Spectrum - Volume 18 Issue 21 February 22, 1996 - AAUP WWW site in service

A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

AAUP WWW site in service

Received from local AAUP

Spectrum Volume 18 Issue 21 - February 22, 1996

Faculty and staff members and students are invited to visit the new American Association of University Professors (AAUP) World Wide Web site created by the local AAUP chapter. The URL address is http://fbox.vt.edu:10021/faculty/aaup/index.html .

In addition to providing information of local interest, this site also provides a WWW gateway to two sites that contain extensive information on academic matters: Gopher Site for AAUP National Headquarters and American Communication Association-Documents on Academic Freedom.

Virginia Tech AAUP Information

The Virginia Tech information is subdivided into three categories: (1) Post-Tenure Review, (2) AAUP Asks, and (3) Other Information. The "Post-Tenure Review" section features an AAUP statement on postprobationary faculty review; an AAUP letter of opinion by Jonathan Knight (Jan. 11, 1996) concerning the current Virginia Tech "alternative sanctions version" draft post-tenure review policy; captures of some 1995 CFA and Faculty Senate minutes (which appear within the Virginia Tech WWW site) that contain debates on the post-tenure review policy; and several memos written by AAUP secretary/treasurer Peter Rony to CFA chairman Paul Metz.

In the "AAUP Asks..." section, three questions are asked: (1) Should you be concerned about the post-tenure review process? (2) What happened to the positive aspects of the post-tenure review process? (3) What about the following concerns with the post-tenure review draft policy? Rony has blended captured comments with a few signed commentaries to provide some insight into these questions.

In the "Other Information" section, a list of 1995-96 Virginia Tech AAUP officers, a link to the AAUP Redbook gopher site, links to other AAUP Web sites (including the newly created AAUP national headquarters Web site, which was inaugurated on Feb. 10, 1996), and a national AAUP dues and membership form, are provided.

Gopher site for AAUP national headquarters

The gopher menu for Southern Connecticut State University, which maintains the gopher site for the national AAUP, is located at gopher://scsu.ctstateu.edu:70/11gopher_root%3A%5B000000.AAUP%5D.

It contains information on governance matters at academic organizations. Most important is the complete electronic version of the AAUP Policy Documents and Reports (Redbook), which may well be the finest written example of how a complex organization should be managed with ethics and integrity for both employees (e.g., the faculty) and customers (e.g., students).

The News Bureau gopher lists 18 news releases on different topics of interest to AAUP. Included in this listing are five press releases of relevance to the Virginia Tech campus debate on post-tenure review and attempts to regulate tenure:

"AAUP Releases the 1995 Redbook," Dec. 12, 1995 [available for $14 to members and $22 to non-members; order by calling 1-800-424-2973]; "AAUP Creates Task Force to Defend Tenure," Jan. 17, 1996 [among other issues, the task force will look at proposals for systems of periodic post-tenure evaluation, the escalation of research standards as the major criterion for obtaining tenure, the corporatization of universities and colleges]; "AAUP General Secretary Responds to Tenure Critics," Sept. 14, 1995; "On Tenure," by Jim Perley, president, AAUP, Feb. 3, 1996; and "AAUP Report Faults Outside Attempts to Regulate Academic Activities in Public Higher Education," Jan. 18, 1996.

American Communication Association-documents of academic freedom

The gopher page, which is located at http://www.uark.edu/depts/comminfo/www/academic.html , provides 68 links to documents or sites concerned with the general topic of "academic freedom" as well as links to two Usenet sites, alt.comp.acad-freedom.news and alt.com.acad-freedom.talk . Sample links include: AAUP Policy Documents and Reports (Redbook); Academic Freedom in American Higher Education (ERIC); Academic Freefall: Whatever Happened to Free Speech?; Accuracy in Academia; Bill of Rights for Electronic Learners; Censorship Archive (AAUP Fileroom); Critical Thinking in the Classroom and Other Subversive Acts; Hate Speech on Campus (ACLU); Intellectual Freedom Collection; Loyalty Oath and Loyalty Assertion (Penn State); National Association of Scholars; Speech Codes (AAUP); Student Freedoms (AAUP); and An Unshackled Internet.