AAUP Executive Council Minutes
Monday, March 17, 2008
Room 302 McDowell Hall, 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
PRESENT: Linda Bucher (presiding), Leon Campbell, Gerry
Turkel, Danilo Yanich, David Smith, Steve Dentel, Pat Barber, Sheldon
Pollack, and Kevin Kerrane (secretary).
The meeting began in Executive Session with reports from the
Grievance Officer, David Smith, and the Contract Maintenance Officer,
Leon Campbell.
After approval of minutes for the February 18 meeting,
Sheldon Pollack summarized the Treasurer’s Report, which had been
distributed to Council by e-mail. The report showed
a net gain of more than $26,000 for 2007. Sheldon pointed out
that the chapter recently had been hurt by the sliding stock market
(with a net loss of about $5,000 through the first two months of 2008),
but still had $370,000 in cash on hand or cash equivalents.
As discussion turned to the collective bargaining process,
Leon Campbell explained
a proposed change regarding our proposal # 5, dealing with
the appointment or reappointment of department chairs. Leon suggested
that the language of the Faculty Handbook (under Section 2: Academic
Program Organization) could be strengthened by adding this note in
parentheses: “Revised via AAUP contract negotiations,
03/2008.” In supporting this change, David Smith said the
important point was not so much that the AAUP needed to know the
faculty vote, but that the vote actually had to be taken and
communicated to the dean, and from the dean to the provost, before the
appointment could be made.
Referring to a chart of Mid-Atlantic comparator institutions,
Gerry Turkel said that our immediate goal would be to catch up with
Rutgers and the University of Maryland.
In addition, the AAUP team is proposing to increase the
minimum salaries of Assistant Professors with a structural adjustment
of $5,000 in the contract’s first year. Linda Bucher observed
that structural adjustments would also be appropriate for Associate
Professors, but David Smith stressed providing more help at the lower
rank would have political advantages for us, especially in recruiting
new members.
Kevin Kerrane said that administration’s positions on
faculty salaries were likely to be based less on comparisons to other
institutions than on the effects of cutbacks in state funding, and that
we should prepare our responses accordingly.
Discussion focused on specific AAUP proposals for salary
increases, especially in relation to numbers in the current contract.
Linda Bucher announced that the ballots on the change in
chapter by-laws (limiting voting privileges on the contract to UD-AAUP
members only) would be mailed after the General Membership meeting on
3/19 (3 PM in Rm. 208). She added that several faculty members had
joined the chapter after the proposed change was announced. The
Steering Committee will meet to discuss bargaining issues after this.
The next Executive Council meeting is scheduled for Monday,
April 28, 9-11.
Respectfully submitted,
Kevin Kerrane
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