Minutes, Truman Chapter of AAUP
February 3, 2006, 4:30 pm
University Club
Meetings are open to all university faculty members.
Faculty present: Judi Misale (presiding), Martha Bartter, Marc Becker, Roger Festa, James Harmon, Wolfgang Hoeschele, Diane Johnson, Sylvia Macauley, Mark Nordstrom, Lynn Rose
1. Minutes of the December 2, 2005, meeting were approved.
2. Faculty Club restructuring. Lynn Rose reported that the committee is recommending that we keep the Club as it is currently administered.
3. Discussion of President Dixon’s plans for administrative and curricular restructuring. There are questions whether Dixon’s restructuring plan will save any money, and how it may create divisions between faculty. There are three main issues here: administrative restructuring, internal financial re-allotments, and curricular changes. We need to disentangle these issues. Which ones should and can we address? Do we need a town hall meeting or should we ask for a private AAUP meeting with the president? The president’s proposals seem to be vague. Where are the contacts with committees, such as the budget committee? How does each of the three proposals meet University goals, and how effective will they be in healing the problems we face? What alternatives can we consider? We decided to ask David as president to request a private group meeting with the president and to act as our spokesperson at the meeting. Our goal will be to elicit more concrete and specific information about the proposed changes. Mark Nordstrom recommended assembling potential questions in advance for the meeting; any suggestions should be sent to David.
4. Mo-Conference delegate election. We unanimously elected David Robinson by secret ballot to be our delegate to the annual Mo-Conference AAUP meeting in Columbia on February 4.
5. State of University survey. We have some discretion to add new items to the survey and still retain the longitudinal nature of the instrument. In the past these slots have been allotted to salient issues prevailing at the time. What kind of issues do we want to include on survey this year? We should start thinking about topics to address and bring our ideas to the March meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Marc Becker, Secretary