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American Association of University Professors
Illinois Conference Policy Council
Minutes of Open Business Meeting, Saturday, April 17, 2004, Columbia
College, Chicago IL
Present: Pangratios Papacosta (Columbia College), President, Joan
Berman (Barat College, DePaul University, Emeritus), Vice President,
Joseph Felder (Bradley University), Secretary, Leo Welch (Southwestern
Illinois College), immediate past President and Advocate in Springfield,
Lynne Meyer, Executive Director, Jan Cook (ISU), Walter J. (Jerry)
Kendall (The John Marshall Law School), Lesley Kordecki (Barat College,
DePaul University), Lisa Townsley (Benedictine University), John
Wilson (ISU Graduate Student), Editor of IL Academe
Absent: Michael Collins (Loyola University Medical Center), Robert
Hippensteele (Illinois Wesleyan University), Michael McIntyre (De
Paul University), Frederic W. Widlak (National-Louis University)
The meeting was called to order at 3:25 p.m. The minutes of the
previous year’s Business Meeting were approved.
President’s Report. All agreed that the Annual Meeting, just
ended, had been outstanding, though poorly attended.
1) Report of the President, Pan Papacosta
a) Pan made the arrangements for the Annual meeting and thanked
Ken Anderson for getting our speaker, Dr. Sylvia Manning, Chancellor
of the U of I-Chicago.
b) Pan reported that our Treasurer, Anne L. Draznin (U of I Springfield),
resigned mid-term for medical reasons. Since there were no volunteers,
Pan stepped in as Acting Treasurer and provided a brief Treasurer’s
report. Pan informed the Open Meeting that we now have a valid IRS
Tax ID number.
c) Pan reported that we now had a new accountant and that the previous
accountant, while putting u on a sound footing, had been more expensive
than anticipated.
d) Pan reported that we had received two grants from the Council
of State Conferences
e) Pan reported that we have received tentative approval of our
current dues level from the National office.
f) Thanks to John Wilson, editor, there were three editions of of
IL Academe. John sent them to all state conferences and to college
presidents throughout the state.
g) We renewed our contract with the company that maintains our website.
h) Pan and John Leahy (DePaul University), Past President, were
guest speakers at chapters that requested speakers.
i) We will continue to try to identify chapter officers.
j) We will improve the webpage, newsletters, and IL Academe.
k) We will prepare a brochure: “What Your Conference Can Do
For You,” and distribute it to chapters. It would about $1000-$1500.
New Business
a) Pan informed the Open Meeting that the Council, the previous
night, had authorized the executive committee to formally apply
for 504-C tax status, and to sign, on behalf of the Illinois State
Council, all state and federal legal documents necessary to establish
and maintain our status as a tax exempt organization. The Open Meeting
endorsed this authorization.
a) “Administrator of the Year” award. Jerry Kendall
made a motion to appoint a committee to develop criteria and process
for such an award and to report back to the Council at our next
meeting. John Wilson proposed that the award be open to administrators
and to non-faculty, including, for example, legislators and journalists.
b) Report of the Nominating Committee. Members present and reporting:
Lisa Townsley (Benedictine University) and Walter (Jerry) Kendall
(The John Marshall Law School). Other members were Peter N. Kirstein
(History & Political Science, St. Xavier) Ken Kantor (sp?) (National
Lewis), Ken Andersen (U of I). Walter Kendall chaired.
Nominees are:
President: Pan Papacosta
V.P.: Leo Welch
Treasurer: Lisa Townsley
Council members at large: Peter N. Kirstein (History & Political
Science, St. Xavier), Lee Maltby (Social Work, St. Augustine)
We also discussed creating a new Council seat for contingent faculty
and appointing Joe Berry to that position.
c) External Activities: Pan Papacosta, Ken Andersen, and Leo Welch
attended the Annual National Meeting as voting delegates from Illinois.
John Wilson and Joe Felder also attended (Joe as a member of the
National Council). The Illinois Conference sent Lynne Meyer and
Leo Welch to an AAUP Summer Institute in New Mexico. Pan Papacosta
was the keynote speaker at the Kansas State Conference.
d) Leo Welch suggested that we consider providing workshops on Academic
Freedom at the meetings of other organizations, such as the Statewide
Teaching and Leaning Conference in Springfield.
e) IL-Academe. John Wilson (ISU Graduate student), editor, reiterated
the need for news from chapters. John is considering adding state
legislators to the distribution list.
f) Barat and Mergers, generally. Lesley Kordecki (Barat College,
DePaul University), proposed addressing the Barat experience and
the concept of mergers in IL-Academe and elsewhere. She stated that
AAUP should be involved in developing policies and standards.
g) Legislative Report, Leo Welch. Leo attended the ACS CBC Conference
in Denver, where he learned about an attempt by state legislators
to identify and publicize the political affiliations of the humanities
faculty. While the attempt is on hold, public universities have
agreed to look into the political affiliations of their faculty.
This may be the start of a national movement.
Leo reported on IL HB 4073 that would have empowered public university
trustees to determine criteria for tenure and make tenure decisions.
The sponsor’s intent was to reduce perceived racial bias.
The sponsor tabled the bill after many groups, including AAUP expressed
strong opposition and presented the argument for leaving tenure
decisions up to the faculty.
Leo reported that there is a Legislative Coalition for increasing
funding for higher education. We will look into joining the coalition.
h) Delegates to the Annual National Meeting. We agreed that the
Conference would sponsor 4 delegates, Pan Papacosta, Leo Welch,
Ken Andersen, and John Wilson. Joe Felder will also be a state delegate,
but he goes at no expense to the Illinois Conference because he
is a member of the National Council.
i) Summer Institutes. We agreed that the Conference can sponsor
one or two people to attend summer institutes.
j) New Business: None
Meeting Adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
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