Academe Article

State of the Profession: An Amethyst Remembrance—Almost

The recent turmoil at the University of Virginia surrounding the forced resignation of President Teresa Sullivan sent shock waves throughout the academy. Reverberations continue. Regardless of the largely happy outcome of events, the Association has launched an investigation into what went wrong. Though some problems seem glaringly obvious, the investigating committee is taking a close and objective look at UVA’s procedures and is considering whether they were adequate and whether procedures already in place were actually followed.

From the President: Times That Try Souls

In the last thirty years, many college and university administrations have embraced the corporate model, which is fundamentally transforming higher education and changing the way decisions are made. Administrators are now making decisions unilaterally and in response to external market forces.

Updated 2012–13 Committee Lists and Audit Report Now Online

Most new appointments to AAUP committees had not yet been made when this year’s Bulletin of the AAUP, which included the annual report on committee membership, went to press in July. New members have since been appointed, and current lists of AAUP committees are now available online at http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/comm/.

Rudy Fichtenbaum Takes Office as AAUP President

Rudy Fichtenbaum, a professor of economics at Wright State University in Ohio, took office as the fiftieth president of the AAUP at the annual meeting in June. Fichtenbaum pledged to make “organizing to defend our profession and genuinely reform higher education” the highest priority for the AAUP, stating that “the AAUP needs to become a more powerful, articulate, and energetic force committed to organizing and mobilizing faculty in a broad variety of ways to fight for our profession.”

New Academe Faculty Editor Appointed

The AAUP has named Aaron Barlow, an associate professor of English at the New York City College of Technology of the City University of New York, the new faculty editor of Academe. As editor, Barlow will retain his faculty position while working with the AAUP’s editorial staff and the Academe advisory board to solicit feature articles and edit the magazine. 

AAUP Releases Draft Report on Academy-Industry Relationships

A new AAUP report, prepared by past president Cary Nelson in conjunction with investigative journalist Jennifer Washburn, examines the connections between academia and industry and offers recommendations for ensuring academic freedom and ethical practices in academy-industry partnerships. The report, Recommended Principles and Practices to Guide Academy-Industry Relationships, is the result of eighteen months of research and preparation.

Report Examines Working Conditions of Part-Time Faculty

In June, the Coalition on the Academic Workforce, a group that includes the AAUP, released an initial report based on data from its wide-ranging survey of the working conditions of contingent faculty. Nearly thirty thousand people replied to the survey. The initial report focused on part-time faculty members, from whom ten thousand responses were received.

AAUP Investigating Governance Issues at UVA

On June 8, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors asked for and obtained the resignation of Teresa Sullivan from the presidency of the university without explanation to her, the other chief administrative officers, or the university’s faculty and student body of the specific grounds for its displeasure with her performance.

Summer Institute Offers Skills, Networking, and Fun

About two hundred faculty members and other higher education professionals gathered at Roosevelt University in Chicago from July 26 to 29 for the AAUP’s Summer Institute, cosponsored by the AAUP’s Collective Bargaining Congress and Assembly of State Conferences. The event is geared toward both unionized and nonunionized faculty activists at all types of institutions.

Draft Report on IRBs Posted for Comment

Committee A’s Subcommittee on Academic Freedom and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) is now accepting comments on its new draft report, Regulation of Research on Human Subjects: Academic Freedom and the Institutional Review Board. The report, available online at http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/comm/rep/A/IRB, was prepared in response to potential changes to the regulations governing institutional review boards.

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