AMERICAN
ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS
Academic Freedom
for a Free Society
PREAMBLE: Professor David Gruber, Professor of Philosophy at Truman State
University, began attending national meetings as a delegate in 1992; in 1996 he
became a member of the National Council and served until 2002, including two
terms on the Executive Committee. He served on the Credentials Committee for
1997 and chaired the Resolutions Committee for the 1998 and 1999 Annual
Meetings. He chaired the Membership Task Force appointed in 2000 and served on
the Committee on Organization from 2000 to 2003, at which time he assumed the
chairmanship of that committee. He was associated with the Committee on
Contingent Faculty and the Profession for eight yearsa
committee member from 1996 to 2002 and consultant to the committee for three
years thereafter. His most enduring contribution to the Association and the
profession will be his work chairing the subcommittee that drafted the AAUPs
critical new policy statement on contingent appointments and their effect on
education and the faculty.
WHEREAS with the approach of the Associations 91st Annual Meeting, we reflect
upon the 1915 Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure;
and
WHEREAS that declaration states that The liberty of the scholar within the
university to set forth his conclusions, be they what they may, is conditioned
by their being conclusions gained by a scholars method and held in a scholars
spirit; that is to say, they must be the fruits of competent and patient and
sincere inquiry, and they should be set forth with dignity, courtesy, and
temperateness of language; and
WHEREAS Professor Gruber describes his own teaching and research interests as
social and political philosophy and contemporary continental philosophy with
emphasis on critical theory and the stubbornly smoldering ruins of liberalism
and modernity; and
WHEREAS Professor David Gruber is a patient and considerate scholar; an
individual of pedagogical wisdom, gentle humor, and profound dignity; a constant
champion of academic freedom and shared governance for all members of the
academy; and a constructive challenger of policies that fall short of his
professional and person ideals;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the American Association of University Professors
considers Professor David Grubers contributions to the Association and to the
academy both selfless and significant;
AND
FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Executive Committee of the AAUP, on behalf of
the National Council, association members and staff, hereby acknowledges and
celebrates Professor David Gruber as an embodiment of the scholars spirit to
which our principles call us all to aspire.
May 6, 2005
President