Dear Colleagues,

The Louisiana Conference of AAUP held its annual meeting April 23, 2022, at Southern University in Baton Rouge. Business was as follows:

1. Election of officers. The Nominations Committee had prepared the following slate.

President: Hugh Wilson (Grambling)
Vice-President: Vipin Menon (McNeese)
Secretary: Tom Miller (Southern-BR)
Treasurer: Kevin Cope (LSU-BR)
At-Large: Steve Rushing (Southeastern)

From the floor, Tom Miller was nominated for the Presidency, and won the vote unanimously. With the Secretary’s position vacant, Steve Rushing was nominated for it and won that vote, also unanimously. With the At-Large position now vacant, Phil Auter (UL Lafayette) was nominated, and won that vote unanimously. The Nominating Committee’s candidates for Vice-President and for Treasurer were also elected unanimously. The new offers are therefore:

 President: Tom Miller (Southern-BR)
Vice-President: Vipin Menon (McNeese)
Secretary: Steve Rushing (Southeastern)
Treasurer: Kevin Cope (LSU-BR)
At-Large: Phil Auter (UL Lafayette)

3. Senate Concurrent Resolution 6, on the creation of a task force on tenure in public postsecondary education. (The bill has since been amended to include representatives from each of the four university systems). The Association of Louisiana Faculty Senates has crafted a resolution opposing the plan, that AAUPLA has signed onto, but AAUPLA will also craft its own resolution, covering issues the ALFS resolution does not. The task force will need information on faculty about what tenure is and why it is needed, and the more faculty representatives it has, the better. We plan to ask for AAUP representation and for a faculty representative from each campus. It is to be noted that administrators including Jim Henderson (President, UL System) have spoken out against this most recent challenge to tenure, and that the concern of the resolution’s author appears to be political indoctrination of students by tenured faculty.
4. A brilliant presentation on organizing and activism by Prof. Bethany Letiecq, of George Mason University and AAUP. This was by Zoom and we intend to invite Professor Letiecq in person, as her experiences and recommendations have much to do with our our situation.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. The biennial meeting of the national AAUP is June 16-19, 2022 in Arlington, VA, right next to Washington, DC and on the metro line from DCA to L’Enfant Plaza and the National Archives. Votes will be taken for representation on National Council and on affiliation with the AFT, among other matters. Inessa Bazayev, active in the LSU chapter and incoming Faculty Senate President there, will represent the 8 Louisiana chapters who formed a section for voting.
2. All members are encouraged to attend the biennial meeting and conference. If you are in a chapter that did not form a section, please consider getting credentialed to represent it for voting.
3. The AAUP Summer Institute takes place July 21-24. We highly recommend it for everyone, and we have partially funded travel to it for Conference members in the past. If you are interested, please talk to us about financial support.

In Solidarity,

LESLIE BARY
President, LA Conference AAUP, 2018-2022

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