CONFERENCE ELECTS HOLMES AS PRESIDENT; $5 ANNUAL DUES OK'ed
BY James S. Wilson, Editor

The District Conference held its first elections last November and  chose George E. Holmes, Ph.D. as its founding president. The Conference also approved annual dues of $5 with the expectation that those who could give more would.

Prof. Holmes had been serving as interim president  since February 1998. Prof. Holmes has a tenured appointment at  Department of Microbiology at Howard University College of Medicine. Local AAUP members also selected by mail balloting the other officers of the Conference, including: Arthur Raines, retired from Georgetown University, as Vice President, Neil Reynolds of Gallaudet University as Secretary, Christina Berdichevsky of Gallaudet University as Treasurer, James S. Wilson of Howard University as Editor of THE ADVOCATE, Meredith Rode of the University of the District of Columbia as Member at Large and Mike McCaskey of Georgetown University as Member at Large.

The approval and payment of the $5 dues are critical for the survival of the Conference. Before the activation of the dues, the Conference was being financed from three different sources: grants from the National AAUP, grants from the Assembly of State Conferences and “out of the pockets”of the founding members. The publishing and mailing of the newspaper and ballots alone had exhausted the organization’s resources. The Conference can expand its operations and activities, consistent with the financial support it receives from its members.

As President Holmes renews and recruits  members, he feels blessed by people’s generosity,  “I am deeply moved and touched that so many people have reached down into their pockets to give extra. They look me in the heart, take out their checkbooks, and ask, ‘How much do you need, George?’. They are excited by what they’ve heard about the Conference and read in THE ADVOCATE. We’re taking the train on to glory.”
 

13 FACULTY SUE GW
Aftermath of Hostile Takeover
 
Thirteen faculty members, employed by Mount Vernon College (MVC) until May 30, filed suit against George Washington University (GWU) and MVC The complaints include breach of contract, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional or tortuous interference with contracts, and age discrimination. The suit was filed in The Superior Court for the District of Columbia, Civil Division on December 16, 1998.

The suit is the end result of what could be characterized as a “hostile” take-over. In 1996, MVC sought GWU’s help with financial problems. An affiliation ensued in which, GWU purchased MVC’s campus  and  gained the responsibility  to name MVC’s board of trustees. In turn, the MVC was allowed to remain as a separate legal entity, with its own faculty, administration, and staff. The affiliation included an agreement to honor MVC’s employment contracts affecting approximately 20 tenured and 10 tenured-track faculties.

When MVC President Lucy Ann Geiselman told her community at an assembly in 1996 about the affiliation, the news was greeted with applause. There was a sense that MVC had a future once again and it would continue its tradition of over 120 years of providing women in the District with an independent education.

While MVC was celebrating, a silent coup d’état was being executed. GWU replaced MVC’s board with GWU administrators, naming a vice president as chair. Then the trustees appointed a new acting president. Through these maneuvers, only faculty remained guardians of MVC contracts, traditions, core values, and mission - but not for long.

By the end of 1997, a “de facto merger” was accomplished in which GWU assumed MVC’s assets, liabilities and control of all academic activities. Six months later in a letter dated June 1, 1998, the new interim president of MVC, Grae Baxter, announced that MVC would “cease all of its academic operations as of the end of 1998-99". Furthermore, all faculties, tenured and non-tenured,  received a notice of job termination.  Although “bona fide financial exigencies” were cited as justification for these actions, data demonstrating a financial crisis have not been disclosed to the faculty or public.

Through their systematic takeover of MVC, GWU has added a second campus to its crowded Foggy Bottom location: 27-acres in the exclusive area on Foxhall Road  This valuable land offers GWU opportunities for athletics and other events.

The college will become GWU at MVC. Within the next three years, GWU forecasts that its campus at MVC will reverse its financial exigency and  will generate a profit . This is despite that fact that substantial sums of money have been invested in MVC including the upgrading of physical plant, computer equipment and professors’ offices. Most significantly, GWU has hired younger, temporary professors to replace the old, tenured faculty of MVC.

Feeling like Albanians in Kosovo, some faculty at MVC turned to the alliance of professors, the national AAUP, for help. Although sympathetic to their plight, the national office could provide little of substance in this case.  Clearly, members of the AAUP  must strengthen the organization by developing the necessary “white paper” on mergers to support our colleagues in their time of need.

Left with no other recourse, 13 MVC faculty have filed suit. The plaintiffs are establishing a non-profit corporation to raise funds to pay for their legal fees. THE ADVOCATE urges its readers to provide generous support to our colleagues in their time of need.

Donations to Legal Fund

The Faculty Action Committee
3715 Jocelyn St., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20015

DISTRICT CONFERENCE GROWS LEADERS
Who Will Create Academy's Future?
BY James S. Wilson,  Editor
 
I was fortunate to attend a one day, leadership conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on March 27, 1999. The morning and afternoon were filled with a busy schedule of workshops that provided background information, skills and  resources for many of the AAUP’s activities. Possibly the most important workshop was provided by the numerous informal discussions with other AAUP activists. James Richardson, president of the AAUP,  gave an inspiring talk that focused the diffuse activities of the day into a common vision.

The conference was sponsored by the AAUP’s Assembly of State Conferences (ASC) and Collective Bargaining Conference (CBC). This is the first time that the AAUP had combined its two arms into a single leadership meeting. Because most schools in the District Conference do not have collective bargaining contracts, I found the joint meeting most informative and useful.

The conference was organized around a series of workshops to develop leaders. One hour workshops were given in handling contract negotiations, employee-union relations, promoting faculty governance issues, mediating violations of tenure and academic, developing strategic communications, and building chapters and conferences.

At one workshop, I became acutely aware of the need to activate  Committee A on Tenure and Academic Freedom in the District. The workshop was led by James Perley, past president of AAUP. He told us that when Committee A was activated by the Ohio Conference, they received four cases during the first year and over 350 cases the next year. I suspect that the District Conference would have a very high case load if its Committee A were activated.

Prof. Perley emphasized that the effectiveness of Committee A and the AAUP in advocating for faculty rights is determined by the time, energy, and money its members are willing to put into it. He found that his own frustrations with the National AAUP were unjustified because they were operating on very limited resources.  Unless the profession is willing to abdicate its rights and responsibilities to other special interest groups, there is a price for being an “academic citizen” which must be shared by each member of the community.

Besides developing critical leadership skills, the conference provided important opportunities for networking with local, regional and national leaders in the AAUP.  Through these contacts, the leadership conference dispelled any sense of  isolation or hopeless that the problems facing the District Conference are unique and unsurmountable. To the contrary, I was most encouraged by meeting fellow activists who are most affective in protecting and advancing the profession despite marginal resources. All that it takes is a little bit of time, organization and an uncompromising commitment to the principles and standards of the AAUP.

The highlight of the conference was a talk given by James Richardson, President of the AAUP and Professor of Sociology and Judicial Studies at the University of Nevada in Reno. He traced the evolution of American society from agrarian, to industrial and into the information age of today.

Prof. Richardson emphasized  that schools have become society’s most vital institution as the workforce is dominated by the “knowledge” worker. Besides accumulating and disseminating information, colleges and universities provide citizens with the strategic skills necessary to acquire, process and use information. These skills are essential for America remaining competitive in a rapidly changing  global community.

Prof. Richardson predicted  that all schools of higher education will have collective bargaining agreements with their faculty in the near future: it is simply a matter of survival.  As our schools emerge as society’s FIRST institution, the profession is being challenged by other outside interest groups including the church, business and politics.  What is at stake is the control of the shape and future of higher education. Thus, the standards of the profession are under assault on all fronts. Prof. Richard provided a status report on several of the major engagements of the AAUP including the replacement of tenured faculty with part-time teachers, the accreditation of the  “virtual” (online) university, and the loss of intellectual rights with
distance learning.

I was able to attend the conference through a generous scholarship of $250 from  the ASC. Now that the District Conference is building-up its treasury through dues and donations, we will be able to grow new leaders by sending others to future leadership conferences.
 

DISTRICT CONFERENCE GROWS LEADERS
Leaders Meet in New Orleans
 
BY Arthur Raines, Georgetown University
 
On Saturday, October 31, 1998 the Association of State Conferences of AAUP held a Gulf Coast
Regional Meeting.  The meeting was held at Tulane University in New Orleans and was attended by about
50 AAUP members from dozens of colleges and universities, largely from the South and Southeast. Robin
Burns, Iris Molotsky and Jack Nightingale of AAUP National Staff attended and shepherded the meeting.

Workshops were held in the areas of  Communications and Media Relations, Working on Governance
Issues, Handling Committee A Cases (Tenure and Academic Freedom), Strategic Planning: Empowering
Conferences, and Chapter and Conference Building.

Issues which I felt were most helpful to our needs impacted mainly on the vitality and visibility of our individual chapters.  Although we were reminded that AAUP defends principles - not individuals- we must recruit and retain individuals if our chapters are to thrive and contribute to the vitality of our academic communities.

Things I learned included:
· Chapter meetings should be held regularly (preferably one per semester) and special meetings called
when necessary. Announcements of meetings should be prominently distributed by notices with a
consistent color, layout and logo to provide immediate name recognition. Meetings should be open to
all, with brochures and membership applications available.
·  Conference/chapter newsletters should be published regularly (four times a year if possible) using ads
to underwrite costs. Opinion pieces are valuable in stimulating discussion and provoking letters to the
editor that can be published subsequently.  Lists of local censored administrators get noticed and are
affective. The newsletter should be distributed widely - to members and non-members alike, as well as
legislators, administrators, trustees, and reporters who cover (higher) education.

• Cultivation of relations with the press is crucial and, if handled properly, can be symbiotic. Learn how to make  press releases using chapter stationary.
• To develop visibility of the AAUP in the community, chapters could sponsor special lectures, receptions for new faculty and awards/honors for faculty, legislators, administrators and students who make noteworthy contributions to the academy. Even gracious letters of congratulations or appreciation are useful in demonstrating appreciation and building bridges at little cost.
• Other powerful tools that enhance communication and visibility  include web-sites with links to the national organization's web-site (www.aaup.org.) and listservs that provide a forum where the community can discuss “hot” topics and issues. The necessary expertise and resources to use the world wide web are generally available to most AAUP organizations.
• Monthly or even quarterly meetings with faculty leaders, deans, provosts, chancellors or presidents can keep lines of communication open and allow personal relationships to supplement professional ones.
• Lastly, keep abreast of national issues as they are reported in Academe which can serve as an excellent umping off point for articles or opinion pieces.

 I would encourage all to attend our 1st conference meeting on June 11 in Washington D.C. as the opportunity to meet interesting people to build a network of leadship.