BY WATCHING ADAMS STAFF – 3/14/16
On Saturday, March 5th, a group of interested faculty and staff gathered in McDaniel Hall to learn about the work of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and how to found a campus chapter at Adams State University (ASU).
AAUP’s mission is to advance academic freedom and shared governance, to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, to promote the economic security of faculty and academic professionals, and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good.
The Colorado Conference of the AAUP supports this mission by protecting the academic freedom, shared governance, and due process rights of faculty at all Colorado colleges and universities. With the exception of Adams State and CU-Denver, all Colorado universities have active AAUP chapters. Three representatives of the AAUP Colorado State Conference took time out of their weekend to travel to Alamosa and share their expertise about forming a local chapter:
Jonathan Rees, AAUP Colorado Conference Co-President and Professor of History at Colorado State – Pueblo
Steve Mumme, AAUP Colorado Conference Co-President and Professor of Political Science at CSU Fort Collins
Ross McConnell, AAUP Campus Chapter Co-President and Associate Professor of Computer Science CSU Fort Collins
Rees, Mumme, and McConnell explained how easy it is to establish a new campus chapter. Any individual can join the AAUP here.
Membership dues are sliding scale and can be paid via automatic monthly deductions if preferred. As soon as any campus has seven active members, the national AAUP will notify all members that a chapter has been established. The CO AAUP leaders then reviewed recommended steps for getting an active chapter underway, including calling an organizational meeting, informing ASU administration, establishing bylaws, and electing officers.
The meeting lasted three hours and fostered a wide-ranging discussion. Major topics included specific instances where the CO AAUP Conference advocated and intervened on behalf of individual faculty, CO AAUP concerns about the current state of ASU’s faculty handbook, and best practices for leading and growing a campus chapter. The visiting AAUP leaders also discussed AAUP’s growing role in supporting the needs and rights of contingent faculty and the welcome participation of staff in AAUP. The meeting continued at Calvillo’s Restaurant with good food and conversation.
On March 7th, AAUP Colorado Conference Co-President Jonathan Rees reflected on his visit in a blog post for Academe, the magazine of the AAUP.
To learn more about Adams State’s new AAUP chapter, please join the Google Group.
To listen to an interview with Jonathan Rees as part of the Watching Adams Podcast series, click the video link below:
Watching Adams 