President’s Newsletter, November 17, 2019

Louisiana Conference AAUP President’s Newsletter, November 17, 2019 Dear Colleagues, I hope this finds everyone well. In my role as District V Representative to the National Council of AAUP, I will meet with the Council in Washington November 22-24, and return to Louisiana with the latest national news. As you know, the changes to AAUP structure at the national level mean we must be active and support each other. I am interested in bringing as much national support to Louisiana as I can, and in placing as many of us as possible in direct contact with national leadership and leadership elsewhere in our region. In news of the state conference, a new chapter has formed at LSU-Alexandria. With the recent addition of a chapter at Xavier, we are eight: SU-BR and SU-Shreveport, LSU-BR and LSU-A, UL Lafayette and SELU, XULA and Tulane. That is two private institutions, two in the University of Louisiana System, two LSU and two Southern campuses. I would very much like to see LSU-S grow a chapter, to give better coverage in the northern part of the state. I would also be delighted to see growth at UNO and Delgado, as well as Loyola which has…

Letter from Louisiana: Advocacy Organizing in Red America

Guest Blogger / June 28, 2019 BY LINDA CARROLL For red state advocacy members, it is heartening that the national leadership and staff of the AAUP are planning a renewed emphasis on organizing in advocacy situations, as announced at this year’s June meeting. Advocacy organizing in red states has a number of distinctive features, as I learned from decades of work in a state located in a large and contiguous region that itself has become increasingly red (a condition common to many red states). In red states, institutions are often widely scattered over a large territory, which isolates them from one another. And at red state institutions, the proportion of faculty members willing to publicly identify with the AAUP is often small. While becoming an AAUP activist gains the respect of many colleagues, it often also puts a target on one’s back that will be aimed at not only by the administration but by faculty members who have decided to cooperate with or pacify the administration and/or the state legislature. At large institutions, the AAUP chapter is visible to disapproving members of the legislature—frequently the majority—which can intimidate faculty who have not committed to becoming activists themselves. At smaller institutions,…

President’s Newsletter June 18, 2019

AAUP Louisiana Conference President’s Newsletter June 18, 2019 Dear Colleagues, June 13-16 Brooks Ellwood (LSU-BR), Linda Carroll (Tulane), Steve Rushing (SELU) and I attended the AAUP national meeting in Virginia – Brooks, Linda and I in our roles on the National Council and Executive Committee, and Steve joining us as a State Conference delegate. Linda was also credentialed as a delegate from her local chapter, something we should be sure to get done for Brooks next year and ideally, for me as well. We would like to encourage other chapters to send delegates next year, and to help fund their travel. Structural changes to the national organization approved at this year’s meeting have implications for us. (1) Voting at the national level must be done in person at the national meeting, by elected representatives of a chapter or “section.” We could send only one person (as a “section”), or even form a “section” larger than Louisiana so as to share the cost of the delegate’s trip with another state conference. However, there are benefits to having more than one person attend since (2) the more representatives there are, the more accurately our views are represented and since (3) candidates for…

May 2019 Newsletter

Louisiana Conference AAUP Newsletter May 2, 2019 Dear Colleagues, The Conference met Saturday, April 27, at LSU-Alexandria. Present from the Executive Committee were Leslie Bary, President; Hugh Wilson, Vice-President, Kevin Cope, Treasurer (per Constitution, appointed to replace Michael Homan, who has resigned, for the 2018-2020 term), and Ravi Rau, Past President; and conference members/representatives from SELU, LSU-Baton Rouge, LSU-Alexandria, Grambling, LSU-Shreveport. Linda Carroll (Tulane) participated by e-mail. Business was as follows: 1. Report from Leslie Bary on ASC meeting in March, and from Leslie Bary and Brooks Ellwood (LSU) on National Council meeting, also in March. The proposed changes to the governance structure of AAUP at the national level will be voted upon at the June meeting in Alexandria, Virginia. Louisiana leadership and ASC leadership urge everyone to come to the meeting and vote, and to credential as many people as possible to do so. 2. Leslie Bary (National Council Representative for District V) and Linda Carroll (National Council At-Large) were credentialed as Conference delegates to vote at the national meeting. Individual chapters can also credential delegates. I can be credentialed for my chapter, or someone else can; Linda’s chapter, having over 25 members, can credential Linda and someone else,…