2020 Summer Institute Online

In just a few months, the world of higher education has changed. That’s why there’s a new AAUP Summer Institute this year: it’s on your screen and it’s free. 

We will be presenting free webinars every Tuesday and Thursday between July 7 and August 4 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. EDT. Our July 16 and 21 webinars will be followed by hour-long breakout sessions from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Now is the time to organize for a better future for our students, the profession, and our communities. Our 90-minute sessions are aimed at the issues and challenges facing higher education today. Join hundreds of other academic workers to build your skills, get inspired, and make connections for your future activism.

Webinars will be hosted on the Zoom platform. 

Tuesday, July 7, 1:00–2:30 p.m. EDT
Opening Plenary: AAUP Members on the Frontlines of the COVID-19 Crisis

Medical and nursing faculty share their experiences working during the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss the best ways to support our chapters and members working directly on the treatment of the disease. Panelists will also reflect on the changes to their work with students and residents, the impact on their research, and the challenges of providing care in this historic crisis.

Panelists: Mary Nielson (Western Connecticut State University AAUP), Catherine Monteleone (Biomedical and Health Sciences New Jersey AAUP), Rebecca Singer (University of Illinois at Chicago United Faculty), Teena Chopra (Wayne State University AAUP-AFT), and Ibrahim Elali (University of Connecticut Health Center AAUP)

Thursday, July 9, 1:00–2:30 p.m. EDT
Campus Reopening: Guidelines, Challenges, and the Faculty Voice

The process for deciding whether and how to safely reopen campuses should significantly involve the faculty, from shared governance bodies to faculty unions. This panel will review AAUP policies and standards as they pertain to decisions about reopening, including matters of academic freedom. There will also be a review of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the legal claims faculty may or may not have to remain off campus. Additionally, we will examine the role of unions in determining reopening plans. The session will close with a consideration of how AAUP members can organize to win appropriate involvement in decision-making.

Panelists: Hans-Joerg Tiede (AAUP Senior Program Officer), Aaron Nisenson (AAUP Senior Counsel), Kathleen Stanley (United Academics of Oregon State University AAUP-AFT), and Patrick Love (Monmouth University AAUP)

Tuesday, July 14, 1:00–2:30 p.m. EDT
Building Chapter Democracy during the Pandemic

Anti-racism and social justice can help you achieve equity and democracy in your AAUP chapter. We will examine how systemic racism, white privilege, and white supremacy operate in organizations, and attendees will learn how to address and talk about diversity, inclusion, anti-racism, social justice, power, whiteness, white privilege, and white supremacy. Attendees will be asked to consider where the sites of power are in their chapters and institutions and how to open up key sites of decision-making.

The workshop leaders recognize that attendees are at different levels of understanding and comfort when discussing racial matters and will present topics in a way to accommodate those differences. Yet honest and frank discussions of race and racial matters are of paramount importance to eliminating systemic racism.

Panelists: Charles Toombs (San Diego State University AAUP and California Faculty Association) and Rosalinda Quintanar-Sarellana (San Jose State University AAUP)

Thursday, July 16, 1:00–2:30 p.m. EDT
How to Organize during a Pandemic, Part I

The need to observe precautions such as physical distancing presents new challenges to chapter organizing. But as AAUP members have found, we can still engage our colleagues, build relationships, and make important gains. In this session, chapter members will teach you how they have successfully organized membership drives, issue campaigns, and contract campaigns all while staying six feet apart.

Panelists: Tim Gibson (George Mason University AAUP), Julie White (Ohio University AAUP), and Sean A. Witters (United Academics of Vermont, AAUP-AFT)

Thursday, July 16, 2:30–3:30 p.m. EDT

How to Organize during a Pandemic, Part II

These breakout sessions will follow up on the material presented in Part I by allowing participants to share experiences and strategies with colleagues from other campuses. Discussions will be facilitated by members of the AAUP’s Department of Organizing and Services.

Tuesday, July 21, 1:00–2:30 p.m. EDT
A Practical Guide to Shared Governance in a Crisis, Part I

Financial exigency, force majeure, program cuts, reduction in force—these are the challenges that faculty governance faces during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under pressure, administrations may seek to minimize the faculty role in making key decisions about these matters in which faculty should have primary responsibility. This session will help you understand the AAUP’s recommended standards for faculty governance and equip you with practical steps you can take on your campus to ensure that the faculty voice is heard. We will also review relevant research highlighting the standard roles that faculty play throughout US higher education.

Panelists: Greg Scholz (AAUP Director, Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance), Hans-Joerg Tiede (AAUP Senior Program Officer), and Irene Mulvey (AAUP President)

Tuesday, July 21, 2:30–3:30 p.m. EDT
A Practical Guide to Shared Governance in a Crisis, Part II

These breakout sessions will follow up on the material presented in Part I by allowing participants to share experiences and strategies with colleagues from other campuses. Discussions will be facilitated by members of the AAUP’s Committee on College and University Governance.

Wednesday, July 22, 1:00–2:30 p.m. EDT

*New Addition* Implementing Title IX 

The US Department of Education released on May 6 its final rule under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The American Association of University Professors had earlier submitted comments on the proposed revisions to the regulations in response to the secretary of education’s 2018 request. This webinar will address the Department of Education’s final regulations and how to use shared governance to implement Title IX on campus. Topics include: changes by the Department of Education in defining “sexual harassment,” “hostile environment,” and university responsibility for addressing sexual harassment; university policies defining “mandatory reporters”; enforcing Title IX to prohibit sexual harassment while also protecting academic freedom and due process.

Panelists: Risa L. Lieberwitz (AAUP General Counsel) and Anita Levy (AAUP Senior Program Officer)

Thursday, July 23, 1:00–2:30 p.m. EDT
Voices of Dissent: How Faculty Can Support Student Activism

We are in a “movement moment.” In addition to the work of building their own chapters, AAUP members can challenge racism, austerity, and inequality by supporting student activists. This panel will feature the work of AAUP members who have worked successfully with student activists, and it will prepare participants to return to campus ready to do the same. We will also review some of the relevant legal protections as they apply to faculty and students speaking up and engaging in protests.

Panelists: Yolanda Flores (United Academics of Vermont AAUP-AFT), Bethany Letiecq (George Mason University AAUP), Michael Hames-Garcia (United Academics of Oregon University AAUP-AFT), Ben Anderson-Nathe (Portland State University AAUP),and Aaron Nisenson (AAUP Senior Counsel)

Tuesday, July 28, 1:00–2:30 p.m. EDT
Fighting Back against Austerity

This session will build your skills for researching, analyzing, and making arguments about financial data. You will learn how to evaluate the administration’s claims about campus finances, as well as how to propose alternative solutions for temporary shortfalls in revenue. The end goal is to prepare you to better challenge the administration’s austerity agenda.

Panelists: Howard Bunsis (Past Chair of the AAUP-CBC) and Rudy Fichtenbaum (Past President of the AAUP)

Thursday, July 30, 1:00–2:30 p.m. EDT
Bargaining in a Financial Crisis

Cuts to compensation do not have to be permanent, regressive, or conceded without gaining something in return. Learn more about how to minimize the damage of compensation cuts, how to trade them for advances on key noneconomic issues and learn about proposals designed to challenge austerity framing. Sample contract language will be provided.

Panelists: Sarah Lanius (AAUP Field Service Representative) and Mike Mauer (AAUP Senior Labor Advisor)

Tuesday, August 4, 1:00–2:30 p.m. EDT
Closing Plenary: Rebuilding Higher Education as a Common Good

The COVID-19 pandemic, the looming depression, and the national uprising against systemic racism have shown us that reform in higher education is needed now more than ever. How can we rebuild higher education around the pillars of equity, affordability, and quality? How can we better realize the role of our system of higher education in sustaining democratic society?

Panelists: Momin Rahman (Co-chair of the Equity Committee for the Canadian Association of University Teachers), Christopher Newfield (University of California at Santa Barbara), Annelise Orleck, (Dartmouth College AAUP), and Todd Wolfson (Rutgers University AAUP-AFT)