AAUP Louisiana Conference, June 29, 2020

Meeting: Executive Committee, LA State Conference June 29, 2020 Present: Elected Board Leslie Bary (President) Sudhir Trivedi (Vice President) Thomas Miller (Secretary) Kevin Cope (Treasurer) David Reid (At-Large) Ex Officio Members Vipin Menon (Media Manager) Brian Salvatore (Chapter Services) Consulted Asynchronously: Dayne Sherman (Communication and Outreach, ex officio member) Absent: Ravi Rau (Past President, ex officio member, on sabbatical AY 2019-2020) Purpose: Finalize and plan implementation of proposals from the June 20 general meeting  Meeting begins with quorum: 12:30 pm  Item I: SUBSIDIZING DUES – At the meeting June 20 it was recommended consideration be given to subsidizing membership at 50% for 10 faculty over a period of 3 years. The subsidies would be used to accomplish one of two goals: a) to increase African-American membership b) to increase membership on campuses that had an insufficient number needed for the creation of a campus chapter; or it could do both. Result – After some discussion it was decided that all interested faculty are invited to apply for the subsidy. Recommendations from campus chapters, nominations and self-nominations are invited for review by the State Conference Executive Committee (SCEC). Dues under $100 will be subsidized in full, dues above $100 will be…

President’s Newsletter and report on Zoom meeting June 20, 2020

June 23, 2020 Louisiana Conference, AAUP President’s Newsletter and report on Zoom meeting June 20, 2020 Executive Committee: Sudhir Trivedi (Vice-President), Tom Miller (Secretary), Kevin Cope (Treasurer), Dave Reid (At-Large), Ravi Rau (Past President), Dayne Sherman (Communication and Outreach), Brian Salvatore (Chapter Services), Vipin Menon (Media Manager) Action Items (ideally before next meeting August 8 – Executive Committee to meet earlier by Zoom / similar) Executive Committee Consider issuing COVID-19 statement, and/or signing onto and helping to disseminate the one from the Midwestern AAUP chapters Consider imlementation of survey of COVID-19 responses, perhaps together with ALFS Vote on the proposal to subsidize memberships for 10 African-American faculty, and discuss implementation Consider issuing a statement on diversity/George Floyd protests Consider forming a committee to follow up on Hugh Wilson’s proposal, on advocating for LA institutions to join SROP or create something like it here Consider signing onto the New Deal for Higher Education and organizing around its principles Chapter Leaders Get an AAUP spot at Fall orientation, both for faculty and for graduate students Get AAUP brochures into orientation packets for new faculty Discuss statements referred to in this document on COVID-10 and racial justice with membership Consider signing onto these…

AAUP Louisiana Conference, 25 April 2020

Leslie Bary, President Sudhir Trivedi, Secretary Louisiana Conference, AAUP Annual Meeting April 25, 2020 The meeting was held by Zoom, due to the coronavirus lockdown. Including officers there were 29 members present, from 13 Louisiana institutions: Centenary College of Louisiana, Grambling State University, LSU-Alexandria, LSU-Baton Rouge, McNeese State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, SU-Baton Rouge, Tulane University of Louisiana, University of Holy Cross, UL Lafayette, UL Monroe, and Xavier University of Louisiana. Discussion was wide-ranging but these are highlights. 1. Election of officers for 2018-2020. The Nominating Committee consisting of Christof Stumpf (Chair), Jana Lipman, and Carrie Chrisco presented a slate: Leslie Bary (President), Sudhir Trivedi (Vice President), Thomas Miller (Secretary), Kevin Cope (Treasurer), and David Reid (At-Large). Steven Rushing moved to approve the slate and was seconded by Nigel Gwee. The motion passed unanimously, and there were no nominations from the floor. The election will be run by SurveyMonkey before the end of the Spring Semester, and all members will have the chance to vote. 2. Committees. Current committee heads include Vipin Menon, Media Manager/Webmaster, appointed at the January 25 meeting in Baton Rouge. Committee heads serve on the Executive Committee. Committee A on Academic Freedom and…

President’s Newsletter, January 25, 2020

Louisiana Conference AAUP President’s Newsletter January 25, 2020 Today we met at the LSU Law Center. 18 members attended, representing Tulane University of Louisiana, University of Holy Cross, LSU-Baton Rouge, Southern University-Baton Rouge, LSU-Alexandria, McNeese State University, and UL Lafayette. McNeese now has 7 members and will be formalizing a chapter this semester. With them, and the recent reactivation of the chapter at Centenary College, we will have chapters at 10 Louisiana institutions. I am grateful for the participation of members from institutions without chapters and I urge every chapter to work to increase membership this year. Materials and training are available, and AAUP presence strengthens faculty and campuses. Monica Owens, political organizer from AAUP-national, gave a workshop on organizing strategies that was very useful. We worked with materials in the AAUP’s anti-privatization toolkit as examples of steps in an organization strategy, and we decided we need to hone our resolution to a more specific purpose before using it as part of an organizing campaign. Monica is available to consult with individual chapters by Zoom and can be contacted at mowens@aaup.org. We formed a nominations committee for Spring elections. Chairing is Christof Stumpf (LSU-A), cstumpf@lsua.edu. Members are Jana Lipman (Tulane),…