President’s Report – November, 2015 – AAUP Louisiana Conference

The State Conference Executive Committee met on Saturday, November 7, 2015 at the Student Union of Southern University. Present were Leslie Bary, Al Burstein, Linda Carroll, Brooks Ellwood, Ravi Rau, Steve Rushing, and Sudhir Trivedi. Two guests attended, Gerald Hecht from the Psychology department at Southern University, and Commissioner of Education Joseph Rallo.

Commissioner Rallo spoke to some issues facing higher education, saying that the past two years have seen more challenges than ever. Nationally, the tenured ranks have shrunk to 25% of faculty. The humanities and liberal arts are especially out of favor, and competency-based education in the form of online degrees or certificates spreading (N. Arizona university offers now a 6 month $2500 degree.) The debt burden on students has meant, for instance, a precipitous decline in Law School applications.
Louisiana, in particular, has special problems. It has a highly under-educated populace with <50% holding high school diplomas. The budget for higher education has, in the past 7 years, been cut in half from $1.5 billion. Worse, two years ago, the TOPS item of $260 million, a separate item before, was moved into the regular budget, representing a further decrease in the $750 million number. Students are now paying 75% of the cost in tuition. The state is “fixated on work force,” legislators focused only on the existence of jobs (mainly in the oil industry) paying $75,000 plus benefits for workers with high school competency and a certificate of qualification in welding, process handling, etc. Legislators and many Board members seem not to see the need for 4-yr degrees, especially in arts and humanities, feel that faculty do not get it and are in a cocoon.
There is a “disconnect between faculty passion and advocacy.” Faculty try to reason on the value of higher education, not a winning strategy with legislators so focused narrowly on low-skill jobs.

In other matters discussed: The State Conference’s website is being upgraded. Campus chapters are also encouraged to have an active online presence and tie their websites to the state conference’s. There will be an annual meeting in April 2016, most likely on the Tulane University campus in New Orleans. Elections for new office bearers will take place at that time. For any ideas you may have for activities or speakers at the meeting, please let me know: ravi.p.rau@gmail.com

NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES

President’s Newsletter, April 27, 2021

April 27, 2021 8:04 am | By Leslie Bary

Dear Colleagues, Our annual meeting was held by Zoom April 24, with 18 people present including all members of the executive board except Secretary Tom Miller, whose Internet connection had been knocked out by the evening’s storm. Following are my... Read more →

President’s Newsletter – Winter 2021

February 8, 2021 8:29 pm | By Leslie Bary

Dear Colleagues, The minutes of the January 30 meeting are up in this site under Minutes (tab to the left), and will be mailed out over the listserv. Our April 24 meeting will be virtual due to the ongoing COVID-19... Read more →

Agenda for the January 30, 2021 general meeting

January 15, 2021 9:24 pm | By Leslie Bary

Agenda OFFICER AND COMMITTEE REPORTS Executive Committee: Letter on Garrett Felber Treasurer Ad hoc Committee on COVID-19 Other officer and committee reports (Committee A, Committee on Gender and Sexuality, Committee on Media Management, Committee on Outreach and Communication) Ad Hoc... Read more →

President’s Newsletter, 1 November 2020

November 1, 2020 11:14 pm | By Leslie Bary

The minutes of the October 24 meeting are up on this site, and have been sent to all current members. There was a rich discussion. We have a number of plans, and more issues identified for action. We meet again... Read more →

President’s Newsletter August 9, 2020

August 9, 2020 1:22 pm | By Leslie Bary

The following was sent to all members, except for two administrators (associate members; can see the mailing here), and one member who does not wish to receive mail (but can also read here). Dear colleagues, The August 8 Zoom meeting... Read more →