Minutes: Sept. 7, 2017

AAUP TTU MINUTES

Sept. 7, 2017

In attendance:  Troy Smith; Kim Godwin; Dan Allcott; Megan Atkinson; Allen Driggers, Julia Gruber, Josie McQuail,

I Dr. Gruber asked for approval of agenda; it was moved, seconded, and unanimously agreed to. 

II Dr. McQuail did not have the last minutes ready so approval of minutes was tabled.

III Committee Reports: Treasurer Report Allen Driggers agreed to be Treasurer following Wali Kharif’s retirement.  All agreed that Dr. Kharif did an excellent job.  33 members now who are dues paying; with new and returning members Dr. Driggers hopes for a membership increase.  He spoke to people who HAD been members and several said they would rejoin. A new AAUP account had to be opened; it started with a balance of $6,462.73; 3rd quarter dues will be $1,110.25; Balance will be $5,235.48.  There were some feeds, like $50 for new checks.  There was a snafu about federal ID #s which are not allowed to be ON a check.  A check had to be withdrawn from the national AAUP for this reason.  Another outstanding expense is the t-shirt order needs to be paid. 

The 15th of Sept. in the absolute deadline for Payroll Deduction. Dan Allcott proposed waiving the $10 local fee for band 1 of membership salaries/rates;.Troy Smith seconded; it was unanimously approved. This was a gesture toward adjunct, part time, and grad students, as well as, possibly, for Lecturers.  We advertised this and the membership deadline in Tech Times.

Secretary McQuail brought up the fact that in sending the e-mail regarding the Sept. meeting she got a message saying it had been sent to 100 people.  Kim Godwin offered to check on this; Allen Driggers also offered to get a member list from HR.  We estimated that there are far more faculty than 100!

Our Bylaws state that besides the Membership Committee which is a standing committee we need to create committees every year;

Committee A, Colleen Hays and Josie McQuail volunteered

Committee W Ada Haynes, Julia Gruber and Josie McQuail volunteered. 

Committee X Troy is maintaining the website.

V New Business Next item that came up was the new Board Structure and dissolution of the Board of Regents, and the issue of policy/procedures, aka Faculty Handbook.  A workshop for untenured faculty had been discussed, but there was doubt about what the new policies were. Sharon Holderman volunteered to do find and collect updated tenure and promotion policies a couple of years ago, or last year.  Kim Godwin is going to follow up. Ada Haynes remarked that one thing that changed was financial exigency procedures.  With the new restructuring of the administration the President of the University has the power solely to eliminate departments.

Colleen Hays looked up the materials for the Board of Directors meeting last spring and saw tenure and promotion policies and an academic freedom policy. The document was more than 500 pages so there was a limit for how much she could read, but she wondered if those policies or guidelines are going into the Faculty Handbook.  Dan Alcott said that the Board cannot take away Academic Freedom because of our accrediting agencies.  Several people remembered that Kae Carpenter was supposed to be in charge of revisions; Kim Godwin said she reviewed some things that pertained to her.  Some changes just took out the language that cited “TBR” policy.  Colleen Hays said anyone asked to edit former TBR policy could only talk about their own areas of expertise.

Next the idea of AAUP socials and establishing a “Fun committee” for AAUP.  Julia suggested member profiles of AAUP members for the website.  Megan Atkinson and Kim Godwin volunteered for the “Fun committee.” Some kind of “mixer” for faculty was discussed.  Ideas were bantered around:  a nerf war; at the summer symphony there are popup tents and AAUP could have one.  Having lunch with individuals was brought up.  Dan Alcott said that he and Julia have been doing this; Kim Godwin credited Allen Driggers who also had been doing stuff to recruit.

V What issues should we focus on.  Troy Smith said there’s no limit to what we COULD be concerned about – could come up with a list of things that are disturbing.   Dan Alcott focused on the lack of shared information.  Shared governance was also cited as very important.

Allen had the idea of framing the discussion as “What three wishes would you ask for from President Oldham”? Allen Driggers proposed the idea of   asking the entire campus.  Julia Gruber said she wanted the Board to meet with faculty; Ada Haynes that Board meetings not be on times that faculty are off campus.  Julia Gruber suggested that the board should meet in the kind of buildings that most of us occupy on campus, not the brand new nursing building.  Colleen Hays noted that the Board meeting caused people to ask her to move during finals (she teaches in the Nursing building)!  Colleen said that we are all wondering what the Board is doing – which comes back to the lack of shared info.  Dan asked why should newcomers join AAUP? What he didn’t know as a young faculty was how faculty raises work.

Dan noted the perception that President Oldham thinks meeting with the faculty is a hindrance.  He is on record as having said that.  He needs people to cooperate.  Referring the Board meeting where one member declared that faculty don’t deserve any raise unless they are following the Board’s mandate, Dan asked which people do not deserve the 1% raise?  Why didn’t the president speak up on behalf of faculty? Ada Haynes noted that Pres. Oldham was the only university president who lobbied the governor not to give 3% or 1% raises.  McQuail speculated that that was because TTU was the only university seriously in the red.  Troy Smith noticed that Pres. Oldham gave an article around to the Faculty Senate and Board on Shared Governance. Pres. Oldham wants to be “procedural.”

IV Troy Smith remarked that that feeds into agenda item 4 – old business – that AAUP at TTU has been conducting business via e-mail.  We need to examine the Bylaws.  Colleen Hays and the Ex-Com will review the Bylaws by the end of the semester. 

Next meeting Ada Haynes and Troy Smith will present salary data on mean and women’s pay at TTU.

Other old business is to revisit the Wali Kharif Service Award committee. 

People agreed to work on the Social.  It’s planned for the end of September.

Colleen Hays moved to adjourn, Dan Alcott seconded

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