Comments on Cary Nelson's New Platform

• Cary Nelson
• Posted by Jerry Pattengale , AVP for Scholarship & Grants at Indiana Wesleyan University on April 20, 2006 at 7:00am EDT

• Dear Scott;

  When I read or read about Cary Nelson, I sometimes think it would be a great panel discussion to have Nelson, Horowitz, Naomi Schaefer Riley, George Kuh and John Gardner discuss higher education--and perhaps Parker Palmer or Betsy Barefoot as moderator. The one thing that all of these scholars have in common is that their work ethic makes it possible for us to know where they stand on critical issues--they diligently study and systematize their thoughts, and true to Boyer's model of scholarship, give us a peek for critique. Some, like Barefoot, represent a more stately and cautious or balanced approach. And, from what I can tell, so does your staff. What I like about Cary is his sustained engagement through the years in these issues. While I find his interest in collective bargaining somewhat confusing to his other central issues--especially during this new economy and time for collaborating with the funding public--at the least his view is no suprise to the membership. While the AAUP is going backwards in membership, other organizations are realizing significant gains. Perhaps Cary can benefit from a dialogue with folks like Charlie Nutt and Nancy King who have helped to build NACADA into an organization surpassing 10,000 members this year, doubling in the past few years. The same seems to be occuring with interest in groups like the National Resource Center at USC (first year studies). And BTW, for the panel--if you want to have a rather lively and engaging (though predictable) respondent, ask Thomas Mortensen. His tirelessly brings an informed opinion to the table. Thanks for this update, and cogratulations to Cary Nelson.

• Posted by Zeke on April 20, 2006 at 7:45am EDT

• Although I wish him well, Cary Nelson has an uphill battle trying to rehabilitate membership in the AAUP. Although in prior decades AAUP may have been seen as a serious professional organization committed to academic freedom, today it is viewed as merely another labor union whose stance on academic issues, like tenure, is predictably doctrinaire, one-sided, and strident. Many professors, including myself, wish there was a faculty professional organization that would address complex academic issues in a balanced, objective and open-minded way. Unfortunately, the AAUP isn't that organization. Like thousands of other faculty members around the country, I let my AAUP membership lapse years ago.

• Outspoken Advocate
• Posted by Dr. P , Old Prof on April 20, 2006 at 9:40am EDT

• Having been in academia for decades and having seen the changes from logical thinking by administration to just unbelievable outcomes, we need strong advocates for the profession the voice of reason in decision making has been suffocated for some time. I wish the best for Cary Nelson.

• Posted by Let them fade away on April 20, 2006 at 9:40am EDT

• The AAUP remains a stunch defender of discrimination by race and sex. The idea that white and Asian male academics, particularly the young who bear the brunt of affirmative action, should join such an organization is preposterous.

• Congratulations to Cary Nelson
• Posted by Joseph Bernt , Professor of Journalism at Ohio University on April 20, 2006 at 9:40am EDT

• If anyone can turn around an increasingly marginalized AAUP, it's Cary Nelson. He will revitalize the organization and push it once again to the forefront of protecting faculty input into the governance of higher education at the nation, state, and campus levels. His election has long been awaited by a post-1970s generation of beseiged faculty.

  Long ago I let my AAUP membership lapse because I couldn't face the depression of attending chapter meetings on my campus of five faculty members arguing about the same number of positions or strategies.

  Recently I have returned to the fold. Two years ago, in response to increased faculty activism, the AAUP chapter at Ohio University was reestablished with a relatively young executive committee that has been calling meetings of active faculty members seeking to rebalance the relationship between faculty and administration on this campus, to restore the practice of shared governance, and to place the emphasis on undergraduate education at Ohio University. Cary Nelson is just the leader our chapter needs at the national level.

• Wishing Him Well
• Posted by RWH on April 20, 2006 at 9:40am EDT

• I suppose we all wish Gary Nelson well as new president of AAUP ... but he’s got a long, long way to go to resurrect that insipid and ineffective organization.

  In my opinion, Zeke is mostly right, but even as a labor union it is mediocre at best. With the support of AAUP and $5 on can purchase an overpriced, high calorie, cup of “coffee” at Starbucks.

  And Jerry, I recommend that you use “scholar” much more carefully in the future. I don’t doubt that those in your list have enough publications to destroy a small forest, but it is that group and others of their ilk who contributed mightily to putting us where we are in the first place.

  I am, personally, a bleeding heart, knee-jerk, liberal of the worst sort, but I think I can assure you it will not be my sweet friends on the left – nor will it be David Horowitz -- who will answer the complex questions and make the difficult decisions required to repair what ails us in higher education in the United States. In all fairness to Gary Nelson and AAUP – and, when it comes to the latter, I’m not inclined to be fair – they may be tackling something as inexorably impossible as global warning. Frankly, I am not optimistic.

  And, Jerry, about your “scholars” ... maybe there’s one somewhere in your list, but most strike me as being, at best, academics.

• AAUP
• Posted by Cary Nelson , Professor at University of Illinois on April 20, 2006 at 9:55am EDT

• Whatever else the AAUP is, it is not "just another union." We entered the collective bargaining domain over 30 years ago not to represent faculty but rather to help them represent themselves. In the AAUP model of unionization each campus defines its own needs and aspirations; we do not impose priorities on a local chapter. We need to do a better job of publicizing this fundamental difference.
  Of course over those 30 years the nature of the faculty has changed dramatically. Two thirds of the teaching is now done by contingent labor with no job security and often without a living wage or health benefits. Unlike traditional faculty, they cannot negotiate their benefits or working conditions individually. They need to act collectively if they are to be treated fairly. Thus traditional arguments against collective bargaining have little relevance to the emerging corporate campus.
  Meanwhile, the AAUP continues its objective investigation of violations of academic freedom and continues to be by far the best source of detailed policy statements about a wide range of higher education issues. I defy anyone to find a single AAUP policy statement in any way distorted by a collective bargaining perspective. On the other hand, when a strong union local defends a faculty member's academic freedom one begins to understand the value of professorial solidarity.
  Finally, one small correction: my reference to hundreds of email addresses referred to those signed up for AAUP listserves. We have addresses for thousands of members, but far fewer than we need. We plan to fix that problem this summer.

• Posted by Larry on April 20, 2006 at 10:35am EDT

• Let them fade away, Are you really saying that just because of past discrimination by people who are probably dead, those that have a similar ethnic background to the victims should not join the AAUP? Come on! People do what they think is best for them. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were notorious for discriminating against people. Yet, somehow, Asians and Jews really want to go to these schools now. Are you saying that Asian or Jewish parents should tell their kids not to go to Harvard because of their past biases?

  Whether the AAUP is a good idea, or effective is a different story.

• small typo
• Posted by Gregory Anderson , teacher at De Anza College on April 20, 2006 at 11:00am EDT

• In an otherwise flawless piece, the title of one of Professor Nelson's books was mis-written. The correct title is __Will Work for Food: Academic Labor in Crisis__.

• Posted by Jane Buck , President at American Association of University Professors on April 20, 2006 at 11:45am EDT

• Cary Nelson's election as AAUP president is a victory for the Association and for higher education. He has been and will continue to be a courageous and effective advocate for all faculty and for the highest professional standards.

  I enthusiastically endorse his comments above, just as I enthusiastically endorsed his candidacy. I will be privileged and honored to continue to serve on the AAUP Executive Committee as past president under his able leadership.

  The task he faces is, indeed, daunting, but I can think of no one better equipped to tackle it.

• Meet me at La Brea
• Posted by sillyone on April 20, 2006 at 2:50pm EDT

• I am proud to know that Cary Nelson will be out there defending the right of post-menopausal English professors to storm pro-life displays. But Jerry, here is a better panel group - Big Bill Haywood, Samuel Gompers and Mother Jones. After a rousing discussion, we could all wander down to the tar pits for a dip.

• Horowitz?
• Posted by Karl the Grouchy Medievalist on April 20, 2006 at 5:45pm EDT

• How is D. Horowitz a scholar?

  I'll grant you that he's a marvellous fabulist and a true demogogue in the mold of LaRouche. But a scholar?

  No way.

• On the other hand
• Posted by fred lapides on April 20, 2006 at 6:10pm EDT

• Some guy named Zeke would dismiss AAUP and ask for professional organization...to do what, Zeke? tenure, academic freedom, pay negotiations etc are the work of an organization that is willing to stand up against those who would curtail or diminish or dismiss the professional needs of faculty. Organizations for doctors and lawyhers may be "professional," but they are strong unions protecting the rights and needs of their membership.

  The problem with AAUP is that is half in favor of collective bargaining and half opposed to it. And they have for years done little or nothing for part-time teachers, so that at present the ratio of pt to fulls increaes at the expense of those who would make a career of teaching college.

• Good luck, Prof. Nelson
• Posted by A.D. on April 20, 2006 at 9:35pm EDT

• With regards for Prof. Nelson, a truth-teller in an ocean of whiners, complainers, and phonies --

  If he can link academic freedom to reducing student loan burdens and costs -- great.

  Otherwise -- the rest is B.S.

  Whoever deals with the former has the future. Unaffordable quality is no quality at all.

• One Concrete Suggestion
• Posted by Professor Zero on April 21, 2006 at 5:25am EDT

• The AAUP is a valuable organization and will become yet more valuable as it incorporates the changes Nelson suggests. The fastest way to increase membership, in my view, is to lower the cost of dues.

  I only pay AAUP dues some years. I feel bad about this because I use their materials all the time. The resources on academic freedom and tenure, for instance, are helpful to my department every time we do peer review, not just in tenure cases. The reason I usually don't join AAUP is the cost.

  I'm at a poor school in a poor state; not only are salaries low, but we have to subsidize our research and teaching pretty heavily out of our salaries if we expect to remain active in the profession at all. Sometimes I just don't have the cash to join--it is a big chunk. I'm not sure how these things work, but if it were possible to
  join at a cheaper rate in exchange for, say, not getting a paper edition of _Academe_, I wouldn't let my membership lapse as often as I do.

  Congratulations to Cary Nelson.

  Professor Zero

  [P.S. I foresee getting advice here, so FYI, I already get grants, consider moving, ask for salary adjustments, etc. I pulled in over $95,000 in external funding this year. What we are expected to subsidize ourselves at my institution, are the sorts of things agencies expect the universities they support to fund internally. Believe me, I am senior faculty, I understand what I am talking about, and I do not exaggerate.]

• AAUP and Collective Bargaining
• Posted by R. James Goldstein , Professor of English at Auburn University on April 28, 2006 at 1:45pm EDT

• I have been a fully dues-paying member of the AAUP for at least ten years and will continue to support the organization; I'm not quite ready for the tar pits. I share the view of others' that if anyone can turn around the membership decline, Cary Nelson is the man.

  However, for public universities in the State of Alabama, AAUP cannot serve as a labor union for collective bargaining purposes, because it is against our archaic 1903 State Constitution for public employees to form a union. This is a "right-to-work" state.

  When I discovered this years ago upon beginning my employment, I asked my department head, "Isn't that a clear violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of accociation?" He just shrugged.

  From the limited amount I know about Supreme Court cases involving higher education, I do not believe this state provision has ever been challenged. Nonetheless, if for no other reason, I consider my dues well spent knowing that AAUP will energetically investigate alleged violations of academic freedom.

• Good luck but not much hope
• Posted by Withdrew years ago on June 6, 2006 at 5:30pm EDT

• I withdrew from membership in the AAUP almost 20 years ago when I realized it was dominated by people who, despite their carefully-worded policies:

  a. Insisted on hiring preferences for women and minorities and discrimination against whilte and Asian males, and

  b. Were demons about academic freedom for women and minorities but were happy to see white and Asian males' speech suppressed and their jobs terminated unless they behaved like good little politically correct lapdogs.

  When the AAUP speaks about academic freedom, they are simply hypocrites. When they reform themselves, I will consider re-joining. But, I doubt that will ever happen. The organization is now so monolithic PC that it will have to die and another organization that represents ALL the faculty will have to take its place.