April 30, 2016

The Louisiana Conference of the American Association of University Professors held its annual meeting on the Tulane University campus on April 30, 2016. Conference President Ravi Rau opened the meeting at 10:30 a.m. Attending were: Joe Mirando, Al Burstein, Sandra Loucks, Linda Carroll, Stephen Rushing, Dayne Sherman, Brooks Ellwood, Jana Lipman, and Sam Landry. President Ravi Rau submitted the attached President’s Report to the members. There was discussion of several cases at state institutions of higher education of detenuring and other matters of tenure and academic freedom that AAUP members have found troublesome. These include instances in which the decisions or recommendations of faculty committees have been overturned by the administration. The nominating committee presented the following slate of officers for the biennium 2016-2018: President: Ravi Rau LSU Vice President: Hugh Wilson, Grambling Treasurer: Mike Homan, Xavier Secretary: Leslie Bary, University of Louisiana Lafayette At Large: Dayne Sherman, Southeastern Louisiana University The slate was unanimously elected. President Rau raised the question of the state conference website and its updating. Dayne Sherman was named the new webmaster. There was discussion of requesting funds from the national association to develop it. There was a discussion of the state Committee A; Sudhir Trivedi…

President’s Report – November, 2015

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…

April 5, 2014

The annual meeting of the Louisiana Conference of the American Association of University Professors was called to order by President Brooks Ellwood on April 5, 2014 at 10:30 am on the Tulane University campus. Attending were: President Brooks Ellwood, Vice President Sudhir Trivedi, Treasurer Nicole Greene, Secretary Linda Carroll, At-Large Delegate Sandra Loucks, Chapter Services Co-Chair Ravi Rau, Past President Al Burstein, Leslie Bary of University of Louisiana Lafayette, Graham Owen of Tulane University, and Leo Happel of LSU Health Sciences Center. The agenda circulated by the president was proposed for approval. Sudhir Trivedi moved to add the consideration of a resolution supporting HB 142. The motion was seconded and carried. A motion to approve the amended agenda was duly made, seconded, and carried. The minutes of the executive committee meeting of February 1, 2014 as amended via email were presented by the secretary. A motion to approve them as amended was duly made, seconded, and carried. Elections for Conference offices. The Nominating Committee (Prof. Michael Fontenot, Southern University Baton Rouge, chair; Prof. David Otto, Centenary College; Prof. John Laudun, University of Louisiana-Lafayette) presented the following slate of nominations: President: Ravi Rau (LSU-Baton Rouge) Vice-President: Sudhir Trivedi (SU-Baton Rouge) Secretary:…

April 20, 2013

Minutes, 2013 Annual Meeting, Louisiana Conference, held jointly with ALFS and Louisiana Statewide Colleagues Collaborative, Louisiana State University in Alexandria, April 20, 2013 The joint portion of the meeting was called to order by Kevin Cope of Louisiana State University at 10:00 a.m. After introductions, the floor was turned over to Sandra Woodley, recently named President of the University of Louisiana System. She spoke about the importance of communicating to the public the extent and nature of faculty work and of faculty contributions to the community, concerns over potential further cuts to the budgets of state institutions, her intention to protect AAUP principles of academic freedom and tenure, and the potential of a number of good Louisiana institutions to become great ones. Michael Walker-Jones in his presentation “Senate Bills 117 & 118: Possible Faculty Response” announced that he will propose that faculty be included in the process of the choice of the system presidents and on the committee, established by SB 117, that will oversee ‘outcomes-based funding budgeting from the task force’.He advocated being active when the legislature is in session, affirming that simple involvement can turn things around. Louisiana Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell discussed the current state…