The following update is from the Ohio Conference AAUP:

On February 7, House Bill 49, the state budget bill, was released in full. It contained all of the components that we reported to you in our last e-mail. But it also included language about tenure that was not highlighted in the governor’s summary documents. Here is what it says:

(C)(1) The board of trustees of each state institution of higher education shall review the institution’s policy on faculty tenure and update that policy to promote excellence in instruction, research, service, and commercialization.

(2) Beginning on January 1, 2018, as a condition for a state institution of higher education to receive state funds for research that are allocated to the department of higher education under the appropriation line items referred to as either “research incentive third frontier fund” or “research incentive third frontier-tax,” the chancellor shall require the state institution to include a commercialization pathway for faculty tenure in its policy.

This language is ambiguous and appears to ask boards of trustees to do something that they already have the authority to do. The subtext of this seems to be that current tenure policies are not promoting faculty excellence.

Some institutions of higher education around the country have added commercialization as a criterion for achieving tenure. It appears that the governor wants faculty to focus more on inventions and other things that can be commercialized without it inhibiting the ability to earn tenure.

At minimum, this language would require institutions to revise their tenure policies to include provisions about commercialization. This likely would impact institutional governance documents and collective bargaining agreements.

This is just the starting point in the budget bill. We are in the midst of talking to legislators and getting a better sense of what they hope to achieve with this language. Certainly, there are legislators who would like to do away with tenure and have all faculty be at-will employees. We are working to educate lawmakers on the importance and benefits of tenure.

There will be a membership meeting on Thursday from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at 100 Walters on the Blue Ash campus. Lunch will be provided at 12:15 p.m. The meeting is open to full members of AAUP-UC.

We, of the Ohio Conference AAUP, are strictly opposed to the unconstitutional executive order issued by President Trump, which bans travel from Muslim-majority countries.

We support freedom of inquiry, freedom of association, freedom of religion, and freedom from fear.

Large numbers of our faculty members and our students are potentially affected

by this ill-conceived executive order, which violates so many American traditions and at our institutions of higher education.

Over 37,000 foreign students enrolled in Ohio colleges in 2016, representing a 5.6 percent increase over 2015. These students are an important part of our academic communities, our diversity, and none of them should face this kind of discrimination.

We believe in an America that openly embraces the world with confidence, not one that seeks to hide behind walls and religious bans. Instead, we are witnessing a dangerous attempt to expand the executive powers of the president through the misuse of executive orders in an attempt to impose an inappropriate worldview on a democratic nation.

We ask politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike, to push back against this administration’s attacks on individual freedom and the American way of life. We applaud those in the Ohio congressional delegation who have spoken out already against these injustices.

John T. McNay, Ph.D.
OCAAUP President

On Jan. 7, extreme Kentucky lawmakers passed right-to-work legislation. In Ohio, such legislation also has been brought forth locally by West Chester Township trustees, and also was touted in a recent op-ed in The Enquirer that suggested Ohio should enact a statewide right-to-work law. A more thoughtful analysis shows that right-to-work would be very wrong for Ohio.

Click HERE for the entire op-ed.

2017 JAMES C. AND CHARLOTTE PARADISE SCHOLARSHIP

The University of Cincinnati Chapter of the American Association of University Professors announces the award of a scholarship for the 2017-18 academic year.  The amount of the award is $2000.  Eligible nominees include any U.C. undergraduate at the level of Junior or above, who will be a full-time student at the University of Cincinnati for the academic year 2017-18.  Students can be nominated by any AAUP Bargaining Unit faculty member.

The Paradise Scholarship celebrates a partnership in life and law.  James Paradise was the legal counsel of the UC AAUP through five years and three collective bargaining agreements.  His expert knowledge of labor law was schooled by ten years as a National Labor Relations Board trial examiner and a General Counsel of the Brewery Workers International Union.  His commitment to academic freedom was demonstrated by his tenure as President and board member of the American Civil Liberties Union.  Charlotte Paradise was a teacher, an active member of the Cincinnati Women’s City Club, and her husband’s legal secretary for more than a decade.  Their careers and civic activities exemplify the excellence which the scholarship is intended to reward.

Nominees should have good academic records that evidence an ability to do serious study and a willingness to accept challenges.  Equally important, however, will be evidence that, in life outside the classroom, the student exemplifies the unselfish commitment to community service, concern for others, and willingness to defend human rights and civil liberties that characterized the lives of James and Charlotte Paradise.  Activities that are undertaken as part of membership in social or fraternal organizations will not be taken into consideration for the Paradise Award.

If you know a University of Cincinnati undergraduate whose life displays these qualities, please nominate by sending his or her name, address, telephone number and email address to the campus office of the AAUP:

We will contact all nominees to invite them to apply.

THE DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS IS FEBRUARY 8, 2017; APPLICATIONS ARE DUE, MARCH 10, 2017.  THE AWARD WILL BE PRESENTED AT THE APRIL 13, 2017 AAUP CHAPTER MEETING.