BY RUDY FICHTENBAUM AND PAUL DAVIS
At their November 2018 meetings, the Council of the AAUP and the AAUP-CBC Executive Committee voted overwhelmingly to move forward with changes to our shared organizational structure. The changes, should they be approved at the June 2019 annual meeting, will streamline our governance and organizational structure.
As is the case for many of our chapters, the recent Supreme Court decision in the Janus case has resulted in a loss of revenue for the national organization. It spurred us to assess how best to continue to support our chapters and the profession as a whole. But while Janus provided the impetus for change, we believe that change will ultimately result in a stronger organization. The proposed organizational changes reflect the shared vision of the AAUP and AAUP-CBC leadership that we are one profession united in our defense of the AAUP’s core principles of academic freedom, economic security, and shared governance for all those who teach and research in higher education, and in our commitment to higher education as a common good.
The primary proposed changes being considered are:
• Fold the AAUP-CBC into the AAUP. The AAUP Foundation (the charitable organization) would remain as it is. This would do away with duplicative internal processes and allow us to focus more directly on serving our chapters and the profession.
• Replace the AAUP’s annual meeting with a biennial delegate meeting. Chapter delegates would vote on the business of the AAUP. This would be less expensive and follow the model of many similar organizations.
• For election of officers and Council members, move from a mail ballot of individual members to a secret ballot of chapter delegates at the biennial meeting. This would be less expensive and follow the model of many similar organizations.
• Fold existing AAUP and AAUP-CBC governing boards into one governing board composed of three officers, five regional members, and three at-large members. This would create a more streamlined governance structure and do away with duplicative, sometimes competing, governance processes.
• Create an at-large chapter for members who are not currently affiliated with a chapter. While our emphasis will remain on forming and empowering chapters on campuses, this structure would provide a “home” chapter for our at-large members and will provide them with a vehicle for representation at the biennial meeting.
• Allow small chapters in a given state to band together to form a section for purposes of representation at the biennial meeting.
The June 2019 annual meeting will need to vote on constitutional amendments in order for these changes to take place. The amendments are being developed, and all AAUP members will receive notification of the final proposals well ahead of the June annual meeting.
The meeting itself will include opportunities to discuss the proposals, as well as additional business sessions regarding restructuring planning. We are also planning a series of webinars and in-person meetings for this spring to hear from members and to answer questions. You can also send any questions to executivedirector@aaup.org.
We believe that these changes will result in a smarter, more responsive AAUP, one that embraces the One Faculty model.
Rudy Fichtenbaum is AAUP president. Paul Davis is chair of the AAUP Collective Bargaining Congress.
I’m very disturbed by some of these proposed changes. The annual meeting and conference are a crucial part of the AAUP, and it would be awful to eliminate these annual events. There are important developments that AAUP members discuss at these meetings, plus lobbying Congress, voting on censure, and other matters that are time-sensitive and should not be delayed by a year. Obviously, there will be more information needed for these decisions. I question if the massive work involved in restructuring the AAUP (again, to reverse what happened a few years ago) is really worth the trouble. Replacing member voting with delegate voting is unfortunate, but if elections by mail are very expensive and most voters are indifferent, it might be the best option.
I think other options ought to be considered for reducing expenses without drastic moves like eliminating the annual meeting.
–Have AAUP volunteers do much more of the work of planning and running the annual meeting and conference, instead of expensive staff members who are needed for more important functions. (In fact, this is an approach that the AAUP ought to take toward everything it does. Members are by far the biggest untapped resource that the AAUP has.)
–Move the annual meeting from a DC hotel to a college in the DC/Baltimore area (or perhaps elsewhere) that’s willing to provide the space for free or at a substantial discount.
–Expand the annual conference and recruit more attendees to make the event more profitable.
–Have expensive meals and receptions outside the hotel when possible
–Merge the Summer Institute into the annual conference by adding more training sessions, and save the cost of doing the Summer Institute.
I hope that other AAUP members will offer their suggestions (and their help) to allow the AAUP to avoid the terrible possibility of eliminating the annual meeting and conference.