Meeting Minutes
Friday, January 07, 2000, 7:30 A.M.
Washington Street Java Co
Meetings are open to all University Faculty members
Members present: Martha Bartter, Marc Becker, David Christianson,
Keith Doubt, Stephanie Fore, Ken Fountain, Jeff Gall, James Harmon
1 Treasurer’s Report. Due to increased membership (membership
up by three,) the chapter received a $50.40 rebate from the national
office. Chapter balance is $256.33.
2 Discussion of distributing Attrition Report. Paper copies
have been made. Keith Doubt will distribute the report to administrators
and sign up to present the report to the February meeting of the
Board of Governors.
Email/attached file copies will be distributed to Truman AAUP
members. The report will also be presented to Professors Teresa
Heckert and David Christiansen as chairs of Faculty Senate and
Undergraduate Council. There was discussion of the possibility
of Faculty Senate’s using the all-faculty email list to distribute
the report or of an AAUP newsletter. An all campus meeting to
present the report to the University community is planned for
5 PM, Wednesday, January
19, 2000, Down Under, SUB.
3. The Chapter will jointly sponsor a festival of political
films with the Film Club “What Are You Doing after Martin
Luther King Day?” Come to the AAUP?Film Club Film Festival
“Films with Political Insight” 1st Film ? “Z”
January 18th, Tuesday, 7:00 PM, Little Theater, Baldwin Hall Directed
by Constantin Costa?Gavras with Yves Montand and Irene Papas
A French thriller about a political assassination
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0065234
2nd Film ? “The Conformist” January 19th, Wednesday,
7:00 PM, Little Theater, Baldwin Hall
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci with Stefania Sandrelli and Dominique
Sanda Fascinating character study of a follower of Mussolini
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0065571
A Short Film will Precede and Introduce each Feature Film
4. Truman AAUP Web Discussion/Administrative Waiver of Graduation
Requirements. There was discussion of a posting to the Truman
AAUP Web Discussion Forum by Professor Ken Fountain on an administrative
waiver of a graduation requirement for a chemistry student; as
discussion forum moderator, Keith Doubt had removed the posting,
erring on the side of
caution, pending chapter discussion of potential problems regarding
student anonymity. The discussion involved two issues.
a. Given Truman’s emphasis on degrees with integrity, there is
a continuing concern that administrators too frequently and without
sufficient reason waive requirements, even against the recommendations
of faculty in the program.
b. After discussion of chapter policy for postings, Professor
Fountain was invited to re-post his message. Discussion stressed
that postings should stress policy implications rather than particular
cases, as much as possible; for example, care should be taken
not to identify a student
and his or her gender or the particular course.
5. There was a brief discussion of possible improprieties in
the hiring process for an administrative position, so that a job
candidate was misinformed about his or her prospects for being
selected for a position.
6. The meeting closed by thanking Dr. Marc Becker, Assistant
Professor of History, for the courage he demonstrated in undertaking
the faculty attrition study and the wisdom he showed in complying
the report. All faculty at Truman State University, not just AAUP
members, will hopefully benefit from this work.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30.
Next Meeting: Friday, February 4, 2000.
Respectfully submitted by Dr. David Gruber