Monthly Meeting of
AAUP, November 5, 2004
The monthly meeting of the Tennessee Tech chapter of
AAUP is scheduled for
12:20 p.m., November 5, in room 342,
visitors are welcome to attend.
Minutes of the October meeting are attached below.
AAUP MINUTES, 10/7/04, RUC 371, 11:00 a.m.
Members and guests present: Baker, Smith,
Osborn, Thomas, Fisk, Semmes,
Hinton, Kharif, Walker, Whitney, and McQuail.
Approval of Agenda: Motion made to approve the agenda. Motion seconded and
passed.
Approval of the Minutes of last Meeting: Wally Kharif
requested that the
minutes be amended to reflect that there are 40 members who have committed
to payroll deduction, not 42-44. Motion made to approve the minutes of the
last meeting. Motion seconded and passed.
President Whitney then introduced Laura Thomas to the group. She is a senior
journalism major whose beat is AAUP. She is in the process of interviewing
President Whitney for a possible article in the Oracle.
Committee Reports
Program: Kris Walker gave an update on the upcoming Forum to be held from
7-9:00 p.m. November 18. She is working with President Whitney, Katherine
Osborne, Tony Baker, and Andy Smith to put the forum together. They are
planning to show a short film about part-time faculty, and afterwards open
the floor to questions. She stressed that this would not be a debate forum.
President Whitney added that Bob Woodward, father of a Tech student, would
also be willing to meet with the us. He is a local
agent for the State
Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. President Whitney also told us
that Sheila Green in Nursing would be serving as an AAUP liaison.
Andy Smith told the group that he is collecting information on adjunct
issues at other schools, and that he has received a lot of positive
feedback.
President Whitney informed the group of two other developments: 1) a
recommendation has been made to change the school schedule again. Tony Baker
called the new proposal a "stagger" change. Classes would meet
Monday-Thursday or Tuesday-Friday; 2) request that the issue of adjunct pay
be added to the agenda of the November meeting of TBR.
President Whitney asked Tony Baker and Andy Smith to word a resolution on
adjunct pay to submit to TBR. Tony Baker will then e-mail the draft of the
resolution to the members for consideration.
Wally Kharif made a motion that Tony and Andy draft
the resolution. Motion
seconded and passed.
Membership: Wally Kharif stated that there are
currently 40 members still on
payroll deduction. Some members who have lapsed have been sent new notices.
He said that Gil Fernandez suggested that the State AAUP pay half the dues
for new members. The State AAUP already pays half the dues for contingent
members.
Motion was made to send full price membership flyer to all departments.
Motion was seconded and passed.
Treasurer: no Treasurer report for this meeting. Jon will be contacted and
his report included in the minutes of this meeting.
State Conference: Kathryn Osborne gave a brief report on the state
conference held recently. She said the meetings were very encouraging, and
that another meeting is planned for Spring.
Old Business: It has been suggested that the old faculty handbook be
revised. A recommendation was made to revise the faculty handbook. President
Whitney said that a good time to do this would be this coming summer. A
committee of three to five people would be good to work on the revision.
The Fall Social was discussed. President Whitney cannot host the event this
year. Kathryn Osborne volunteered to hold it at her home the week before
final exams.
New Business: an editor is needed for the local newsletter. President
Whitney asked for a volunteer. We will keep this matter open.
Kris Walker gave a report from the Inversion Pay Committee. She said she
spoke with Dr. Barker, and the money is there, but not plan has been
developed. Pay would be distributed next August.
President Whitney reported that Dr.
November or December AAUAP meeting. No firm date has been set yet. Wally
Kharif suggested that we develop some specific issues
that Dr. Bell may
address.
Lobbying: Kathryn Osborne suggested that we look at the issue of family
leave and how it is applied. We need to go to the TBR website and research
how family leave is applied.
The meeting adjourned at 12:00 p.m.