AAUP Forms Three Alliances
By Hans Johnson
In January the AAUP established organizational relationships with three other higher-education groups, one of which is a union of academic faculty and other academic professionals. "Forging ties with colleagues across the country can only help to strengthen the faculty influence," says Mary Burgan, AAUP general secretary. "Together, we can work on issues such as reducing reliance on part-time appointments and ensuring faculty participation in institutional decision making."
The first agreement links the AAUP with the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC), an umbrella group for the 107 faculty governance bodies at the state's community colleges. One explicit goal of the partnership is to furnish the ASCCC with the AAUP's expertise in assisting with the resolution of problems regarding shared governance that surface on the ASCCC's member campuses. The relationship will also avail the AAUP of the perspectives of ASCCC leaders.
Another January accord established a coalition between the Berkeley Faculty Association (BFA) and the AAUP. The BFA is an organization of academic senate faculty at the University of California, Berkeley.
Also in January, the delegate assembly of United University Professions (UUP) voted overwhelmingly to authorize a formal organizational relationship with the AAUP. The UUP is the bargaining representative for twenty-one thousand academic faculty and other academic professionals from the twenty-nine campuses of the State University of New York (SUNY). The affiliation agreement includes a provision for a portion of UUP members to join the Association and a pledge of joint activities in areas of common concern. The SUNY union is the largest higher education union in the nation and has pioneered in allying the interests and efforts of its diverse membership of teaching and research faculty and academic professionals.
According to Michael Mauer, a staff member in the AAUP's Department of Organizing and Services, "These new organizational structures will increase the AAUP's effectiveness and promise to be a harbinger of more partnerships to come."
See Mary Burgan's column for her perspective on the new alliances.
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