Volume 2 Number 1 Winter 1991

PRESIDENT'S NOTES: By Tal Henson

Our local AAUP chapter has been heavily involved in campus events over the past several months. The issues that arose in connection with the hiring of professor Charles Curran were responsible for most of this activity. Now that the University Senate has voted censure of President Martin, the AAUP's primary concerns are focused on the questions that this episode has raised regarding university governance and academic freedom. An AAUP- sponsored resolution, unanimously passed by the senate at its last meeting, calls on the senate to "pursue efforts to restore the governing process of Auburn University to that balance of jurisdictional relations between the Faculty, the Administration, and the Board of Trustees that will more clearly define and publicize the role of each, promote mutual confidence and enhance the academic integrity of the University." The initiative in carrying out this resolution lies with the senate leadership, but I have assured the senate chair that our chapter will cooperate in any way. Aside from the senate's endeavors, our chapter's executive committee feels that the winter quarter meeting should also address these issues. If the university is to avoid internal conflict in the future, then its principal components must arrive at an understanding of their respective functions and their relations to each other. I urge all members to acquaint themselves with the AAUP documents relating to governance and academic freedom and to take the time to discuss them with their colleagues.

As most of you know, Charles Curran was the speaker at our chap ter's fall meeting. A standing-room-only crowd heard him discuss his experiences with academic freedom issues at Catholic Uni versity. The number of people who attended and the questions they asked convinces me that many of our faculty are concerned about the academic freedom and tenure questions raised by the Curran case. I am sure that those present now have a clearer perception of how the AAUP can work on their behalf.

Recent events will probably make it more difficult to have Auburn removed from the national AAUP censure list. Jordan E. Kurland, Associate General Secretary of AAUP, has been monitoring the Curran matter and is preparing a report for publication in Academe stating AAUP's overall position on the case. Auburn will not be censured again, but this supplementary report will probably broaden the base of the existing censure. AAUP does not accept the interpretation that a prospective faculty mem-ber's academic free dom cannot be violated and that he or she acquires it only after being hired. We hope the university administration will act posi tively to get Auburn off censure, and AAUP will cooperate in the process.

WINTER MEETING:

The AU faculty is cordially invited to attend the Winter quarter meeting of the Auburn chapter of the AAUP. It will be held on Thursday, March 7, 1991, at 4:00 P.M. in Haley 2116. We anticipate having a representative of the national here to discuss issues raised by the AAUP-sponsored resolution on university governance passed by the University Senate on January 15.

UNIVERSITY GOVERNANCE AND: By Larry Gerber

As Tal Henson pointed out in his column, the University Senate at its specially called meeting on January 15, 1991, adopted without any vocal dissent an AAUP-sponsored resolution calling upon the senate to "pursue efforts to restore the governing process of Auburn University" and to "urge the administration to make every effort to remove Auburn University from the AAUP list of censured institutions."

No one who has followed the events of the last several months, indeed, of the last several years, can deny that there is a serious problem of governance at Auburn University. Individuals may differ as to exactly what the sources of the problem are, but it is clear that we have little consensus among faculty members, central admin istration, and the Board of Trustees regarding either the priori ties that ought to guide Auburn University or the mechanisms of governance that are best suited to achieving the purposes of the university.

The AAUP-sponsored resolution recognizes the important role of the central administration and Board of Trustees in the governance of the institution. We do not seek a university in which the faculty has absolute and total control over all aspects of the university's functions. But we do strongly assert that appropriate faculty involvement in the governance of the university is essential to maintaining the academic freedom and integrity that are necessary for a university to fulfill its mission as a place of learning and research. Certainly tenure is an area in which the judgment of peers, namely our fellow faculty members, ought to be the determining factor, even if the ultimate legal authority for the vesting of tenure resides in the president of the university. Academic standards and curriculum matters also clearly fall under the category of issues in which the faculty ought to exercise predominant influence.

Even some members of the Board of Trustees have stated publicly that the Board has in recent years overstepped the boundaries of its proper role by becoming too deeply involved in matters that ought properly be left to the faculty and administration. What makes this situation especially troubling is that Board members assume their positions of responsibility with virtually no preparation or training for their roles as trustees, and with little or no understanding of how governing boards at other institutions of higher learning function. It is both astonishing and alarming that we can have a Board member declare to the press:

Academic freedom doesn't mean much to me. I'm not that concerned and the average person in Alabama is not that concerned. Frankly, I don't know what academic freedom is. (Montgomery Advertiser, Dec. 14, 1990)

Many Board members obviously do not understand the faculty's perspective on certain issues that are central to the mission of a university. Unfortunately, the faculty has virtually no means for engaging in any direct dialogue with trustees about issues of mutual concern. While the president theoretically serves as a link between the faculty and Board, it is quite clear that, for a variety of reasons, relying solely on this means of communication has proven to be less than satisfactory. We need to open new avenues of communication between the faculty and the Board, and to strengthen the institutions of university governance that allow faculty, administration, and Board to play their proper roles. This may well mean seeking changes in the University Senate Constitution and faculty handbook, and in the way individuals are appointed to the Board or prepared for assuming their responsibili ties on the Board after appointment.

While the task ahead is a daunting one and may take years of effort with little immediate reward, we must start somewhere. Our chapter's Winter quarter meeting will focus on this issue, and the University Senate leadership has taken steps to address this problem. They are only modest initial steps, but they do represent what I hope will be a long-term commitment to establish a system of governance that will make Auburn a much better institution.

WE WANT TO TALK TO YOU: By Conrad Ross

Part of my duty as president-elect this year is to encourage membership in the AAUP. To that end I want to meet with academic groups on campus. These can be either small groups of one or two people over coffee, or they can be larger ones, such as departmen tal meetings. It should not take me longer than about ten minutes to tell these groups about the advantages of AAUP membership and to explain to them the active entrant membership plan offered to nontenured faculty new to the AAUP.

I welcome the chance to talk to you about the AAUP and to explain the importance of the principles that the AAUP upholds. As a young professor, I successfully challenged a denial for tenure with the help of the AAUP. In more recent years I have served on the AU Promotion and Tenure Committee--and with that committee grappled with the Charles Curran affair. I've got some stories to tell, too. These experiences have given me a good picture of how the academic and collegial system works and how important the issue of academic freedom is.

Fortunately, our local chapter is undergoing a surge in new memberships. We should take heart in the growing awareness of what AAUP membership means for academic freedom and due process on this campus. Chapter dues are only $5.00.

So, make the philosopher and educator John Dewey be proud of you--he was the first president of the AAUP--and give me a call if you want to arrange a meeting. The AU Chapter can use your support and the support of your friends and colleagues. Call me at 844- 3393. STATE CONFERENCE AT AUBURN:

The state AAUP conference will be held at the AU Conference Center on April 13 from 9:30 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Jordan Kurland, who as AAUP Associate General Secretary handled the Curran case, will be the luncheon speaker.

SEARCH PROCESS UPDAGE:By Don Olliff

Details coming out of the University Senate's inquiry into the Curran case underscore the need for clearly stated policies and procedures to govern the search, selection, and appointment of new faculty members and administrators. The case also brings into focus a number of complex legal questions that need to be addressed in the process of arriving at such policies and procedures.

One set of questions grows out of the process of establishing the qualifications required for the position and identifying persons meeting those qualifications. Currently much of this work is performed by search committees that operate ad hoc without benefit of university-wide rules concerning their appointment, composition, powers, and legal obligations. The lack of any rules in this area makes it difficult to determine the legal and/or moral obligations to which such committees may obligate themselves and the university by their actions. Do they create any implied contract on the part of the university to respect the legal and academic rights of any qualified applicants who may apply for the position? If not, at what point in the process of receiving and screening applications and interviewing the most promising applicants does the committee as individual members or as repre- sentatives of the university begin to create such obligations?

The ramifications of the Curran case for the search, selection, and appointment process are too many and too complex to be explored here. What is needed and what our local chapter should promote is for the University Senate to take up these questions and explore them through a special committee with a view to formulating coherent policies and clearly defined procedures to be applied in matters that will protect the legal position of the university, insure fair and unbiased selection of the most qualified candi dates, protect the legal and academic rights, including academic freedom, of all participants at all stages, and enhance faculty participation in university governance.

We have been pleased and maybe even a little surprised at the tremendous growth of the local AU chapter in the last year. From forty-five members in the spring of 1990, the local has almost doubled to more than eighty members. We like to think that a more active chapter and the regular publication of this newsletter have been reasons for the membership climb, but we suspect that the issues surrounding the Curran affair and the obvious implications the case has for all members of the faculty have helped to boost membership. That's all right, but as we move beyond Professor Curran into some of the fundamental questions raised by his case, we hope all faculty will continue to support our local chapter and its efforts to work for them in the future. But we have to remind everyone, too, that membership in the local chapter is not member ship in the national. Sure, it's not cheap to belong to the national, but that organization also needs your support. Why not take the time before or after the Winter quarter meeting to talk with one of the local chapter officers about joining the national? It hurts a little to write the check, but with it comes some real benefits, and membership is tax-deductible within the limits set by the IRS.