March 2024 Update

Working for Faculty Solidarity and Governance

It is with great gratitude and pleasure that I begin this inaugural communication as president of the Lewis & Clark Chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Over an extended period and bringing together a wide range of colleagues, ours has been a collective effort to strengthen faculty governance, foreground faculty perspectives, develop faculty community and advocate for faculty interests as we contribute to the collective mission of the College. From the start, we have also been committed to building solidarity with our staff colleagues, their union organizations, and their representative bodies. Our chapter is already more than 50 members strong, drawing on faculty across different campuses, divisions, ranks, and contractual statuses. Our opt-in email list includes over twice as many colleagues. To all who have expressed interest, shown support, joined our chapter, attended our inauguration celebration, and been involved: thank you for validating the value of our work and recognizing its importance to both our faculty and the College community more broadly. 

These letters will be one way for us to share what we have been accomplishing, what we are working on, and what’s on our radar. As importantly, this is an invitation to share your concerns, views and priorities as members of the full faculty “we” from whom our membership is drawn and whom we aim to represent. As issues are identified and taken up through these reciprocal communications, our emerging approach is to proceed in this sequence: research relevant information, conditions, constraints, models and options; report to the LC community on findings from a faculty perspective; advocate through established mechanisms of faculty  governance, solidarity initiatives, and other means of influence. 

Some advocacy issues may move quickly through this sequence, as we saw with the successful campaign to extend greater representation and salary transparency to Faculty with Term. Other issues will require a more extended timeline. In both cases, our AAUP officers and committees are committed to doing the serious work required to address issues of faculty importance. 

This year, we have been focusing on three main initiatives: 

1. We are building on the robust support that we have received from faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences by  increasing representation and leadership from the other LC schools.. Thanks to the enthusiasm of our colleagues at the Graduate School of Education and Counseling, we have already established a GSEC committee. Soon, we will be recommending to our membership that we officially expand  our steering committee to include GSEC representation. We have already begun to foster community and build solidarity with our GSEC colleagues, both by exploring school-specific initiatives and coordinating on issues that affect all faculty at the College. We are also fostering communication with colleagues at the Law school to gauge interest and invite participation.
   
   

2. We are extending support for Faculty with Term by organizing among all categories of non-tenure-line faculty who teach across the College. Following the approach taken by the major national organization (COCAL) that focuses on the working conditions of adjunct, part-time, and non-tenure track instructors, we have established a Contingent Faculty Committee. This committee, which includes leadership from non-tenure track faculty, is hosting listening sessions, building community, and inviting feedback. Alongside its work in identifying issues of concern to contingent faculty, this committee is in the process of researching for a report on the situation of non-tenure line faculty teaching on the CAS campus, attending to their extensive contributions, diverse work circumstances, compensation conditions, and common challenges. As national trends demonstrate the increased reliance on contingent faculty across higher education, we believe that now is the time to offer a comprehensive and transparent review of how these trends have been playing out at Lewis & Clark.
   
   

3. We are reviewing the state of faculty governance at the College. We look forward to collaborating with our standing faculty committees and the College administration as we work together to establish stronger faculty governance as an important pillar of institutional health. This work includes organizing towards the successful CAS motion to update the faculty handbook on an annual basis, a practice that is commonly understood to be a foundation of effective and transparent faculty governance. Towards this end, we are working on a faculty governance report that identifies where it is working well, where it has been denied, and how it can be improved.  

This priority responds to faculty concerns expressed about a recent pattern of institutional decisions that have been made without due faculty consultation, as required by the faculty handbook (section 2.4.3) and longstanding AAUP principles of faculty governance. These concerns are directed largely towards interrelated matters of curriculum and hiring, over which faculty have established authority and/or clearly designated consultative roles. Curricular concerns include: 1) the reduction of faculty-led overseas programs; 2) the restructuring of the Academic English Studies program; and 3) the extent to which the CAS Office of the Dean is managing course requests and modifications without due consultation from the Curriculum Committee. Correspondingly, faculty have been concerned by the fact that the Faculty Council was not involved in the approval of the faculty search in Entrepreneurship nor the discontinuation of the searches in Philosophy and Art. 

The strength of our faculty voice depends on the extent of our membership. If the issues we have identified and approach we are taking resonate with you, please join the national AAUP which will automatically make you a member of our local chapter as well.

We invite you to learn more about work by checking out our website, opting-in to our email list, or contacting any of us on the steering committee.  We welcome questions, ideas and concerns which can be shared via this feedback form.

In solidarity,

Oren Kosansky

President