Minutes, Truman State University Chapter of AAUP
February 26, 2004, 9:00 a.m.
University Club
Meetings are open to all University faculty members.
Faculty present: David Robinson (presiding), Marc Becker,
James Harmon, Kathryn Kuhlman, David Gruber
1) Minutes. The minutes of the January 30 meeting were
read and approved.
2) Representation at Division Head meetings. AAUP sent a
letter requesting that, in the spirit of openness and transparency, faculty
should have representation at Division Head meetings or these meetings should be
open to faculty. We have received a memo from the VPAA denying this request.
For the sake of clear communication, he argues that these meetings should be
closed. Interested parties, he states, might be invited to address the
meeting. A question, however, is how faculty could address topics of discussion
or request an invitation if we do not know what is happening in those meetings.
There is an unfortunate sense that these meetings are a black box. In the
spirit of transparency, our chapter president will reply to the reply and will
request that, at a minimum, the Division Head group should publish agendas
before and minutes after their meetings and should see that these are publicly
available and widely distributed. If anyone would like a copy of the VPAA’s
reply memo, please request one from David Robinson
drobinso@truman.edu.
3) Required Teaching of Intelligent Design in K-12. David
Robinson has published a letter concerning this issue on behalf of the chapter
in both the Index and the Kirksville Daily Express.
4) Proposed Sexual Orientation Policy. AAUP stands for
inclusion and non-discrimination, and supports the inclusion of sexual
orientation in the official, Board-of Governors’ anti-discriminatory clause.
AAUP president David Robinson will send a letter to the Board of Governors
supporting the Student Senate Resolution, with copies to all Faculty Senators
(in case this resolution makes a stop at FS during its journey).
5) Third-year review. The original legislation on
third-year review and teaching portfolio had “sunset”/review provisions. AAUP
members should be constructively vigilant that the committee(s) to review these
are formed and operate well.
6) Sabbaticals. Truman president Dixon has indicated her
strong interest in bringing back sabbaticals. We anticipate the possibility of
contention over a backlog of demand for sabbaticals. At the March meeting
(Friday, March 26, 4:30 p.m. at the University Club) we will have a preliminary
discussion of the inherent challenges in the awarding of sabbaticals after a
long period without them.
Meeting adjourned at 10:10 a.m.
Respectfully submitted by Marc Becker, Secretary