Tag: academic freedom

TAUP Digest 3/25/19

e-Bulletin 2019.03.25

Negotiations Update 

The discussions we have been having with the administration to set the stage for working together at the table are ongoing. At this point, we are where we were last week: waiting for a response to the most recent proposal we’ve submitted, but we’ve been told to expect one shortly, which is good news.  The negotiation of terms marks the beginning of the negotiating process, and once those terms are agreed upon, dates for working at the table can be set.  As soon as we have details, we will share them, including the dates, place, and topics for negotiation sessions, as well as ways that members can support the Table Team during open negotiation sessions.

Have you become a TAUP Member?

When  people represented by a union stand together and show that they support the work being done by their colleagues, they increase the strength of their own voice at the table. When the administration sees that membership is growing, they know that the work of the union is reinforced.

Dues paying members increase their union’s ability to leverage the gains that members need and want to see.  Over the next two weeks, member activists will be reaching out to colleagues to ask them to join TAUP. If you haven’t signed your membership card yet, now is your chance! Join here. If you have questions about becoming a dues paying member, reach out to our office taupaft@gmail.com.

Members’ Corner: Getting a Contract that Recognizes our Humanity and Dignity

“…we deserve for our employer to recognize that our work is not separate from our humanity nor our students’ humanity—that we are not simply cogs in the Temple machine or the CCP machine, or the Arcadia machine—that thanks to our hard work we should know that will still have a job next semester, next year, the next decade– so that we can allow ourselves to breathe, do our jobs well, AND be human.”  

-Mary Stricker, NTT Sociology

Read Mary Stricker’s remarks from TAUP’s Contract Kickoff Event at Pub Webb two weeks ago.

 

The Presidential Executive Order on “Free and Open Debate” and Federal Funding

As many of you know, President Trump signed an Executive Order last week purporting to protect “free and open debate on college and university campuses,” and threatening institutions that do not follow his directive with the loss of federal funds.  TAUP strongly supports “free and open debate” at Temple and elsewhere, and, as per our contract, will defend the academic freedom of all of our members whatever their political beliefs.  But, along with statements from  our national union, the AFT, and the American Association of University Professionals (AAUP), we oppose the President’s diktat.

 As the AAUP says, it is “a solution in search of a problem–as the order notes, colleges and universities already have policies protecting free expression on campus, and, in the case of public institutions, are bound by the First Amendment.”  It authorizes cabinet agencies and the Office of Management and Budget to determine whether an offense against free inquiry has been committed, but almost all of these entities lack expertise in higher education as well as debates around free speech.  Finally, despite its supposed support for a diversity of views on campus, it is designed, as stated in the AAUP’s post, to be dangerously slanted toward institutions more likely to support the President’s politics.   Please consider signing the AAUP’s petition against this ill-conceived Executive Order.

 

TAUP Solidarity with Community College of Philadelphia: Informational Picket, March 20th

Our sister union at CCP, the Faculty and Staff Federation of Community College of Philadelphia (FSFCCP) has been working without a contract for three years. They recently authorized a strike vote, though they hope that a strike will not be necessary.  They are fighting administrative proposals that would increase their workload, which is already high in relation to other community colleges nationally, gut faculty governance, raise health-care costs, and refuse to pay their classified staff a living wage.

TAUP stands in solidarity with FSFCCP in this fight, and we invite you to join us in supporting them.  At an informational picket and march last Wednesday, TAUP’s Vice President, Jennie Shanker spoke in support of their efforts as did the Chair of our Adjunct Constituency Council, Zoe Cohen , representing United Academics of Philadelphia.  You can see photos of the event here, as well as a video from Jason Esters, who recently received his doctorate from Temple’s English Department here. The FSFCCP has always stood by TAUP, knowing that our struggles are theirs as well. We stand by the FSFCCP knowing the same. We will keep you posted on any further opportunities to show solidarity with CCP faculty, staff and students. .

TAUP Elections

If you are interested in being nominated or nominating yourself to run for President, Vice President, or Treasurer of TAUP or to serve on one of our faculty Constituency Councils, please read here.  Note that Self-Nomination Petitions must be received by the Nominating Committee, TAUP Office, 1301 Cecil B. Moore Avenue, Ritter Annex 721 (004-15), Philadelphia, PA 19122-6091, by Friday March 29, 2019.

Response to O’Connor’s Statements Regarding Marc Lamont Hill

TAUP finds unacceptable the statements by Temple’s Chairman of the Board Patrick O’Connor in response to Professor Marc Lamont Hill’s speech about Israel and Palestine at the United Nations.  Prof. Hill’s remarks are clearly protected by the principles of free speech--as President Englert noted in his message to the Temple community–and by academic freedom, which we are disappointed to find has thus far not been mentioned by Temple’s administration.  We are also deeply disturbed by Chairman O’Connor’s claim that the administration is looking at “what remedies we have” to discipline Prof. Hill.  Prof. Hill is covered by the TAUP contract, which begins with the principles of academic freedom, and which clearly sets out procedures for disciplining faculty members.  We trust that the contract will be followed; if it is not, the administration can count on a vigorous defense by TAUP of Prof. Hill’s rights as set forth in it.

Shared Governance and Academic Freedom at Temple University

e-Bulletin20180921

Dear Colleagues,

Please fill out this survey on the state of academic freedom and shared governance at Temple.  Responses are due by midnight, Sunday, September 30th.   

With the rankings scandal at the Fox School generating negative press that has severely damaged Temple’s reputation, a group of concerned senior Temple faculty representing the Faculty Senate and the Temple Association of University Professionals (TAUP) met recently to discuss why this situation arose and what needs to be done to avert similar incidents.  We believe that a principal cause was the drastic reduction of shared governance and challenges to academic freedom at the University in general and at the Fox School in particular. What happened at the Fox School has clearly revealed the detrimental effects of over-concentration of administrative power and of over-reliance on the judgment of a small group who operated with little or no oversight and accountability.  Their actions have diminished the academic standing of our faculty, and gravely eroded the trust of our students, donors, local community, and the public at large. Fox faculty now find their reputations unfairly devalued even though they had nothing to do with this malfeasance.

We are aware problems with shared governance and academic freedom extend beyond the Fox School, in many schools and colleges. We must address them if Temple is to prevent similar incidents and realize its potential.  

We also want to hear about what is going well with academic freedom and shared governance so that we can get an accurate view and so that we can have models of best practice as we move forward.  

For academic freedom and shared governance to function as they should, we need to work with and be in productive dialogue with administrators.  We must be willing to speak our minds when we think these systems are faltering but also to listen. We assume our administrative colleagues want these processes to work, too, and some administrators we have spoken with are eager to be part of the conversation and to see faculty take on a greater role.

However, for these changes to occur, we need YOUR voice.  

We ask you to share your candid views of the state of shared governance and academic freedom at Temple in the following survey.  Your answers will inform our next steps, including our plan to gather interested faculty and librarians for open-ended discussions in the Fall and perhaps into the Spring. Some of these discussions may include administrators.  These discussions will lead to a Report on the State of Shared Governance and Academic Freedom at Temple and an accompanying list of recommendations to and demands of our administrators.

Any data reported out will be stripped of markers that would identify individuals.  For instance, we might report responses to a particular question based on college OR on rank, but not on college AND rank at once (e. g., assistant professors in a particular college).   Any identifying data in responses to the open-ended questions will also be removed before the responses are shared.   

 

Collegially,


Steve Newman, Ph.D. , CLA/English Professor, TAUP President,

Cornelius Pratt, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Klein College / Advertising & PR, President,  Faculty Senate