learn." In this context, we need to try to learn how to learn from faculty attrition. What can we learn about ourselves from the faculty attrition that Truman is experiencing? We need to engage in what Professor Angelo called metacognitive learning.

As a sociologist, I can tell you that there will always be faculty attrition. I can also tell you that if there were no absolutely faculty attrition that would be unhealthy. Here, though, is our concern. High faculty attrition can directly hurt the development of our liberal arts tradition. A liberal arts education is built upon two traditions, the tradition of humanism and the tradition of science. In order for a liberal arts community to thrive, both traditions need to be present and vibrant. The tradition of humanism is centered around the principle of care. For the tradition of humanism care is seen as not only a compelling but also a necessary foundation of human relations. Humanism cannot exist and, by implication, neither can a liberal arts community, without a recognition of and a respect for the principle of care. A persistent degree of faculty attrition threatens a liberal arts community because it undermines the possibility of caring. As the philosopher Milton Mayerhoff writes, "Caring assumes continuity, and is impossible if the other is continually being replaced."

Perhaps the greatest resource that Truman State University has is the good will of its faculty toward its students. This study shows that many of its former faculty had considerable good will toward the students here. It is imperative to protect this "social capital." It is difficult to replace. If Truman loses it, it will become every difficult for the University to grow and sustain its excellent reputation.

What can you, the Board of Governors, do? I think that what you can do is fairly easy and straightforward. Keep in mind that our students are perceptive and keen. Our students are good at reading between the lines. Our students see how the Board of Governors view by how the Board treats faculty. If students see that you respect and support the faculty at Truman, they, too, will respect and support the faculty, and this respect will enhance the quality of education at Truman. If students see that you do not respect or value the faculty, some of them will adapt this attitude. A negative attitude toward faculty in the classroom is toxic. While you are not professors, you nevertheless play an important education role. You are not in the classroom, but in a way the entire Truman community is your classroom and not only students but also faculty watch and take notes from the lessons that you teach. If the lesson you teach is that faculty are important and quality professors are critical to the institution, students and professors will learn from this lesson. If the lesson that you teach is that faculty can be taken for granted, students will become disenchanted and faculty will become demoralized. One reason why our students are as great as they are is because no matter what you think of the faculty at Truman, they will always appreciate the hard work and quality education that many of the faculty provide students. Please don't let students be the only reason why faculty stay at Truman because, while this is a very good reason to stay at Truman, in the long run, it will not hold and retain the faculty that you want and need to keep.