AAUP Hosts Governance Conference

The AAUP held its annual governance conference October 26–28, 2012, in Washington, DC. The event featured workshops, panels, a reception, and plenary addresses discussing the role of the faculty in university governance. Presenters included Rudy Fichtenbaum, president of the AAUP; Larry Gerber, chair of the AAUP’s Committee on College and University Governance; B. Robert Kreiser and Gregory Scholtz of the AAUP’s national staff; Rick Legon, president of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges; and George Cohen, chair of the University of Virginia’s faculty senate, who spoke about the removal and reinstatement of UVA president Teresa Sullivan. Workshops focused on how to make senates more effective, the role of contingent faculty in shared governance, the role of the faculty in dealing with conditions of financial exigency, and other topics.

Gerber observed that the enthusiastic response to the conference reflected the seriousness of the threats to shared governance that many institutions of higher education are facing today.