We send this note with our best wishes for a happy and restful Thanksgiving. It’s been a busy semester at Mason and at GMU-AAUP, so we thought we’d reach out with a few updates on the chapter’s activities this Fall as well as our emerging advocacy plans for Spring 2022.
1. Faculty Workload Campaign – In November, our Executive and Organizing Committee met to develop our strategy for our Workload Reduction campaign, with a focus on faculty teaching feedback-intensive courses. Our EC + OC group includes term faculty and tenure-line faculty, and we have begun to connect with student leaders as well. After all, faculty working conditions are student learning conditions! When faculty are overworked, they can’t provide students the individualized attention they deserve. As it stands, our most teaching-intensive faculty–especially those teaching three or four writing-enriched and/or feedback-intensive courses–are sacrificing their lives outside of work and even endangering their health to keep up. We have to fix this now, and that means hiring more full-time faculty and reducing workloads for our most overburdened faculty colleagues. Our next EC + OC Workload Campaign meeting will be held on Monday, November 22 at 2:30pm-4pm. If you’d like to join us, please email tgibson1989@gmail.com for the Zoom link!!
2. Tenure for teachers – Last Spring, GMU-AAUP members put expanding access to tenure on the Faculty Senate agenda. In April, we introduced a resolution that would have required the Senate to develop a pathway to tenure for teaching-intensive term faculty, and the ensuing debate led Faculty Senate leadership to take on the issue this Fall. In September, the Faculty Senate charged an Ad Hoc Task Force (on “Faculty Roles and Rewards”) to propose policies that would open up pathways to tenure based on excellence in teaching alone, without requiring term faculty to develop research agendas. We are keeping track of the Ad Hoc committee and will update everyone when we learn more about any proposals under consideration. Follow us on Twitter @aaupmason to keep up with the latest news (or like our Facebook page).
3. Graduate student committee – Last Spring, our amazing graduate student committee won a key victory at the Graduate Council — all students whose studies were interrupted by the pandemic can now apply for a two-year extension on their time-to-graduation clocks. This policy will help so many students! This semester, the committee has been hard at work selecting their next campaign issue. Stay tuned for more beginning in Spring.
4. GMU Coalition for Worker Rights – Last month, the Coalition held a vibrant and well-attended rally in support of Mason’s custodial workers and demanded that the administration protect all Mason workers and adopt a Responsible Contractor Policy today (to see photos from the rally, click here). Stay tuned for more opportunities to get involved by following us on Twitter @aaupmason.
5. Membership drive – Please help us by recruiting more faculty colleagues and graduate students to become members of AAUP. We are stronger together, and the dues we pay to AAUP national come back to us in the amazing support we’ve received from AAUP staff. And don’t forget: we have a scholarship program that will help pay the cost of AAUP membership for faculty and graduate students who might have trouble affording annual dues. Please let your friends know they can join (or renew) by clicking this link.
In solidarity,
Tim Gibson, GMU-AAUP President
Bethany Letiecq, GMU-AAUP Vice-President
Betsy DeMulder, GMU-AAUP Secretary/Treasurer
