Summary of AAUP Executive Committee meeting, June 6, 2003

The AAUP Executive Committee met on June 6, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. in HC 3183.

The following members were present: Wayne Brewer, Larry Gerber, Glenn Howze, Robin Jaffe, Gary Mullen, Virginia O'Leary, Christa Slaton, Isabelle Thompson, and Bill Trimble. Absent were Jim Bradley, Jeff Jakeman, Renee Middleton, and Judy Sheppard.

Announcement

The National AUUP meeting was held in Washington, DC on June 11-15. Five of our local members attended: President Mullen, President-Elect Christa Slaton, Larry Gerber (First Vice President of the National AAUP), Glenn Howze ((Secretary of Association of State Conferences of AAUP), and Bill Trimble (President of Alabama State Conference).

Discussion

Five items were discussed at the meeting.

Provost Search

The Executive Committee sent a letter requesting an extension of the Provost search to the Search Committee co-chairs, Michael Moriarty and Chris Rodger. The letter pointed out our concern that the hiring process had not involved the campus AA/EEOC officer—a situation that would not be allowed in the hiring of faculty and staff. We are concerned that the University operates on different standards for hiring faculty and staff than for hiring administrators. We are also concerned with the lack of communication between the Senate leadership and the faculty regarding the progress made in the search. In a publicly released statement from the co-chairs of the Search Committee, the major issue of failing to follow University policy prior to development of the job description and advertisement of the position was completely ignored.

The Executive Committee decided to ask why the search has not been stopped for AA/EEOC review at the next Senate meeting.

Senate Steering Committee Appointments

The Executive Committee is concerned about individuals who have not served as Senators and who lack important knowledge and experience being appointed to serve on the Senate Steering Committee.

Board of Trustees meeting, June 2

Concern was expressed over the remarks made by the faculty representative to the Board of Trustees about the 16% tuition increase. Although we agreed with the need for an increase, the Executive Committee objected to the callousness of the faculty representative's comments generalizing that our students all own cell phones and drive fancy cars and, therefore, can easily afford such a large increase.

In addition, Bobby Lowder's suggestion that all University publications be merged into a single publication—to be cleared through the President's Office—was discussed. The implication is that Bobby Lowder has targeted the Alumni Association's flagship publication, Auburn Magazine. Bobby Lowder linked his support for the 16% tuition increase to a commitment from the administration to reduce the present 25-plus publications to just "one."

Bor Jang Case

We discussed conducting an AAUP investigation of the Bor Jang case to determine if the University violated any SACS criteria, especially those concerning academic freedom. An ad hoc committee was appointed to investigate and report its findings to the Executive Committee.

Responses to the Bradley report and to the Self Study Report for Reaffirmation of Accreditation

The Executive Committee reconfirmed our intention to write responses to both the Bradley report and the SACS Self Study. Committees have already been established to begin drafting.