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"To investigate truth; critically verify fact; to reach conclusions by means of the best methods at command, untrammeled by external fear or favor, to communicate this truth to the student: this is precisely the aim and object of the university. To aim a blow at any one of these operations is to deal a vital wound to the university itself" John Dewey, Co-founder AAUP UA in the Chronicle of Higher Education, March 18, 2008 "A Department Chair Loses His Post Following a Dispute Over Hours Spent on the Campus" by Robin Wilson writing for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Excerpt:
"The chairman of the
philosophy department at the University of Akron was
removed from his position earlier this month after he
balked when a dean told him that department chairmen had
to be present on the campus from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
each weekday unless they had received written permission
from the dean.
Howard M. Ducharme Jr. was the chairman of the philosophy department at Akron for the last 11 years. He said he had never heard of an attendance policy for department chairmen until Ronald F. Levant, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the university, called him at home one day last month at 4:30 p.m. and asked him why he wasn't at his desk. Mr. Ducharme, who said that particular day began with a 6:30 a.m. breakfast meeting, told the dean he was working from home. He met with the dean a day later and was told, he said, that "being on leave is a military concept, and when one is away from their duty station without permission, they are AWOL." (emphasis added) The entire article is available to subscribers on the Chronicle's website here. The Chronicle has kindly provided a link for free access to the entire article which you can access here. This link does not constitute an endorsement of Akron-AAUP by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
From the April 2008 Newsletter: Faculty will recall that two years ago, the Higher Learning Commission (also known as NCA), which is the accrediting body for the University of Akron, granted partial accreditation to UA, citing some concerns on the developing relationship between the university and the brand new faculty union. At the center of the Commission's concerns were issues of governance. Part of the purpose of the focus visit is to gauge impressions of how governance is working from the points of view of the various constituents in the academic community. Read more here. 2008 Chapter Elections: Treasurer and Secretary Ballots for the election of Executive Committee positions of Treasurer and Secretary have been mailed, Tuesday, April 1 (no fooling.) Candidate statements are available here. You must be a dues-paying member of Akron-AAUP to vote in this election. Completed ballots may be returned in the self-addressed, stamped envelope which is included for your convenience. Ballots may also be hand-delivered to room 178B, Bierce Library. Ballots are due Friday April 18th. Merit Guidelines Grievance Resolution The University of Akron and Akron-AAUP are pleased to announce that they have reached a settlement agreement on the timeliness of contractual salary increases. For a copy of the Joint Statement click here. For the text of the Merit Guidelines Grievance Settlement Agreement and a copy of the application for the Faculty Grants Program click here. Commentary on UA In the Press and on the Web... Akron Beacon Journal: "Professor Says He Lost Chair Job for Lacking Chair Time" by Carol Biliczky NEW Akron Beacon Journal: "UA 'Slacker' Should Get Some Slack" by Bob Dyer Chronicle of Higher Education: "A Department Chair Loses His Post Following a Dispute Over Hours Spent on the Campus" by Robin Wilson UPDATED "Need Employee Productivity? Chain 'em to the Desk!" by Bill Sledzik on the Tough Sledding blog here. NEW The Buchtelite: "Popular Prof Penalized" by Johanna Harihan NEW "Public Relations and Management" on the PR on the Run Blog NEW "Putting in the Hours" The Association of University Staff of New Zealand. Click Here. NEW "Department Heads Face Criticism" The Daily Texan, from the University of Texas at Austin. Click Here. Congratulations to Ohio's North Central State College After two days of balloting our faculty colleagues at North Central State College have won the right to collective bargaining representation. Congratulations on your achievement and this step towards Real Shared Governance. Read more in the March 2008 issue of Akron-AAUP's newsletter here. While you're at it, why not read about their success on the National AAUP's web site? You can do so by clicking here. Visit the North Central State Faculty Association AAUP chapter website here. In the spirit of helping our colleagues celebrate we present for your consideration this quote from AAUP's original 1915 Declaration of Principles: "It is, then, a prerequisite to a realization of the proper measure of academic freedom in American institutions of learning, that all boards of trustees should understand--as many already do--the full implications of the distinction between private proprietorship and a public trust." Last year the chapter funded three chapter members to Reno, Nevada for three days of intensive training and focused workshops. We'd like to do so again this summer. For any chapter member interested in moving into leadership roles in the local chapter, this is an excellent opportunity to appreciate all that AAUP does for you and the profession. This year the Summer Institute is scheduled for July 24-27 at the University of Rhode Island. From the 2007 Institute: Academic Freedom Last year's Institute opened with a session on "Academic Freedom and the First Amendment" presented by Rachel Levinson, Senior Counsel for the National AAUP. With Rachel's kind permission we post for your perusal a copy of the notes distributed to all who attended. You can get a copy here. It's worth a look. Those of us who attended the Summer Institute found it to be instructive, and inspirational; it was there that we discovered that the entire academic community of the U.S. was following events here at UA. It was worth every minute invested and we recommend the experience to all. "Professors with tenure or who are on a tenure track are now a distinct minority on the country’s campuses, as the ranks of part-time instructors and professors hired on a contract have swelled, according to federal figures analyzed by the American Association of University Professors." This is from an article, dated November 20, 2007, by Alan Finder writing for the NY Times. Here's a link to the entire article. From the October 2007 Newsletter on Revisions to RTP Guidelines: "This is a matter for your undivided attention... "...there have been concerns raised from faculty across the campus that the administration at different levels has been mandating substantive changes in departmental RTP guidelines as a condition of post-contract approval. If so, it is the position of Akron-AAUP that faculty should resist this and contact the Akron-AAUP Executive Committee to share the particulars... ...While the administration may make suggestions to faculty about what it believes would be improvements in the guidelines, faculty are under no obligation to accept those suggestions..." Read More Here And, From the October 2006 newsletter: "Akron-AAUP is prepared to file as many grievances as necessary to ensure that the contract is followed fairly. " RTP GuidelinesDepartmental RTP revisions Each department must review its current RTP guidelines to make sure they are consistent with contract Article 13. In the examples we have seen so far, current guidelines consist largely of the same University Rules on which Article 13 was based, plus information specific to each department such as criteria for RTP and instructions to external reviewers. You need only change details that are different from what Article 13 specifies. This does not require a change in RTP criteria. To revise your RTP guidelines, you may find it easiest to merely cut and paste, so that details specific to your departmental guidelines are inserted into the actual contract article language, either in the relevant section or as an appendix. Or you may just refer to the article by section instead of including all the text (e.g., “for Timelines see Section 7”). For the Word version of Article 13 click here. A bargaining unit faculty subcommittee (or a committee of the whole) should do this revision. It must then be voted upon and approved by 2/3 of all the bargaining unit faculty, then approved by the Chair, Dean, and Provost. A note on deadlines: Faculty should attempt to get these revisions done as soon as practically possible given the impending deadlines and end of the semester. However, do not sacrifice quality for speed. You are revising guidelines that will be binding for the future, so this is a serious task. The contract does not specify any deadlines for completion of these tasks, and the Administration cannot impose their own guidelines upon you if you fail to meet their deadlines. Both sides must negotiate until this is done, and if you reach an impasse with your Chair/Dean/Provost and believe their demands are unreasonable, you should contact our Grievance Officer Linda Barrett. If you are threatened in any way throughout this process, contact us immediately — we have been pursuing grievances and are already seeing results. Here is a copy of one department's RTP guidelines showing deletions, insertions, revisions--submitted; not yet approved. From the October 2007 Newsletter: "While the administration may make suggestions to faculty about what it believes would be improvements in the guidelines, faculty are under no obligation to accept those suggestions..." The Market Salary Adjustment Process A number of departments are making market based salary adjustments as called for in the collective bargaining agreement. Here are links to three PDF documents which faculty in those departments may find useful. 1) An Overview of The 2006-07 Market Salary Adjustment Process 2) Instructions for Market Compression Adjustments Effective 2006 3) Contract Article 16, Section 9 "Market Adjustment" Administrators with questions should contact Chand Midha at cmidha@uakron.edu. Bargaining unit faculty with questions should contact Mike Cheung at cheung@uakron.edu.
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Akron-AAUP Liaison Council 2007-08 On This Page: Current Issues Affecting UA Faculty:Commentary on UA Policies in the Press Story on UA Chair in The Chronicle of Higher Education A New Collective Bargaining Unit Chapter in Ohio Market Salary Adjustment Procedures An Important Note about RTP Guidelines Revisions Membership and Dues Payment Election Form
Items of Interest:Do You Need Representation Now? Academic Freedom and The First Amendment Read Endorsements of Our Contract From Colleagues Around the State AAUP's 1915 "Declaration of Principles" AAUP's 1940 "Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure" with 1970 Interpretive Comments
"I think you have negotiated what will turn out to be one of the best economic packages in the state over the next 4 years...You have helped to preserve faculty governance and have fought off virtually all of the proposals that would have eroded the faculty role at Akron." --Rudy Fichtenbaum, Chief Negotiator, Wright State AAUP
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