Quarterly Meeting, January 29, 2022 – AAUP Louisiana Conference

Dear Colleagues,

About fifteen of us were at the January 29 meeting.

Business decisions were:

1/ A constitutional amendment, allowing the Treasurer to serve as many as four rather than two terms. This, as you know, is in response to changes in banking rules in Louisiana, that make changing signatories on accounts a cumbersome process. Other Board members are still limited to two terms. The revised language has been added to the Constitution (available on this site), Article IV, Section 2.

2/ A nominations committee for April elections is in formation, chaired by Sudhir Trivedi (SU-BR). Ravi Rau (LSU-BR) is a member, and we are seeking a third member. Feelers are out but interested people should also contact Sudhir. The committee will prepare a slate, and if you are interested in a position, you should contact them. Nominations and self-nominations from the floor can also be made at the meeting. We need at least two new board members, due to term limits and retirements.

The main, very engaging presentation was:

Matthew Neale Boedy, President of the Georgia Conference of AAUP and Associate Professor of English at the University of North Georgia. Boedy discussed the multiple changes made in the University of Georgia system when Tristan Denley, recently arrived in his newest post as Deputy Commissioner for Academic Affairs and Innovation for the Louisiana Board of Regents, was an administrator there. Major changes to the meaning of tenure are one issue, but there are many other aspects to Denley’s work in Georgia, and he has been brought here for other reasons, BoR says.

Boedy discussed Denley’s record in Georgia, and the Georgia faculty’s response. Push-back came from AAUP but also from other faculty groups, who are continuing to work in concert. Below are the links posted in the chat, including the AAUP’s report on the revisions to tenure. You will see that much of Denley’s effort also went to curricular changes that were problematic in several ways.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wxDA8vyHwj_fuHJizNCqFTjhFW_LgYq3GJQk6J1D5WE/edit

https://www.aaup.org/report/academic-freedom-and-tenure-university-system-georgia

https://www.usg.edu/news/release/tristan_denley_named_new_chief_academic_officer_of_the_university_system_of

https://www.completegeorgia.org/what-momentum-year

https://www.completegeorgia.org/content/guided-pathways-success

https://www.usg.edu/college2025/executive_summary

https://www.usg.edu/redesigned_general_education

Our annual meeting will be:

April 23, 2022 at Southern University in Baton Rouge. There will be a speaker from AAUP national, and elections! There are business issues (e.g. letterhead, website) and projects (COVID report, faculty handbooks) pending, and we will take them up in due course.

In solidarity,
LESLIE BARY
2020-2022 President
Louisiana Conference AAUP