Meeting called to order at 4PM.
1. Welcoming remarks by AAUP president
John McLucas. He noted that the Provost, to assist with “shared
governance,” has agreed to provide various support services such
as assisting with the administration of elections, online forms, an
all-faculty email list among other things. He also asked that dues be
sent to Jennifer Ballengee, Department of English (membership is due
at the beginning of the academic year and is good for the academic year.)
He urged those present to “become advocates for membership”
and aim to exceed last year’s record membership.
2. Election of AAUP Chapter Secretary.
Doug Ross, Department of Management, CBE, was elected by acclamation.
3. New faculty were introduced, and a
farewell was made to Jo-Ann Pilardi (Professor of Philosophy and Women’s
Studies ), who is retiring. It was noted that Towson has one of the
oldest Women’s Studies programs in the United States, and the
first one in the USM system.
4. Status of Women Faculty. “Committee
W” is being re-juvenated with Ayse Dayi and Leticia Romo as leaders.
Plans are to convene the committee and begin to study and develop positions
on various issues.
5. Junior Faculty Committee of the AAUP.
The AAUP represents all faculty and this committee exists to focus on
issues and opportunities of junior faculty. Isabel Castro-Vazquez was
introduced as the stand-in representative for that committee’s
chair, Matt Durington, who was unable to attend.
6. Membership. It was recommended that
initiatives be taken department by department to increase membership
in AAUP particularly at new faculty orientation and with a presence
in each college at the beginning of each semester. Especially low are
members from COE, CBE and CHP.
It was urged that members also join the national AAUP as that organization
acts as a national advocacy group for faculty, and provides specific
benefits such as the thoughtful journal Academe.
7. Election of Newsletter Editor. Kimberly
Katz, Department of History, CLA, was elected by acclamation. To contribute
articles, news items contact: kkatz@towson.edu It was suggested that
a column from the representatives to the USM council be included as
many of the university system issues are relevant to Towson.
8. Salary Issues. A committee on salary
issues was suggested but not acted upon. The “sense of the meeting”
however was the need to link administration expectations of faculty
with the overall workload for faculty (including teaching, advising,
scholarly productivity, service, pursuit of grants and contracts and
so on) particularly in light of projected enrollment growth. Several
points were raised:
(1) Facilitating versus policing functions
of administrators. It was felt that the proper administrative role
is to facilitate and support functions such as advising and grant
seeking.
(2) A broader question, with no clear
answer, was raised: What do we want to become as a university? At
this point we seem to be moving from comprehensive to metropolitan,
from Carnegie II to research extensive (as opposed to a “research
I” designation) and neither new category appears to be widely
used. The turmoil surrounding unclear goals seems to be leading to
various “disconnects” between what the president states
and what gets passed through the chairs to the faculty.
(3) Rapid expansion is leading to greater
rather than less reliance on contingent faculty with possible accreditation
consequences.
Further, it was suggested that with respect to salary a report be
developed on “progress toward President Caret’s goal of
salaries at 75% of peer institutions.”
Several points were raised and discussed:
(1) Pres. Caret’s stated goal
–salaries at 75% of peer institutions. Two points were made,
first, that peer institutions can vary; and second, that the administration-developed
comparisons consider as “peers” comprehensive universities
that are non-union (which, it was stated, translates into salaries
are 15% lower than at unionized comprehensive universities.) Thus
real disparities of estimates of progress can occur.
(2) Salary compression. It was noted
that salary compression had mostly affected senior faculty and a certain
cohort of junior faculty. Thus last year compression money was allocated
to those two groups. No word yet on actions for this year.
(3) Salary comparisons. It was suggested
that comparative study of salaries –faculty and administrative—be
undertaken.
(4) Stipends. The goal of increasing
stipends to 10% of salary per course for summer, study abroad, international
commitments need was discussed.
Adjourned at 5:10PM
