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Summer Institute Fosters Emerging Activists
By Julie Schmid
Established and budding AAUP activists met at the University of Nevada, Reno, in July for the Summer Institute, the Association’s premier training program for advocacy and collective bargaining chapters. Close to two hundred activists from universities and colleges throughout the country shared experiences, received training, and developed strategies for protecting faculty members, academic freedom and shared governance, and higher education generally.
AAUP members worked with faculty and staff presenters to learn tactics for building sustainable chapters, recruiting new members, and advocating forcefully in local, state, and national policy-making arenas. Seminars, panels, and workshops helped chapter leaders and new activists recognize the challenges and opportunities they face and connect with other activists.
The Association works for widespread faculty engagement in collective bargaining and advocacy activities, and both first-time participants and seasoned activists and leaders who would benefit from additional training are encouraged to attend the Summer Institute each year. Workshops focused on strategies for membership development—especially among the junior faculty and graduate student ranks—as well as ways to involve faculty in lobbying, demonstrations, work actions, media campaigns, budget analysis, and grievance administration. The institute also included such courses as “Achieving Diversity” and “Balancing Tenure-line and Contingent Faculty Issues,” designed to attract activists from all sectors of the academy. Well over half of the attendees of this year’s institute were first-timers.
This Summer Institute’s formal program was supplemented by much needed downtime. The atmosphere of the institute is relaxed, with built in breaks and free evenings, so that attendees have the opportunity to share stories, learn from one another, and build personal networks. Some members met for dawn tennis matches or group runs, while others used the evening hours to visit the casinos or take part in Reno’s summer arts activities. The majority of attendees participated in Friday evening’s cruise around Lake Tahoe, which included a sit-down dinner as well as a live band and dancing.
The Nevada Faculty Alliance, an AAUP state conference, was this year’s host and helped with local logistics. Chapters are encouraged to volunteer their campus to host the 2008 Summer Institute; those interested in doing so should contact Eizzie Smith.
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