With over 100 faculty in attendance, including 35 department chairs who were invited to attend, IUP’s Representative Council has elected to conduct a vote of no confidence in IUP President Tony Atwater. Three votes were taken, the first to authorize the vote of no confidence in the president. The second vote was of the members of Representative Council who voted unanimously no confidence in the president. The third vote was of the members of the Council of Chairs who also voted unanimously no confidence in the president. The vote is scheduled for December 14-16 with the result being formally presented to the IUP Council of Trustees at their December 17th meeting.

Follow this link for Indiana Gazette article on the vote of no confidence.

From: Cavanaugh, John

To: Quinn, Paul

Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 11:14 AM

Subject: RE: AACSB

Paul,

Thanks for your note. See specific replies below.

John

From: Paul Quinn [mailto:quinn@kutztown.edu]
Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 10:53 AM
To: Cavanaugh, John
Subject: Re: AACSB

Dr. Cavanaugh,

Thanks you for your email message this morning.  This is the first time we have had real clarity from PASSHE on this issue.  We are still trying to digest the impact of your words here on campus based on where we were in the accreditation process before your statements on Wednesday.

I have a few questions for you in regards to this matter.

1) So when you say that Kutztown needs to determine locally whether or not it wants to pursue AACSB accreditation, do you mean that the Kutztown Administration should determine it, or do you mean that the decision should be discussed through shared governance with the faculty and various governing bodies on campus?  I would say it needs to be discussed in a shared governance fashion, with very thorough discussion of the pros/cons. With AACSB, as I indicated in my remarks, there are real downsides for not doing it that should be considered. Some faculty indicated to me they came to Kutztown specifically because AACSB accreditation was a goal. Student recruitment also becomes an issue, as I discussed.

2) You refer to the shift in mandate that has happend these past few months in your email.  Has this shift been made known to the University Presidents prior to your statements on our campus? There has been general discussion only (i.e., that there would no longer be a mandate) recently. As a result, there have been no policy or procedure documents created yet.

3)Was State APSCUF made aware of this shift in mandate or the process that led to the shift in mandate via some sort of memo or the State Meet and Discuss meetings?  Because this change is very recent, I do not believe it has made it yet to the M&D at the state level (though I could be mistaken). That’s a result of the recency of the issue, nothing more. The actual process and details are still evolving, but in fairness to the campus I thought it would be an advance notice to make you aware of the upcoming changes. The performance funding task force will no doubt be recommending more when their work is completed; those will also be brought forward for discussion in appropriate venues (e.g., M&D). But because it had become clear that the accreditation mandate was not going to be one of them, I did not see a reason to withhold that information so decided to pass it along.

I apologize for the directness of my questions, but since your visit to our university, our College of Business has been thrown into a bit of chaos since WE were under the assumption that AACSB accreditation WAS a mandate until your statements on Wednesday.  I am just trying to construct a timeline to discern what happened and how to move forward.  Thanks for your time.  Your assumption was correct—it WAS a mandate until very recently.

Paul

I will try to provide additional updates later today or tomorrow.

Welcome to APSCUF-KU XChange. This blog is an unofficial, member-initiated blog for APSCUF-KU members (and others) to discuss all issues related to working at Kutztown University.  For the uninitiated, “APSCUF-KU” stands for the Kutztown University Chapter of the Association of Pennsylvania State Colleges and University Faculties.  APSCUF is the union that represents the faculty at Pennsylvania’s 14 State owned universities.

Why is this an “unofficial” blog? Well, for starters, I don’t think a blog devoted to discussion among members should have to have the approval of local or State leadership.  I believe that a strong union has its roots in an active membership.  And by active membership, I mean members who are invested in discussing issues that directly affect their work-lives and organizing collectively to solve problems, resist injustice, and improve work-life quality.  An active membership does not wait for dictates from its local or State union leadership before it acts–just the opposite.  An active membership organizes in order to set the agenda for its local and State leadership.  An active membership also privileges member-to-member communication.  Member-to-member communication is one of the best ways we have to keep on top of administrative decisions, to build solidarity, to gain a more complete understanding of the workings of our university, to develop effective responses to abuses of our contract, and to educate each other on 0ur contract and what it means to be an academic union member.

This blog can serve as a means for determining the merit of rumors that might affect our work lives (e.g. “Did anyone else hear that they were shutting down program X?” “What ever happened to the university’s plans to build a conference center?” “Someone told me that our State union is selling its building…is that true?”).  Sometimes rumors amount to nothing.  Other times, these little whisperings might key us all into something important.  The key is to separate the rumors with merit from the BS.

This blog can also serve as a clearinghouse of information about our union, our university, and the state of higher education.  Eventually, I hope that other members become interested in posting here too.  If you are interested in becoming a contributor to APSCUF-KU XChange, drop me an email at deepdemocracy@gmail.com.

Here’s to the discussion.