Jane Buck, Ph.D.
Thoughts on AAUP's ninetieth anniversary
Remarks for the 2005 AAUP Annual Meeting
Washington, DC
June 2005
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of the American Association of University Professors. It has been a singular honor for me to serve as its president for the past five years and as a member for the past forty. Much has remained constant during that time. Challenges to the autonomy of the profession and to the sanctity of academic freedom and shared governance remain ubiquitous, although their appearance often takes novel and ingeniously designed forms. Before we can combat our enemies, we must first recognize them.
We were slow to realize the damage to our profession and our values by the shift from tenured and tenurable faculty positions to contingent ones, that is, those part-time AND full-time positions that can never lead to tenure. Our failure to recognize that threat as real and to effectively thwart it has led to the formerly unthinkable situation in which only 24% of the professorate are now both full-time and tenured.
Our response, though tardy, was in our best tradition. We published a policy document, “Contingent Appointments and the Academic Profession,” that calls for proportional compensation for part-time faculty, a reasonable measure of job security, and guarantees of academic freedom and participation in governance. We established a Contingent Faculty Fund, joined and contribute to the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, work closely with the Coalition on the Academic Workforce, and support participation in Campus Equity Week. Chapters and state conferences, as well as groups outside the Association, now frequently request speakers and panelists who will address this concern. And, we continue to work with contingent faculty activists to unionize. Last year, the part-time faculty union chapter at Emerson College concluded its first contract. Before this year is out, we expect that the part-time chapter at Suffolk University will be filing for an NLRB election.
We have learned to be more vigilant and to respond with much greater alacrity. I shall speak to only two of the many issues with which we are confronted–the deceptively named Academic Bill of Rights and the boycott of two Israeli universities. On Friday, the 22nd of April, the Association of University Teachers, the UK’s largest higher education union, with whom we have warm, but very loose ties, voted to boycott two Israeli universities. Before we could ascertain the details of this extraordinary action, we were bombarded with competing demands that we support the boycott AND that we force the AUT to rescind the boycott or sever all ties.
Within days, we were in contact with our colleagues at AUT and posted a statement on our web site, which concludes as follows: “We reject proposals that curtail the freedom of teachers and researchers to engage in work with academic colleagues, and we reaffirm the paramount importance of the freest possible international movement of scholars and ideas. The AAUP urges the AUT to support the right of all in the academic community to communicate freely with other academics on matters of professional interest.”
Bowing to pressure from many of its own members and from other organizations, on May the 26th the AUT voted to rescind the boycott and issued a statement that says, in part, “The struggle to maintain academic freedom whenever it is under threat is one that AUT will always support and this principle will continue to guide our work.” We are gratified that an organization with which we have co-operated in the past has demonstrated its willingness to take an action that we believe is essential to maintaining the free exchange of ideas, an exchange that is even more important when political passions are inflamed.
On another political front, we are encouraged by a measure of success in countering the deceptive propaganda of extremists who have attempted to muzzle professors in the guise of protecting the academic freedom of students. One of the most dangerous, because it has some superficial appeal and quotes our own statements on academic freedom is the seductively titled Academic Bill of Rights, which is being promoted by a failed academic named David Horowitz. Various versions of the bill, which would advance a right-wing political agenda and provide what is essentially affirmative action for conservatives, have been introduced in fifteen states this year. The good news is that the bill has failed in every instance. AAUP’s government relations office has been working closely with state conference leaders and others in nearly every state where the bill was introduced. In addition to working directly with our members, we have met with organizations representing students concerned with this issue, and convened a coalition of disciplinary organizations to discuss the implications of this legislation and the broader agenda of its proponents. We have also created a web page on “Political Intrusions Into the Academy” that includes information on the Academic Bill of Rights and our response to it. The General Secretary has forcefully and successfully debated Horowitz and other proponents of the bill on national television and in other venues.
It has been more than a decade since our last self-study. Accordingly, given the necessity to adapt to change or die, I have appointed two task forces. The first is charged with making recommendations on our election procedures for the Association as a whole as well as for the Assembly of State Conferences and the Collective Bargaining Congress. The second, the Restructuring Task Force, is charged with reviewing the entire structure of the Association so that it can operate most efficiently. Both task forces, comprising some of the most dedicated and expert of our leadership, have begun their work and will make their recommendations to Council in the near future.
Thank you for your continued support for our work. We are not always right when we speak out, but we are always wrong when we do not.
Washington, DC
June 2005
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of the American Association of University Professors. It has been a singular honor for me to serve as its president for the past five years and as a member for the past forty. Much has remained constant during that time. Challenges to the autonomy of the profession and to the sanctity of academic freedom and shared governance remain ubiquitous, although their appearance often takes novel and ingeniously designed forms. Before we can combat our enemies, we must first recognize them.
We were slow to realize the damage to our profession and our values by the shift from tenured and tenurable faculty positions to contingent ones, that is, those part-time AND full-time positions that can never lead to tenure. Our failure to recognize that threat as real and to effectively thwart it has led to the formerly unthinkable situation in which only 24% of the professorate are now both full-time and tenured.
Our response, though tardy, was in our best tradition. We published a policy document, “Contingent Appointments and the Academic Profession,” that calls for proportional compensation for part-time faculty, a reasonable measure of job security, and guarantees of academic freedom and participation in governance. We established a Contingent Faculty Fund, joined and contribute to the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, work closely with the Coalition on the Academic Workforce, and support participation in Campus Equity Week. Chapters and state conferences, as well as groups outside the Association, now frequently request speakers and panelists who will address this concern. And, we continue to work with contingent faculty activists to unionize. Last year, the part-time faculty union chapter at Emerson College concluded its first contract. Before this year is out, we expect that the part-time chapter at Suffolk University will be filing for an NLRB election.
We have learned to be more vigilant and to respond with much greater alacrity. I shall speak to only two of the many issues with which we are confronted–the deceptively named Academic Bill of Rights and the boycott of two Israeli universities. On Friday, the 22nd of April, the Association of University Teachers, the UK’s largest higher education union, with whom we have warm, but very loose ties, voted to boycott two Israeli universities. Before we could ascertain the details of this extraordinary action, we were bombarded with competing demands that we support the boycott AND that we force the AUT to rescind the boycott or sever all ties.
Within days, we were in contact with our colleagues at AUT and posted a statement on our web site, which concludes as follows: “We reject proposals that curtail the freedom of teachers and researchers to engage in work with academic colleagues, and we reaffirm the paramount importance of the freest possible international movement of scholars and ideas. The AAUP urges the AUT to support the right of all in the academic community to communicate freely with other academics on matters of professional interest.”
Bowing to pressure from many of its own members and from other organizations, on May the 26th the AUT voted to rescind the boycott and issued a statement that says, in part, “The struggle to maintain academic freedom whenever it is under threat is one that AUT will always support and this principle will continue to guide our work.” We are gratified that an organization with which we have co-operated in the past has demonstrated its willingness to take an action that we believe is essential to maintaining the free exchange of ideas, an exchange that is even more important when political passions are inflamed.
On another political front, we are encouraged by a measure of success in countering the deceptive propaganda of extremists who have attempted to muzzle professors in the guise of protecting the academic freedom of students. One of the most dangerous, because it has some superficial appeal and quotes our own statements on academic freedom is the seductively titled Academic Bill of Rights, which is being promoted by a failed academic named David Horowitz. Various versions of the bill, which would advance a right-wing political agenda and provide what is essentially affirmative action for conservatives, have been introduced in fifteen states this year. The good news is that the bill has failed in every instance. AAUP’s government relations office has been working closely with state conference leaders and others in nearly every state where the bill was introduced. In addition to working directly with our members, we have met with organizations representing students concerned with this issue, and convened a coalition of disciplinary organizations to discuss the implications of this legislation and the broader agenda of its proponents. We have also created a web page on “Political Intrusions Into the Academy” that includes information on the Academic Bill of Rights and our response to it. The General Secretary has forcefully and successfully debated Horowitz and other proponents of the bill on national television and in other venues.
It has been more than a decade since our last self-study. Accordingly, given the necessity to adapt to change or die, I have appointed two task forces. The first is charged with making recommendations on our election procedures for the Association as a whole as well as for the Assembly of State Conferences and the Collective Bargaining Congress. The second, the Restructuring Task Force, is charged with reviewing the entire structure of the Association so that it can operate most efficiently. Both task forces, comprising some of the most dedicated and expert of our leadership, have begun their work and will make their recommendations to Council in the near future.
Thank you for your continued support for our work. We are not always right when we speak out, but we are always wrong when we do not.
