Volume 7 Number 2 Spring 1996

PRESIDENT MUSE TO SPEAK AT SPRING AAUP MEETING!! May 21, 1996 4 PM 112 Rouse Life Sciences Building

PRESIDENT'S NOTES By Curt Peterson

Scholarship, teaching, and service represent the three traditional criteria for tenure in higher education. However, in many universities, including Auburn, a fourth criterion related to collegiality is frequently included in tenure considerations. In the AU Faculty Handbook, Section 9 of Chapter 3 is titled COLLEGIALITY. AU uses the term "professional collegiality." Other institutions may state as a criterion for tenure that a candidate must have developed collegiality, implying the capacity or ability of an individual to relate well and constructively to the tenured faculty within the institution. The first part of the collegiality section in the AU Faculty Handbook fits a general statement of collegiality. However, the statements that follow in that section appear to set professional standards or criteria for advancement that may not be related to or due to collegiality.

Unfortunately, evidence of collegiality is not subject to precise measurement because like personality it is intangible and can only be measured indirectly in the form of behavior (Zirkel, 1985). The framers of the section on collegiality in the revised AU Faculty Handbook attempted to distinguish collegiality from sociability or likability by stating that collegiality is a professional, not personal, criterion relating to the performance of a faculty member's duties within a department. By using this approach, they deliberately stated that demonstrating professional collegiality does not carry with it the expectation of conformity to views of the tenured faculty within a unit or for that matter the university at large.

However, because collegiality is not subject to measurement, evidence for this criterion is often covert versus the more overt evidence that can be assembled or considered for criteria related to teaching, research and extension, or service. Moreover, there is also the danger that interpretations about a candidates collegiality may intrude upon the academic freedom of the individual, particularly if a voting faculty or an administration confuses the rights of a faculty member to speak out about issues within or outside the university with that person's ability to perform or complete professional responsibilities. Dissent should not be confused with disobedience or intellectual disagreement with noncooperation, for to deny either is to deny academic freedom.

Several cases at colleges or universities that relate directly or indirectly to the concept of collegiality have been considered by national AAUP investigating committees since the late sixties. Although collegiality was not cited as a reason for a faculty dismissal or denial of tenure at some of the institutions that were investigated, personality characteristics such as abrasiveness, refusal to conform to patterns or molds of behavior, and political views and activities of an individual were used.

The use of personality as a criterion for tenure also has surfaced in faculty employment cases that have ended up in the courts. The Fourth Circuit of Appeals stated: "universities must serve as great bazaars of ideas where the heavy hand of regulation has little place. Like other bazaars, they may seem rude, cacophonous, even distasteful at times; but they are necessary predicates to the more orderly market of ideas in our public life." (Zirkel, 1985). Zirkel also states, "Where an institution adopts a separate collegiality/personality criterion, it should be defined clearly and interpreted narrowly so as not to impede the robust exchange of ideas."

The principal concern of AAUP is that the use of personality or collegiality as an overt or even covert criterion for faculty tenure decisions potentially threatens the free exchange of ideas at public institutions of higher education. Academic freedom becomes illusory under these conditions, with the result that the censoring of the free exchange of ideas occurs from within not outside the institution.

Source: Zirkel, P. A. 1984-85. "Personality as a criterion for faculty tenure: The enemy it is us." Cleveland State Law Review 33: 223-244.

As I turn over the presidency of the local chapter to Cyrus (Sonny) Dawsey, I cannot help but reflect on some of the developments of 1995-1996. Our chapter remains one of the most active in the state, and its leadership continues to be out in front on issues concerning academic freedom and university governance. We believe we have a good working relationship with the AU central administration, and that together we can carry that relationship through the end of the decade--with AU, its students, and its faculty as the ultimate beneficiaries.

But I'm worried about some of the trends I've seen developing over the past year and which I've tried to articulate in my Notes. There is a disturbing atmosphere hostile to the continuation of tenure as one of the academy's core institutions and there seems to be a prevailing notion that the university is nothing more than business to be "managed" just like any other enterprise. Jim Perley, President of the AAUP, addressed some of these concerns in his address on April 11. I'm encouraged that our faculty generally seem to have awakened to the realization that these are potential problems that we will all have to deal with. But I'm discouraged that more of them have not joined the AAUP. Now is the time to do something about it. I urge all of you to join the National AAUP. It may seem like a lot of money, but it's not much when you spread it out over a year or join our payroll deduction plan. And it's certainly not much compared to other professional organizations to which you might belong. AAUP is an organization that works for you and that can bring immediate benefits to you during what promises to be difficult times ahead.

A reminder--please note that our spring meeting will feature a presentation by President William V. Muse. We have asked Dr. Muse to talk about his recent proposal for a "Peaks of Excellence" program at Auburn University. Plan to attend.

Note, too, that there will be a brief business meeting before Dr. Muse's talk--at 3:30 P.M. in Life Sciences 112. The chapter will vote on the new slate of officers and have the final vote on the proposed changes to the chapter constitution.

After Dr. Muse's speech there will be a reception in Life Sciences 103.

1996 STATE CONFERENCE MEETS AT UAB By Larry Gerber

Four members of the AU chapter--Larry Gerber, Glenn Howze, Curt Peterson, and Bill Trimble-- attended the State Conference AAUP meeting at UAB in Birmingham on Saturday, April 27. The featured speaker at the meeting was John Hopper, chair of the Assembly of State Conferences of the AAUP. John expressed concerns that AAUP membership was aging and that it was getting difficult to ensure that the number of new members each year exceeded the number who dropped out. The two curves, in his opinion, were getting uncomfortably close to crossing one another. He said that many AAUP members let their membership lapse within five years of first joining the organization. After five years, they tended to stay in the AAUP for 15 years or more. He was worried, too, that the membership was graying, and that to many young faculty, the AAUP was apparently not relevant.

John went on to emphasize that ultimately membership was a chapter and conference responsibility and stressed various membership development techniques. Of utmost importance in his mind was a newsletter, but there were other things chapters and conferences could do, as well. Among them were the establishment of local and state Committee As to deal with academic freedom and tenure issues, an active role in governance questions, and lobbying in the state legislature.

The meeting included a roundtable discussion of problems and issues at some of the other campuses around the state. Larry Gerber talked about the Cynthia Rush case at Troy State, which came about when a student-athlete's failing grade was changed to a passing mark without Professor Rush's knowledge. The UAB delegation pointed out that they had met with the president and provost of the university to discuss Revenue-Centered Management and the future of the university, salary discrepancies, and threats to tenure emanating from the administration. The UAB chapter has the largest AAUP membership in the state.

Ed Terry, the outgoing president of the state conference and representative from the University of Alabama, reported on continuing problems in Tuscaloosa resulting from the elimination of the Department of Sociology and reassignment of its faculty members. Representatives from the University of North Alabama reported no major crises and indicated that their chapter seemed to be on a firm footing and growing. No one from Samford University attended the meeting, but the UAB people reported on some of the possible infringements on academic freedom at that campus, due largely to administration monitoring of Internet usage. An AAUP member from Troy State- Montgomery reported that he had received a letter from his administration indicating that he would not be reappointed to his position next year. He pointed out that there were numerous irregularities in the way the university was handling the situation and that he would keep the conference apprised.

Two troubled universities--Alabama State and Talladega College--did not send people to the meeting. One active AAUP member from Talladega College was dismissed from her job in the last year, in part it seems, as a result of her interest in and work for the AAUP. Many campuses were undergoing "downsizing" and the faculty were understandably dismayed by some of the implications for due process and academic freedom.

Several resolutions were passed at the meeting. One called upon the state conference to draft a letter to the Troy State administration expressing the AAUP's concerns about the Cynthia Rush case. A similar letter is to go to the local news media, as well. Another resolution called for the creation of a state Committee T to promote AAUP guidelines as universities and colleges eliminate programs and departments in the "downsizing" process. The meeting ended with AU chapter member Glenn Howze taking over as the new State Conference president.

NEW OFFICERS AND CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES:

A slate of new chapter officers will be presented at the May 21 meeting:

In addition, chapter members will vote for the final time on proposed changes to the constitution. Article V, Section 3 will be changed to delete the Secretary-Treasurer's responsibilities as news editor and add the following duty to the Executive Committee: "(g) appoint a chapter newsletter editor." Article V, Section 5 will be a new section with the wording: "The editor of the chapter newsletter will serve as an ex officio member of the Executive Committee."

All National members and chapter affiliates are eligible to vote. The election will be held at the business meeting at 3:30 P.M. before President Muse's speech.

NEWSLETTER NAME:

We want your ideas for a newsletter name. Some of the suggestions so far include:

Although we're not trying to influence you, there is some sentiment for Auburn Academe, which is a title consistent with the National magazine and the State Conference newsletter. Write or call Bill Trimble and let him know which name you prefer. The editor prefers Plains Speaking, but that might be too cute for everyone's taste.JOIN US The Auburn Chapter of the AAUP encourages faculty members to affiliate with the Chapter for a modest fee. We also encourage membership in the National Association. Please use the form below.