From the FWC Executive Committee
Hello everyone,
We've had a busy semester in this era of chaos!
- As the current federal administration continues to launch major attacks on higher education, we applaud the release of the American Association of Colleges and Universities' letter from April 22, "A Call for Constructive Engagement," in which college and university presidents "speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education." Jesuit universities so far signing the letter include Le Moyne, Georgetown, University of Scranton, Gonzaga, Loyola University Chicago, College of the Holy Cross, Loyola University Maryland, Santa Clara, and Fordham. The AAC&U continues to accept signatures, and we hope that Fairfield University will soon be listed on that letter.
- We wanted to draw your attention to information and a petition regarding the elimination of the stacks and study space on the top floor of the library (below).
- The FWC EC recognizes the long-lasting significance on faculty welfare of many of the proposed revisions to the Fairfield University Handbook currently before Academic Council. To ensure that faculty interests are accommodated and protected as much as possible, we are working with the university and our faculty colleagues on AC to hire and obtain an independent legal review of faculty-relevant sections. We will continue to provide updates on this process and hope to have recommendations from independent counsel before the provisions are voted on.
- FWC Executive Committee members have also been working this semester to engage with Human Resources and the International Faculty Affinity Group to facilitate a conversation about what can be done to support those international faculty who may be intending to travel this summer. A group of faculty met on April 23 for additional questions with Chris Frulla and attorney Ana Siscar, who recommends that faculty travel from JFK airport. If you would like to set up an individual meeting with the attorney, please email Chris Frulla in Human Resources at cfrulla@fairfield.edu. Chris is putting together a handbook for international faculty, and HR is advising that all international faculty planning to travel check in with him.
- We will also see everyone for the annual breakfast at 9 am before the General Faculty Meeting at 9:30 am on May 1 in the Dogwood Room, and then at the beginning of the President's Address to the General Faculty on May 13, during which we will present several FWC awards.
We are so close to the end of the semester!
All the best,
Sonya for the FWC Executive Committee
Crisis at the Library
The FWC has launched a petition that we invite you to sign and share with your contacts, including alumni and parents, regarding the plan to eliminate thousands of books and quiet study space on the 2nd floor of the DiMenna-Nyselius Library to build six classrooms. Launched on April 14, the petition quickly accumulated over 600 signatures, mostly from students and alumni, within a week. As reported in the Fairfield Mirror on April 23, "Faculty Brace for Library Renovation as Controversial Plan Plows Ahead," there has been no clear answer about whether the number of books to be eliminated is 10,000 or 65,000. Faculty have reported hearing that no books will be discarded, but this has not been confirmed.
Student surveys have revealed that students "want more group study rooms. They want seating to do individual work and collaborative work. We have both qualitative and quantitative data on this. Some of the feedback was collected in December 2024 and also from the student library advisory board over the past several years. Despite sharing this data, there was no reversing the decision.”
The FWC petition was developed after a brainstorming session and meeting after the last General Faculty meeting. During this time, we also brainstormed many places on campus for these books to be stored rather than discarded, including by installing shelves along the walls of the new classrooms (which will aid in soundproofing), as well as by storing them in shelves along open walls in the Writing Center, Math Center, and Science Center.
It is anticipated that the moving or selection of books to be discarded or stored will happen May 13. As the situation shifts and feedback and information from library staff is being updated, we are waiting to formulate additional plans and will let FWC members know as the situation develops.
New Edition of AAUP Redbook
The 12th edition of the AAUP Policy Documents and Reports, known as the "Redbook," has just been published. You can purchase a hardcover, paperback, or e-book version of the Redbook through the Johns Hopkins University Press website, using the code “HWUP” at checkout to receive your AAUP member discount. Copies will also be available at this year’s Summer Institute, July 17–20 in Atlanta at Morehouse College.
Academic Freedom Resources
Isaac Kamola, Director of the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, has shared these resources:
Monday, April 28: Higher Education Forgotten Pasts and Alternative Futures–Lessons from the CUNY Experience, 7:00 pm ET: Register here for the first in a series of virtual panel discussions co-sponsored by Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Education, Critical Legal Collective, and the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom.
Panelists will include American historian and author Dr. Ellen Schrecker, professor of economics and political science at Brooklyn College and John Jay College, CUNY, Dr. Corrina Mullin, and undergraduate CUNY student Musa Kareem. The conversation will be moderated by Professor Chaumtoli Huq, professor of law at CUNY School of Law, and will explore the history of support for higher education as a public good with free or very low tuition, and will include a close look at the example of the City University of New York (CUNY), past and present. Flyer here.
Tuesday, May 13: Policing Higher Education: The Antidemocratic Attack on Scholars and Why It Matters, 6:00 pm ET
Register here for a virtual discussion on Eve Darian-Smith’s new book Policing Higher Education: The Antidemocratic Attack on Scholars and Why It Matters.
Darian Smith (distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Global Studies and International Studies at the University of California, Irvine and fellow at the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom) will be joined by a number of experts. Panelists include: Camilla Croso (executive director, Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas), Karin Fischer (senior writer, Chronicle of Higher Education), Milica Popović (senior postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Culture Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences and former project lead at Global Observatory on Academic Freedom, Central European University in Vienna), Barrett Taylor (professor and coordinator of higher education, University of North Texas, fellow at the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom), and Jeremy Young (senior advisor, American Association of Colleges & Universities). The discussion will be moderated by Isaac Kamola (director of the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom and rofessor of political science at Trinity College).
We will talk about the extent to which academic freedom is protected across ranks and about the principle of civility, which also advocates for the ability of faculty to participate as citizens with "extramural utterances" on public issues. We will discuss On Institutional Neutrality, which reaffirms that institutional neutrality is neither a necessary condition for academic freedom nor categorically incompatible with it. Other resources include AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom and a recorded webinar on Academic Freedom Basics.
-
AAUP's Committee on Race and Solidarity announces a webinar on April 30 at 4:30 p.m. ET: “Campus Repression, Scholasticide, and Solidarity: Voices from Gaza": Scholars and experts use the term “scholasticide” to refer to the systematic destruction of the Palestinian education system. Over the past 18 months, all of Gaza’s universities have been wiped out and an unprecedented number of students, faculty, teachers, and staff have been killed. In the West Bank, Palestinian universities have been raided, students and faculty have been detained, and many higher education institutions have shifted to remote learning.
From AAUP National
|
|
For over fifty years, the AAUP has been fundamentally committed to ensuring that all students in all subjects are provided the full, fair, and honest education they deserve—that they have the freedom to learn. The AAUP holds that in order for colleges and universities to fulfill their public mission, they must endeavor not only to eliminate discrimination but to redress the persistent inequalities created by both past and present discriminatory practices and systems. As we noted in the statement On Eliminating Discrimination and Achieving Equality in Higher Education, “discriminatory attacks on efforts to advance knowledge about race, gender, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability are inseparable from a larger and even more dangerous campaign against core academic values—including shared governance, academic freedom, and tenure—and learning itself.”
|
|
|
AAUP is a member of HELU, which asks for support for two campaigns:
|
We promote faculty welfare, broadly defined, through chapter programs and activities designed to advance academic freedom, advance the economic and professional status of the faculty, encourage faculty participation in governance, and inform the community about AAUP standards and policy statements to ensure higher education's contribution to the common good.
