Professor Duane Storti (Mechanical Engineering) was elected to the AAUP National Council last year representing the Western Region. Here is his report from the National Council’s November 2003 meeting.

 Having now had a couple weeks to recover from the trip to D.C. and gain a bit of perspective, I thought I would write up and distribute some impressions of my first experience with the AAUP National Council. My purpose here is to try to provide an avenue for people to feel some at least indirect connection with what is going on with AAUP at the national level. (One of the national staffers made an interesting point that AAUP is there to serve the interests of academic professionals whether they are members or not - Perhaps AAUP is the NPR of professional organizations!? - so you don't have to stop reading if you are not yet an AAUP member.) 

 The first thing that struck me upon entering the meeting room was the quality of the people I would get to interact with. Many of you have had the pleasure to enjoy the insights and perspectives of AAUP officers and staffers who have visited UW in recent years to give talks or participate in workshops. The list includes Mary Burgan, Carey Nelson, Rama Murthy, Ruth Flower, Pat Shaw, Marcus Harvey, and Mark Smith. Imagine what it would be like to walk into a large meeting room filled with several dozen individuals of that caliber, and you will have a good idea of my first impression. (The other interesting note regarding the people in the room was that, due to coincidence and a lexicographic seating arrangement, I ended up sitting between two members of the Rutgers faculty, so some discussion of university presidents inevitably occurred during breaks in the action.) 

 I mentioned Mary Burgan above and, since she is retiring as AAUP General Secretary, one of the main orders of business was to interview candidates to succeed her. Conducting the interviews, discussing people's impressions and voting on our choices took up almost an entire day's business. That part of the meeting was not as laborious as one might expect. The candidates were all tremendously qualified and were pleasant (and often inspirational) to talk with. By the end of the meeting, the Council had authorized a negotiating committee to make a formal offer and work out details. It was very good news when we heard last week that the negotiations were successful and that Roger Bowen had agreed to come on board as the new General Secretary as of next Summer. Roger's background as a faculty member and academic administrator (one who actually succeeded in transforming contingent faculty positions into tenure track positions) and his status as a recipient of the AAUP's Alexander Meiklejohn Award for defense of academic freedom distinguish him as an outstanding person for the job of General Secretary. I feel quite confident that Roger will provide dynamic leadership and serve as an eloquent spokesperson for the principles of AAUP, attributes that will be much needed during a period when the academic community is facing numerous challenges. I hope you will all join me in welcoming Roger and wishing him good luck during his term as General Secretary. 

 Much of the remainder of the meeting involved the conducting of necessary routine business: presentation of committee reports and discussion and adoption of an operating budget for the coming year. I will not bore you with the details of such things; but, even in the midst of such mundane discussions, the frequency with which issues related to core AAUP principles and academic freedom surfaced in the discussion was striking. In the hope of partially addressing the ever present question "What has AAUP done for me lately?", here is a list of things that popped up during the discussion. Keep in mind that this is only a partial list of what AAUP has done (and continues to do) for you whether or not you are a member: 

 1) Perform studies and issue policy statements on topics of relevance to higher education and academic freedom. Policy statements recently issued or under development address the following issues: 

a) protection of academic freedom in the post 9/11 environment. 

b) appropriate oversight of intercollegiate athletics programs. 

c) status of contingent faculty and threats to tenure. 

d) work/family issues for academic professionals (funded by a Sloan foundation grant). 

 While people may sometimes question whether performing studies and issuing policy statements qualifies as action, the intent here is clear. By becoming THE leading source for information on the state of the academic profession, AAUP becomes the organization government officials turn to for input and the effectiveness of AAUP advocacy is greatly enhanced. 

 2) Continue the struggle to ensure that faculty members who are attacked because of their political or religious stance receive fair treatment and due process. (You may have heard of recent high profile cases in Texas and Florida.) A collection of 250 AAUP case reports that essentially comprise the "common law" record on academic freedom will be published on CD-ROM in the near future and provide an important resource for future efforts at protecting academic freedom. 

 3) Interact with federal government legislators and agencies regarding issues of higher education and academic freedom. Providing effective advocacy for college faculty at the federal level represents the major focus of AAUP activity. Recent efforts include: 

a) endorsing an amendment of some particularly problematic portions of the Patriot Act. 

b) communicating the magnitude of the impact caused on restriction of travel of international students and visiting scientists. 

c) dealing with legislative efforts to impose political oversight antithetical to academic freedom, in particular responding to the "Academic Bill of Rights", imposed political oversight of international studies programs, and threats to NIH research grants due to attempted interference by political action groups. 

d) publishing and distributing materials describing the potential adverse affects on higher education of the massive de-funding proposed in some versions of the Higher Education Act renewal. 

e) challenging efforts to institute federal price controls on college tuition without regard for impact on current and future college faculty. 

  At this point, I have probably tested your patience far enough. I hope this summary helps you to have a more specific idea of what the AAUP National organization is up to these days (please visit the website http://www.aaup.org/ if you want further details). 

 Finally, my role as a regional representative to the National Council includes facilitating communication in both directions, so if there are issues that are important to you that you would like to see addressed at the national level, please let me know and I will do my best to convey your concerns to the appropriate people at the national headquarters. 

 Sincerely, Duane Storti  

 Duane Storti 

Associate Professor

 Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Box 352600 

University of Washington 

Seattle, WA 98195-2600