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Scholars in Peril
The AAUP’s Ninety-fourth Annual Meeting, held June 12–15 in Washington, D.C., combined plenary addresses by distinguished speakers, business meetings, panel presentations, lobbying visits, and award presentations.
Three featured speakers addressed the meeting’s theme of scholars in peril: Adam Habib, a South African political analyst whose U.S. visa was revoked without explanation in October 2006; professor John (Yoannis) Milios of the National Technical University of Athens, who has only recently been allowed to enter the United States after extended litigation; and Barbara Weinstein, internationally known historian of twentieth-century Latin America and immediate past president of the American Historical Association.
Habib, deputy vice-chancellor of research, innovation, and advancement at the University of Johannesburg, continues to be banned from the country although he has repeatedly condemned terrorism and has urged governments to respond to the terrorist threat with policies that are consistent with human rights and the rule of law. Participating in the meeting by teleconference, Habib talked about threats to academic freedom in South Africa, which he characterized as threefold. First, scholars are afraid to thoroughly investigate certain topics, such as black-empowerment programs, for fear of being labeled as reactionary (Habib suggested a similarity with the post-9/11 atmosphere in the United States, where many were afraid of being labeled as proterrorist or unpatriotic). Second, administrators sometimes make arrangements with corporations that impose restrictions on the publication of research results or otherwise impede the free flow of information and disregard the responsibility of the academy to speak the truth. Third, the academy lacks the power and legitimacy that come with being valued by society as an institution that articulates its aspirations and analyzes its weaknesses and that would protect scholars from state, political, and corporate power. Habib also called for more global unity among academics and thanked the AAUP membership for its support of him, both by inviting him to address the annual meeting and by participating in a lawsuit seeking to have him admitted to the country.
In his address, Milios spoke about how he was denied entry to the United States while traveling to a scholarly conference in 2006. Milios put his experience in the context of the power of nations to define, and regulate the movements of, citizens and aliens, and of the relationship of that state power to class power. Milios said that many nations have reinforced the “repressive apparatuses of the state” in the wake of large demonstrations over the past decade against neoliberalism, war, inequality, and poverty and for civil liberties, direct democracy, alternative economic and social policies, and the redistribution of wealth for the benefit of the working classes. This reinforcement, he said, occurred even before the 9/11 attacks, but increased after those attacks. The frequent instances of academics being barred from conferences, Milios said, comprise an assault not only on the persons barred, but on all conference participants and indeed on the processes of debate and dialogue themselves. The designation of certain academics as “ineligible” to enter the United States because of the ideologies to which they subscribe has less to do with protecting the country from terrorists than with protecting the government from ideas that might question existing forms of society and power relations within it—in other words, question class interests. Reminding the audience that he was on his way to a conference titled “How Class Works” when barred, Milios said that “U.S. authorities in their own customary way have indeed shown me how class works.”
In her presentation to the annual meeting, Weinstein also focused on the growing hostility of the U.S. government to foreign scholars and threats to the ability of academics to gather at conferences. Weinstein told the story of the Bolivian scholar Waskar Ari, who was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security and prevented from traveling to the United States to assume a position at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln for over two years. Weinstein speculated that his exclusion was motivated either by the election of leftist Evo Morales—another Bolivian of indigenous descent—to the presidency of Bolivia or by comments that Ari made on his Web site that analyzed a peasant lynching of a corrupt mayor from a historical perspective rather than simply denouncing it. Weinstein fears that legitimate concerns about national security are being used to suppress more nuanced approaches to historical episodes of popular violence and to make sympathetic portrayals of violent resistance equivalent to support for terrorism. She closed her presentation by stating that scholars must defend their colleagues’ right to express unpopular views, both at home and abroad, and embrace the concept of academic freedom.
The meeting also featured a panel presentation on using LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or queer) success stories to improve campus antidiscrimination policies and domestic-partner benefits. The presentation was part of “Harvesting the Grapevine,” an AAUP project supported by the Arcus Foundation, the Gill Foundation, and the Small Change Foundation. Presenters included Charles Ford, associate professor of history at Norfolk State University and chair of the AAUP Committee on Sexual Diversity and Gender Identity; Lori Messinger, associate professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Kansas; and Martin Snyder, AAUP director of external relations.
Other sessions focused on a new paradigm for sustaining medical benefits for retiring faculty and staff (presented by Linda Cool, professor of anthropology at Union College and founding director of Emeriti Retirement Health Solutions) and on successful investing (presented by TIAA-CREF staff).
Censure Actions
Delegates to the Ninety-fourth Annual Meeting voted on June 14 to place the University of New Haven on its list of censured administrations. At the same time, they voted to remove Philander Smith College and Southern University at New Orleans from the list and took no action against the administration of the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. For more information on these institutions, see the report on the University of New Haven in the May–June 2008 issue of Academe, the report on Philander Smith College in the January–February 2004 issue, and the reports on Southern University at New Orleans and the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in the Report of an AAUP Special Committee: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans Universities in the May–June 2007 issue.
Censure by the AAUP informs the academic community that the administration of an institution has not adhered to the generally recognized principles of academic freedom and tenure jointly formulated by the AAUP and the Association of American Colleges and Universities and endorsed by more than two hundred professional and educational organizations. With these actions, forty-six institutions are now on the censure list.
Capitol Hill Day
On June 12, AAUP members from across the country visited Capitol Hill to talk with their representatives and senators about issues affecting higher education. Special focus was placed this year on two topics: the exclusions of scholars from the United States for ideological reasons and the rising cost of college. AAUP members pointed out that, while ostensibly imposed to keep out those who would harm the nation, ideological exclusions are frequently instead used to punish those who disagree with U.S. government policies, whether suspected Communists during the McCarthy era, peace activists during the Vietnam War, or those critical of U.S. policies regarding Iraq today. In discussing the skyrocketing tuition costs at many institutions of higher education, members sought to dispel the common misperception that faculty salaries are a driving force behind the increases.
Honors and Awards
Candace Kant, professor of history at the College of Southern Nevada and a longtime member of the AAUP, was selected as this year’s recipient of the Georgina M. Smith award. Established in 1979 in memory of Smith, a committed feminist and advocate for her local faculty union at Rutgers University, the award honors exceptional leadership in improving the status of women in academe, academic collective bargaining, and the profession at large. Over the course of three decades Kant has combined her academic work with promoting due process and faculty representation on both the state and national level. She has served the AAUP in several leadership roles, including two terms on the national governing Council, and was the first appointee from a community college to the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, serving from 1998 to 2004. In that capacity she “helped to place issues arising from the important community college sector on the AAUP’s national agenda,” said James T. Richardson, director of the Grant Sawyer Center for Justice Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, and former AAUP president, in his nomination letter. As two-time president of the Nevada Faculty Alliance, the AAUP’s statelevel organization in Nevada, Kant was part of the bargaining team that successfully negotiated the first collective agreement for Truckee Meadows Community College.
Reporters John Hechinger and Rebecca Buckman were this year’s recipients of the Iris Molotsky Award for Excellence in Coverage of Higher Education. The winning entry, “The Golden Touch of Stanford's President,” was published on February 24, 2007, in the Wall Street Journal. The article focused on Stanford University president John Hennessy and showed that Hennessy’s activities are part of the broader controversy involving many other college presidents’ service on corporate boards. Hechinger and Buckman examined hundreds of stock and options transactions in securities and exchange filings and spoke to reluctant sources inside the world of Silicon Valley. An online supplement to the article provided graphics showing the tangled web of Hennessy’s business dealings and other financial information about Stanford.
State Conferences
Brian Turner of Randolph-Macon College was elected secretary of the Assembly of State Conferences, and A. Frank Thompson of the University of Northern Iowa was elected treasurer. Lacy Barnes of Reedley College was elected member at large of the executive committee.
Two chapters won Beatrice G. Konheim Awards, which recognize outstanding work by AAUP chapters. The Wright State University AAUP chapter, which represents faculty in collective bargaining, has fought to develop family-friendly policies for university faculty. The award was presented to the chapter in recognition of gains made in its most recent contract. The Saint Peter’s College AAUP chapter was recognized for its work on increasing public awareness and instituting mandatory training about sexual harassment and discrimination on campus.
A Konheim travel grant was awarded to the Del Mar College AAUP chapter, which sent Ann Thorn to the annual meeting. The grants are given to chapters engaged in activities advancing the objectives of the Konheim Award.
The ASC presents awards to chapters and conferences that produce outstanding newsletters and Web pages. This year, the Portland State University chapter received the Outstanding Chapter Newsletter Award, the Kansas conference received the Outstanding Conference Newsletter Award, the Ohio conference received the Outstanding Conference Web Site Award, and both the University of Akron and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign chapters received the Outstanding Chapter Web Site Award. North Central State College and Fairfield University received honorable mention for their chapter newsletters.
A Hopper travel grant, awarded to an individual attending his or her first annual meeting, went to David Robinson of Truman State University.
Collective Bargaining
Deanna Wood of the University of New Hampshire was elected secretary of the Collective Bargaining Congress, and Rudy Fitchenbaum of Wright State University was elected treasurer. Three at-large members of the CBC executive committee were elected: Mayra Besosa of California State University, San Marcos; Vijay Nair of Western Connecticut State University; and Joel Russell of Oakland University.
Barbara Bowen was the winner of the Marilyn Sternberg Award, given by the CBC to the AAUP member who best demonstrates the concern for human rights, courage, persistence, political foresight, imagination, and collective bargaining skills of its namesake.
Resolutions
Members approved five resolutions during the annual meeting. The text of four appears below. The fifth approved resolution honored Jonathan Knight, who retired at the end of June from his position as the director of the AAUP’s Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance after thirty-one years on the AAUP staff (see “Knight to Retire and Scholtz to Succeed Him as Chief of AAUP Academic Freedom Staff” on page 8 of the May–June issue of Academe). A sixth proposed resolution, critical of Israel’s preventing students in Gaza from leaving to study abroad, was referred back to the resolutions committee.
Academic Freedom and Teaching Evolution
At its Ninety-first Annual Meeting in 2005, the American Association of University Professors adopted a resolution calling on “local communities and state officials to reject proposals that seek to suppress discussion of evolution in our public schools as inimical to principles of academic freedom.” Efforts to pass legislation specifically requiring the teaching of “intelligent design” have generally been thwarted. However, several state legislatures, including those in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Missouri, have recently taken up new proposals that purport to guarantee academic freedom and critical thinking in the teaching of science by ostensibly protecting—according to the Alabama bill—the right of teachers to scientifically critique “prevailing scientific theories” and the right of students to hold a “particular position on any views.” But the underlying purpose of these proposals is to make it possible to have “intelligent design” offered as an alternative to evolution. Such efforts run counter to the overwhelming scientific consensus regarding evolution and are inconsistent with a proper understanding of the meaning of academic freedom. It is for scientists and not legislatures to say what is science. The Ninety-fourth Annual Meeting of the American Association of University Professors therefore opposes, as have previous annual meetings, efforts by state legislatures to determine what scientific ideas—widely accepted or not—should be taught in colleges and universities.
Higher Education in Iran
The Ninety-fourth Annual Meeting of the American Association of University Professors observes with dismay practices by the government of Iran which discriminate against the country’s citizens belonging to religious or ethnic minorities, including unjustly denying them opportunities for education at all levels. We note in particular the worsening situation of Iran’s Baha’i community, whose members are subject to constant harassment and punitive measures by Iranian authorities and who are wrongly kept out of universities or prevented from completing their studies. We urge the government of Iran, consistent with the constitution of Iran, to remove barriers that deny access to higher education on religious or ethnic grounds, and to ensure for members of the Baha’i community the same rights accorded to other citizens of Iran.
Loyalty Oaths
Two recent cases involving administrative decisions in the California State University system to deny employment to faculty members who sought to attach qualifying language to the state-mandated loyalty oath for public employees once again highlight the problematic nature of these oaths. The Ninety-fourth Annual Meeting of the American Association of University Professors affirms its belief that refusal to sign a loyalty oath does not justify the refusal to appoint a faculty member or the termination of faculty appointments.
Campus Safety
The horrific shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in April 2007 and at Northern Illinois University this past February, and the murders of students in separate incidents near the campuses of Auburn University, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in March, have prompted renewed efforts to keep our colleges and universities both safe and open. Among initiatives under consideration is legislation in several states that would allow any licensed gun owner to carry concealed weapons on campus. A 2004 Utah statute—strongly opposed by the University of Utah but eventually upheld by the state’s supreme court—bars the state’s universities from restricting the possession of firearms on their property. Colleges and universities closely control firearms and prohibit concealed guns on their campuses because they regard the presence of weapons as incompatible with their educational missions. The Ninety-fourth Annual Meeting of the American Association of University Professors endorses the reliance of colleges and universities on trained and equipped professional law-enforcement personnel to respond to emergency incidents. We call upon state legislative bodies to refrain from interfering with decisions that are properly the responsibility of the academic community.
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