Category: eBulletins

TAUP welcomes President Jason Wingard

Temple has a new president, and we have the possibility of a fresh start.

Dr. Jason Wingard arrives at a crucial time for Temple University. Temple has endured an unprecedented combination of economic and public health crises. And yet – thanks in large part to the efforts of faculty, librarians, and academic professionals – Temple is on the cusp of emerging from the pandemic in sound financial shape, ready to reinvest in our students’ educational future.

But will Dr. Wingard make the right choices?

We know very little about our new President’s priorities. The Administration never publicly discussed who was being considered for the job. Nor were our faculty, librarians, or academic professionals given a chance to meet with the finalists – much less students, or representatives from the North Philadelphia community.

Once again, a public institution has made its decision behind closed doors.

When asked by a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Mitchell Morgan, chair of Temple’s board of trustees, refused to disclose Dr. Wingard’s salary.

This is not transparency.

Regardless, there is no doubt that Dr. Wingard is highly qualified for the position, and we look forward to working with him on the challenges Temple faces. We also recognize the historic nature of his appointment, as the first Black president in Temple’s more than 130-year history: a milestone that is long overdue.

Now that he has been appointed, Dr. Wingard faces some stark choices.

Will he double down on the tactics which brought him here, and keep the doors of decision making closed? Or will he invite in the faculty, librarians, and academic professionals – as well as students and community members who have a stake in how the University runs?

Will he continue to impose austerity budgets on Temple’s academic operations? Or will he reinvest this year’s return on our investment portfolio in instruction and research, to ensure we can fulfill Temple’s academic mission for years to come?

In his statement, Dr. Wingard mentioned that Temple boasts a “best-in-class network of faculty and academic resources.” He also stated that he believes Temple’s best days are still to come.

We couldn’t agree more – provided that President Wingard engages in dialogue with  our world-class faculty, librarians, and academic professionals and gives us the resources we need to best serve our students.

TAUP Celebrates Pride

We try to be inclusive, and sometimes it goes very wrong.

When the movie Brokeback Mountain came out in 2005, a very well-meaning colleague approached me about it.

“Hey, I saw your movie this weekend,” he said.

This person was trying to be friendly. Brokeback Mountain is not “my movie.”

Sixteen years later, we’ve made progress toward LGBTQ inclusivity in higher education.

More often, we come to campus with the desire for inclusivity and understanding. Sometimes, we get the wrong result.

Consider the use of pronouns – he, she, they.

Encourage the use of these pronouns. But make them optional.

Regardless of their gender, some students may not want to share their pronouns, and that’s OK.

We don’t want to force someone to out themselves in a classroom. The same goes for interpersonal conversations with students and colleagues.

If a student identifies as transgender in a one-on-one conversation, absolutely avoid calling them out in class as transgender.

“So now for the trans experience, Ed do you want to speak?”

Often, it’s the people we’re trying to help that can be made to feel uncomfortable.

Next, look at your course materials and your assignment sheet. Do the instructions say to “write an essay on his or her contributions to the field of science”?

Often, I steer away from pronouns because I can make a mistake.

If I make a mistake even once, I know I’m going to read about it on my student feedback forms. And, we’ve all seen this in the SFFs:

“Please comment on the instructor’s willingness to create an inclusive environment for all students in this course, with respect to disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, national origin, political viewpoint, race, religion, and sexual orientation.”

No one likes seeing a negative comment in this area of the SFFs. No one wants to hurt or make students uncomfortable. We also don’t want students to carry this hurt through the end of the semester, believing that they have no recourse but to say something on the SFFs. This might be avoided with a simple conversation.

Take a few minutes during your first class to talk about inclusivity. Tell your students: “If anything I ever say rubs you the wrong way, please communicate with me. I never want to make you feel uncomfortable. And if I ever do, please correct me, either in class or privately. I will thank you for pointing out my mistake.”

Your first class is a great place for that conversation.

Inclusivity is something we all need to work on every day of our lives.

-Brad Windhauser, College of Liberal Arts
www.bradwindhauser.com

TAUP’s Formal Statement on Vaccinations

As a union, we believe that Temple University has an obligation to protect the health and well-being of its faculty, staff, and surrounding communities. While case counts of COVID-19 are decreasing, it remains a continuing public health threat in the Philadelphia area and the nation at large. Vaccines provide the highest assurance of safety for our members as we return to in-person work, as well as for the students we teach, and are now widely available. Therefore we as a union—in conjunction with Temple’s Faculty Senate—call on the Temple administration to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for all faculty, students, and staff before returning to campus at the start of Fall Semester 2021.

 

We understand that some students, faculty, and staff may be hesitant about COVID-19 vaccination. Students, faculty, and staff have real concerns about the interaction between their communities and the public health establishment, and we must acknowledge the racist history of the medical community and the American healthcare system. These decades of mistreatment have real and lasting impacts on public trust around vaccination. Additionally, some students, faculty, and staff may have concerns about the fact that the vaccine has been granted Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA, but not yet full approval.

 

However, both medical expertise and large amounts of data have shown that the vaccines currently available are both effective and safe. The risks to faculty, staff, and students from a partially unvaccinated population are high enough that TAUP feels that concerns raised by individual faculty, staff, and students must operate on a case-by-case basis within a general mandate.

 

Therefore, TAUP calls on Temple University to require proof of immunization from COVID-19, subject to exception for medical conditions, religious belief or strong moral or ethical conviction, for all faculty, students, and staff before returning to any campus beginning at the start of Fall Semester 2021, unless working remotely or participating in online learning.