Cary Nelson

AAUP Election Results

Cary Nelson has been elected president of the AAUP for a third two-year term. Nelson is professor of English and Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a well-known scholar and academic activist. An author or editor of twenty-five books and the author of 150 articles, he has served on the AAUP’s national Council for ten years, six as second vice president and the last four as president.

From the President: Collaborative Budgeting

The AAUP has long been on the record about the importance of the faculty’s participation in budgetary decisions. The organization gave specific emphasis to the issue in its 1972 statement The Role of the Faculty in Budgetary and Salary Matters. Yet it is no secret that the recession has led a number of administrations to undermine this principle, either imposing actions without sufficient consultation or denying faculty members access to the financial information they need to make well-informed recommendations.

From the President: Will Any Good Come of It?

At its June meeting, the AAUP’s national Council opted for a one-year experiment in open nominations for the 2011 Council races. As in the recent rerun of the election for the chair of the Assembly of State Conferences, any member in good standing will be able to run for a Council position, either in his or her own district or for a nationwide seat. The only additional requirement is that each candidate submit a petition signed by at least six current AAUP members.

From the President: Corporate-Funded Research

Shortly after the news broke that BP was issuing research contracts with unusually restrictive provisions to scientists doing research on the Gulf oil spill, I published a statement of concern in Inside Higher Ed.

From the President: The Last Chance

Incremental state funding of public higher education is over. The annual legislative battle for a percentage increase in higher education budgets is now a losing proposition. That is one cold lesson of the last two years. The era of the state funding budget cycle for higher education has, for all practical purposes, come to an end. Public funding is being inexorably replaced by incremental cost shifting from states to students, with tuition revenue and student debt replacing tax dollars.

A Faculty Agenda for Hard Times

Thirty ways to leave higher education . . . in better shape than it is now.

From the President: Reforming Faculty Identity

Last year the AAUP’s Committee on Contingency and the Profession issued an important report titled Tenure and Teaching-Intensive Appointments. I have repeatedly endorsed its recommendation that all long-term college teachers be granted tenure at the percentage appointments they currently have. I always point out that the proposal is budget-neutral. It doesn’t make institutions give contingent faculty members a living wage; it just gives them job security, though of course they’d be better able to agitate for improved working conditions if they were tenured.

An AAUP Chapter Can Transform Your Campus

Big or small, established or fledgling, an AAUP chapter on your own campus can accomplish a surprising number of things that even the most committed faculty member can’t do alone.

From The President: I Want to Be a Member of a Faculty Union Because…

1. The faculty must be organized to advocate for its professional values, principles, and responsibilities, including its support for student rights.

2. The community would benefit from much wider and more organized faculty participation in campus life.

3. A faculty union can forge effective alliances between faculty members and other employee groups on campus and in the community.

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