The American Association of University Professors is a nonprofit charitable and educational organization that promotes academic freedom, tenure, and due process in American higher education. The AAUP has about 45,000 members at colleges and universities throughout the United States.

AAUP Proposes New Institutional Regulation on Part-Time Appointments

Washington, D.C. — The American Association of University Professors has formulated a proposed addition to its long-standing Recommended Institutional Regulations, which set forth rules that derive from AAUP policy statements in language suitable for use by an institution of higher education. The proposed new regulation lays out best practices for renewal or nonrenewal of part-time faculty appointments and delineates the rights that should be afforded to all part-time faculty and to those with specific lengths of service. The regulation says, in part, that:

• All part-time faculty members should receive the terms of appointment in writing and should have a right to a hearing in case of dismissal before the end of the period of appointment.
• Those who have served for three or more terms within three years should receive written notice of reappointment or nonreappointment no later than one month before the end of the existing term of appointment; receive written reasons, if requested, in case of nonreappointment; and have a right to appeal a nonreappointment that appears to be discriminatory, based significantly on considerations violating academic freedom, or attributable to inadequate consideration.
• Prior to consideration of reappointment beyond a seventh year, part-time faculty members who have taught at least twelve courses or six terms within those seven years shall be provided a comprehensive review with a view toward (1) appointment with part-time tenure where such exists, (2) appointment with part-time continuing service, or (3) nonreappointment.

The proposed regulation was authored by a joint subcommittee of the AAUP's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure and the Committee on Contingent Faculty and the Profession and was approved by both parent committees for publication.

"This historic document breaks new ground that is essential to the preservation of academic freedom," AAUP president Cary Nelson says. "Upon its implementation as policy, many of our most vulnerable colleagues will now have the due process and job security they need to be able to address controversial issues without fear of immediate reprisal."

Full text of the draft can be found on the AAUP's Web site at http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/policydocs/contents/RIR.htm .

Comments about this proposed new regulation are welcome and should be addressed to Gwendolyn Bradley in the AAUP's Washington office . The regulation may be revised in response to comments received before being submitted to the AAUP Council for adoption as AAUP policy.

AAUP Government Relations Committee Criticizes Commission Report

Washington, D.C. — Beginning from erroneous premises, the report of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education creates a false sense of crisis in its call for reforms. The report, to be released formally by secretary of education Margaret Spellings today, is seriously flawed in its fundamental characterization of American higher education. The Government Relations Committee of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is today issuing a statement on the report's findings and recommendations that presents a different vision of what American higher education has been and should be.

Since its founding in 1915, the AAUP has been the preeminent voice speaking for faculty, and for the principles of academic freedom and higher education's contribution to the common good. With over 45,000 members at colleges and universities all across the country, the AAUP will continue to participate in the national discussion on higher education initiated by Secretary Spellings and members of the commission. AAUP members testified before the commission on two occasions, and general secretary Roger Bowen wrote to the commission twice during its yearlong deliberations.

Rather than accepting the commission's prescriptions for reform, the AAUP statement issued today argues that fundamental values must be upheld if our higher education system is to continue its vital role in our democratic society. The future of higher education demands that state and federal governments provide adequate resources for students and for research; that the institutional integrity of higher education and the professoriate be recognized as important aspects of a society that values intellectual and academic freedom; that students be adequately prepared for success in higher education and that they not be burdened financially in ways that diminish their futures; and that higher education be held accountable in terms of its public purposes and multifaceted contributions to society.

The full text of the Government Relations Committee statement, along with other materials on the commission, is available on the AAUP Web site at http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/GR/

Contacts: , Gerald Turkel Chair, AAUP Government Relations Cmt. 302-831-1567 or John Curtis , 202-737-5900, ext.143

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Citation: , " Press Releases From the AAUP," SBL Forum , n.p. [cited Aug 2006]. Online:http://sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleID=590