Minutes, Truman State University Chapter of AAUP
September 15, 2000, 4:30 p.m.
Wooden Nickel

Meetings are open to all University faculty members.

Members present: Gary Jones, James Harmon, Martha Bartter, John Ramsbottom,
Sylvia Macauley, Janice Grow, Marc Becker, Amanda Jones

1. AAUP Website plans & redesign.  President Gary Jones informed us that
the Truman chapter's AAUP web page will be redesigned—with some student help
().  Gary will post the September newsletter to
the web page.

2. AAUP 'Redbook.'  Gary Jones discussed the AAUP 'Redbook,' a collection
of policy statements on faculty governance.  We discussed the issue of
permanent temps who lack the perks and raises typically granted to tenured and
tenure-line faculty members.

3. "Spotlight" newsletter.  We have distributed 500 copies of the first
issue of our local AAUP newsletter to faculty.  The newsletter will be a
monthly publication this year.  The topic for this issue was Truman's web
presence (or lack thereof).  VPAA Garry Gordon discussed the lack of a VPAA
web page with Gary Jones, and agreed to let Jones design the VPAA page over
the January semester break for $500.  Since Jones had paid roughly $500 for
a copy of an executive salary report and for airfare to an AAUP training
meeting in Ohio this summer, James Harmon moved and Martha Bartter seconded
that Jones be able to keep the money for the web page.  The motion passed
unanimously.

4. Treasurer's report.  Treasurer James Harmon reported that we paid$20 for
two copies of the Redbook and $57 for printing the newsletter.  We have
taken in $26 in local dues, leaving a current balance of $289.99.

5. Attrition report.  We discussed the status of a followup report to last
year's AAUP study of faculty attrition at TSU.  Any information on departed
faculty members should be forwarded to Marc Becker (marc@truman.edu).  Gary
Jones will make inquires into comparative attrition data at other schools.

6. New business.

a. LSP. John Ramsbottom reported that the Undergraduate Council discussed a
potential need to revisit the LSP.  We discussed whether this was an issue
for our AAUP chapter.  The sense of the meeting was that we should keep a
watchful eye on the matter.

b. Division reorganization.  We discussed rumors of the VPAA's plans to
reorganize divisions.  AAUP stresses that faculty must be involved in these
discussions.

c. Faculty Handbook.  The Faculty Handbook has not been revised since
1996.  The VPAA is in the process of revising it, and faculty should also
be involved in this process.

d. University budget.  The AAUP Redbook indicates that there should be
faculty participation in planning institutional budgets.

e. Civic engagement.  The summer issue of the AAUP publication "Academe"
discusses the importance of faculty involvement in the local
community.  AAUP would like to see TSU's administration take a lead in
these issues.

7. Announcements.

a. Please note that the Fall 2000 issue of Footnotes which was distributed
to faculty includes a half-price offer for new members.

b. Next month's issue of our local newsletter will focus on faculty
compensation.

Meeting adjourned at 5:30.

Respectfully submitted by Marc Becker, Secretary