(This note was sent to CWRU Faculty in June 2008)

Does the AAUP have a role to play at CWRU?

CWRU is facing challenging times and we faculty must play a lead role in addressing the problems and possibilities. Working together with administration, board, staff, alums, and students, we can create a brighter future for our university.

CWRU expects you to excel in Teaching, Service and Research.

You expect CWRU to guarantee Tenure, Academic Freedom and Faculty Governance.

These latter are fundamental principles championed by the AAUP since its founding over ninety years ago. They have been endorsed by the Association of American Colleges, including Case and Western Reserve, and by over 150 educational and professional organizations.

CWRU has a healthy relationship with its faculty, as codified in the Faculty Handbook and implemented by the Faculty Senate. Our AAUP Chapter (at Reserve since 1932 and Case since 1945) provides a parallel line of communication, available to individual faculty members for support and help in resolving concerns.

We faculty have each decided to pursue an academic career at CWRU. We are eager to teach, serve, and create new knowledge. However, we are not all the same. Some of us, e.g. engineers, physicians, lawyers, scientists, might have chosen careers outside academe. Others among us are in fields which flourish largely within the university setting. Consequently, our reliance on principles promoted by the AAUP may vary from person to person.

What does the AAUP Chapter do?

On the more visible side, the Chapter hosts open meetings at which faculty are invited to share ideas with administrators, board members, and visitors from the state and national AAUP. It maintains a website with links to up-to-date position papers and data. (www.cwru.edu/affil/cwru).

Of more importance, and less visibly, the Chapter serves several of our colleagues each year by taking the time to hear their professional concerns. Often, simple reference to the Handbook or to the AAUP Redbook can help them understand their options and direct their actions. Sometimes a letter or a visit with a chairperson or dean helps to clear the air. Sometimes a formal grievance is appropriate.

Should you consider joining the AAUP?

Informed and active faculty members should be committed to each other as members of the academic community. The AAUP provides a unique way to carry out these obligations. No doubt, you share allegiance to our community of scholars and support its responsibilities for institutional governance, ethical standards, curricular and program development. Our collective wisdom must guide the changes that are certain to occur.

If you agree that the AAUP has an important role to play at CWRU, then please consider becoming a member.

New members can join quickly and easily (at a reduced rate)

by clicking on the following link:

http://www.aaup.org/forms/membership/duesoffer.htm

Or you may renew your membership at:

http://www.aaup.org/forms/membership/join.htm

Best wishes from your CWRU AAUP Chapter Executive Committee:

Mark Smith, Kathy Kash, Peter Whitehouse, Walter Lambrecht, Paul Gerhart,

Bill Fickinger, Isaac Greber, Jerry Liebman

To give an idea of the many areas of interest to the AAUP, we list here some of the topics discussed in the current AAUP Handbook: dismissal proceedings; non-renewal of appointment; extramural utterances; political activity; artistic expression; campus speech codes; access to personnel files; tenure quotas; periodic evaluation; part-time faculty; non-tenure-track faculty; mandatory retirement; faculty liability; professional ethics; plagiarism; multiple authorship; workloads; affirmative action; sexual harassment; faculty role in budget and salary; intercollegiate athletics; faculty status of librarians; collective bargaining; student rights; accreditation; retirement and insurance benefits; leaves of absence; child-bearing; family emergencies.