Information provided by Sam Shepherd.
Centenary AAUP members were glad to re-establish a chapter at this college, where a previous chapter had thrived and accomplished much from the 1950s through the early 1980s. The impetus for the new chapter came from faculty concerns about a breakdown in shared governance on campus. Our faculty are deeply disturbed by deviations by the administration from prescribed procedures with the faculty handbook during an appeals process involving the termination of four tenured faculty members as part of discontinuing certain majors at the college. That appeals process occurred during the last academic year. Since then, the faculty have also become alarmed by the administration’s failure to work with appropriate faculty committees and supply adequate information about potential changes in the college’s curriculum and budget. In response to communications from faculty committees (and a strong letter from this chapter), the administration has indicated a willingness to discuss some of the issues with the faculty. Not to be overlooked, however, are additional faculty concerns about limitations on the college’s instructional budget, including an extended freeze on faculty salaries and a reduction in benefits during the last several years. Thus, Centenary chapter members anticipate the need for energetic work in the coming months.