Feb. 24, 2024, 9am-1pm CT, on Zoom and in Person
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Brian Evans, Interim President, aaup.texas@gmail.com

Takeaways – Join AAUP

All presenters are speaking for themselves as private individuals.
They are not speaking on behalf of any institution of higher education.

The Zoom meeting is open to AAUP members and other academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance enthusiasts. Here’s the link to join AAUP and here are several reasons to consider joining AAUP.

Academic freedom is the freedom from censorship by the institution or the government. This freedom extends to teaching, research, and expression. Academic freedom allows professors to develop and disseminate new knowledge from all viewpoints, including conservative, moderate, liberal, and apolitical. Academic freedom also allows professors to help students develop the critical thinking, knowledge, training, and professional networks needed for successful careers.

American Association of University Professors (AAUP). We champion academic freedom, advance shared governance, and organize all faculty to promote economic security and quality education. AAUP, which has 45,000 members, is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which has 1.7M members including 148,000 professors. AFT is affiliated with AFL-CIO, which has 12M members.

Texas AAUP is an association of all AAUP members in Texas. Texas AAUP has members on 75 campuses and chapters on 19 campuses. Texas AAUP encourages all faculty to participate in shared governance on their campuses, esp. running for Faculty Senate and attending Faculty Senate meetings.

Abbreviated agenda

• 8:30-9am CT Check-in for in-person attendees
• 9-10am CT Academic freedom, shared governance, faculty representation, elections
• 10-11am CT New laws on firing faculty (SB18) & banning DEI (SB17) 
• 11am-12pm CT Proposed Texas AAUP affiliation with Texas AFT.
• 12-1pm CT Campus reports from AAUP chapters and individuals

Full Agenda

9:00am-9:05am CT  Welcome – Brian Evans, Interim President, aaup.texas@gmail.com

9:05am-9:10am CT Recognition of advocacy organizations in attendance:

• Black Brown Dialogues on Policy – Angela Venezuela, Founder and Director, and AAUP member
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund – Avatara Carrington, Civil Rights Attorney
• Texas American Federation of Teachers – Wanda Longoria, Secretary-Treasurer, Texas AFT
• Texas Association of College Teachers – Jim Klein, Past President of TACT and Texas AAUP
• Texas Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education – Shawntal Brown, Co-President
• Texas Council of Faculty Senates – Joey Velasco, President and AAUP member
• Texas Faculty Association – Pat Heintzelman, TFA President, and Vice President, National AAUP At-Large Chapter
• Texas Faculty Coalition – Karma Chavez, Co-founder and Co-director, and AAUP Officer
• Texas State Employees Union – Anne Lewis and AAUP member

9:10am-9:30am CT Academic Freedom and Shared Governance, Brian Evans, Interim President, aaup.texas@gmail.com

9:30am-9:40am CT Texas AAUP Office of Faculty Representation
Brian Evans, Teresa Klein, and Tony Villanueva
txconfaaup-facultyrepresentation@proton.me 

9:40am-9:45am CT Approval of

• Fall 2023 Minutes, Secretary, secretary-tx-aaup@proton.me
• Treasurer’s Report, Lynn Tatum, lynn_tatum@baylor.edu 

9:45am-9:55am CT Elections of Officers for two-year terms (July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2026). The Nominating Committee, formed at the Fall 2023 meeting and chaired by Jim Klein, received the following nominees by the Feb. 16, 2024, deadline, and hereby submit the following ballot of officer nominees:

• President: Brian Evans (UT Austin)
• Vice President: Teresa Klein (Del Mar College)
• Secretary: Brie Day
• Treasurer: Lynn Tatum (Baylor University)
• VP for Central Texas: David Albert (Austin Community College)
• VP for East Texas: Leonard Bright (Texas A&M University)
• VP for North Texas: DiAnna Hynds (Texas Woman’s University)
• VP for South Texas: Tony Villanueva (Palo Alto College, Alamo Colleges)
• VP for West Texas: Kim Walker (Texas Tech University)
• At-Large Officer #1: Miriam Sobré (UT San Antonio)
• At-Large Officer #2: Ann McGlashan (Baylor University)

The 12th Officer is the Past President: Jeff Blodgett (University of Houston – Victoria).

Jim Klein asked for nominees from the floor and there were none.

Outcome: Attendees voted on and approved the ballot of officer nominees.

9:55am-10:00am CT New By-Laws Committee – Teresa Klein (coordinator), Brie Day, Ann McGlashan, Lynn Tatum, and Tony Villanueva.

10:00am-10:05am Break

10:05am-11:00am CT Panel – New State Laws on Firing Faculty (SB 18) and Banning DEI Programs & Practices (SB 17) – see Additional Information below. All presenters are speaking for themselves as private individuals.

• Moderator: Teresa Klein, VP South Texas, Texas AAUP, and President, Del Mar College AAUP Chapter, terklein@gmail.com
• Panelist: Avatara Carrington, Civil Rights Attorney, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, acarrington@naacpldf.org
• Panelist: Karma Chavez, Officer, UT Austin AAUP Chapter, karmachavez@gmail.com
• Panelist: Andrew Martin, President, Texas Tech University AAUP Chapter, andrewwmartin@hotmail.com

Action item: Consider participating in a research study on the impact of SB 17 conducted by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D., by completing a questionnaire.

11:00am-11:05am CT Break and welcome to members of the Texas Council of Faculty Senates whose meeting just finished.

11:05am-12:00pm CT Proposed Texas AAUP Affiliation with Texas American Federation of Teachers (AFT) – see “Additional Information” Section below. All presenters are speaking for themselves as private individuals.

• Texas AAUP Conference Subcommittee
  • Brie Day, Secretary, secretary-tx-aaup@proton.me
  • Brian Evans, Interim President, aaup.texas@gmail.com
  • Teresa Klein, VP South Texas, terklein@gmail.com 
  • Tony Villanueva, At-Large Officer, and Texas AFT Higher Ed Committee Member, tvmc98@yahoo.com
• AAUP Representatives
  • Mark Bostic, Director, Organizing & Services, mbostic@aaup.org
  • Shawn Fields, Western Lead Field Organizer, sfields@aaup.org
• Texas AFT Representatives
  • David Albert, President, Austin Community College AFT Local President, and AAUP member, davidalbertphd@gmail.com
  • Zeph Capo, President, zcapo@texasaft.org
  • Wanda Longoria, Secretary-Treasurer, Wlongoria@texasaft.org
• AFT Representatives
  • Richelle Fiore, Director of Higher Ed Organizing, rfiore@aft.org

12:00pm-12:05pm CT Break

12:05pm-12:08pm CT Miriam Sobré & Habiba Noor, Organizers, Academic Freedom in an Era of Educational Intimidation Symposium, San Antonio, Feb. 2, 2024.

12:08pm-1:00pm CT Campus Reports (two minutes each). All presenters are speaking for themselves as private individuals.

• Reports from AAUP Chapters formed since the Fall meeting
  • Lamar University, Pat Heintzelman, Chapter President
  • Texas Woman’s University, DiAnna Hynds, Chapter President
• AAUP Chapters forming (how to form a chapter)
  • Sam Houston State University, Mike Vaughn, Convener
  • Texas State University, Rebecca Raphael, Convener
  • University of Houston, Daniel Morales and Emily Berman, Convener
  • University of North Texas, Todd Moye, Convener
• Reports from other AAUP Chapters Present
  • Del Mar College, Teresa Klein, Chapter President
  • Prairie View A&M University, David Rembert, Chapter President
  • Texas A&M University – College Station, Tom Blasingame, Chapter President
  • Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, Kelly Blazio, Chapter President
  • Texas A&M University – San Antonio, Daniel Braaten, Secretary
  • Texas Tech University, Andrew Martin, Chapter President
  • The University of Texas at Austin, Brian Evans, Past President
• Reports from AFT Locals
  • Austin Community College, David Albert, AFT Local President
• Open Mic

Additional Information on Agenda Topics

Texas Higher Ed ecosystem.  Our public and private colleges and universities collaborate in teaching, research, and community outreach.  Graduates of our private institutions become faculty members at our public institutions, and vice-versa.  From our Texas AAUP survey last Fall, faculty at private institutions reported the political climate in Texas was interfering significantly with recruiting and retaining faculty.  We’re in this together!

SB 18.  How do I fire thee?  Let me count the ways…  Although SB 18 defines 10 reasons for regular and summary dismissal for tenured faculty, public colleges and universities have been using SB 18 to dismiss non-tenure track and tenure-track faculty as well.  Of the 10 reasons, seven are vague or undefined.  All reasons can be weaponized by administrations.  SB 18 is now in law as Texas Education Code 51.942.

SB 17 bans certain DEI programs and practices in public colleges and universities. Although SB 17 has exceptions for academic course instruction and research, it has a chilling effect on both.  Certain discussions about DEI by faculty outside academic course instruction and research can be construed as training, which can lead to termination under SB 17.  Several administrations are over-complying with SB 17.

Proposed Texas AAUP Affiliation with Texas AFT.  Nationally, AAUP affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) on August 1, 2022, making all AAUP members automatically AFT members.  However, in non-collective bargaining states like Texas, Texas AAUP did not become affiliated with the Texas AFT.  From what I understand, having Texas AAUP become a Texas AFT Local would bring the following new member benefits and services for AAUP members at public and private colleges and universities: 

• Dispute resolution – staff reps handling employment issues specific to higher ed
• Professional liability insurance – covers a judgment against you.
• Legal representation – when facing a job action such as dismissal for cause.
• Legal action trust – pays $10,000 for legal costs for a case; $35,000 if not guilty.

The costs for legal representation would be shared among Texas AAUP, Texas AFT and national AFT.  It will take a couple of years for Texas AAUP as a Texas AFT local to build up the cash reserves to be able to fund these costs.

Texas AAUP worked closely with Texas AFT in Legislative Advocacy in the last session.  As an affiliate of Texas AFT, Texas AAUP would gain

• Professional advocacy and lobbying resources
• Weekly training during Legislative sessions
• Regular training during a Texas AFT campaign

Advocacy Amplified. Our advocacy is amplified by teaming with Texas AAUP, AAUP, Texas AFT, AFT, Texas Association of College Teachers, Texas Council of Faculty Senates, Texas Faculty Association, Texas Faculty Coalition, Texas State Employees Union, Black Brown Dialogues on Policy, Texas Students for DEI, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and other orgs.  Join AAUP.