Posted on November 22, 2021February 16, 2022

Members + Friends – November 2021 Update

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 … Continue reading “Members + Friends – November 2021 Update”

Posted on June 27, 2021February 16, 2022Tags

The Costs of Secret Presidential Searches

by Bethany Letiecq and Judith Wilde April 2, 2020 First published in Academe Blog This is the second in a series of three George Mason-AAUP Academe Blog posts on lessons learned from the presidential search campaign. Read the first post on GMU’s campaign here. Over the past year, two of the Washington, DC, region’s largest public universities lost their presidents. The University of Maryland–College Park president, Wallace Loh, announced his retirement in 2018 and will leave at the end of June 2020. The … Continue reading “The Costs of Secret Presidential Searches”

Posted on June 27, 2021February 16, 2022Tags

GMU’s Campaign for a Public Presidential Search

by Bethany Letiecq, Tim Gibson, and Betsy DeMulder March 11, 2020 First published in Academe Blog This is the first in a series of three George Mason-AAUP Academe Blog posts on lessons learned from the presidential search campaign. Presidential searches conducted at public universities have become secretive processes that exclude most if not all forms of public vetting and engagement. Historically, finalists for presidencies were invited to campus to make public presentations and answer questions posed by the faculty, students, staff, and … Continue reading “GMU’s Campaign for a Public Presidential Search”

Posted on June 27, 2021February 16, 2022Tags

A Hard-Fought Win for Transparency at GMU

by Bethany Letiecq, Samantha Parsons, and Gus Thomson May 10, 2019 First published in Academe Blog We did it! We organized. We educated. We advocated. And with student activism, solidarity, and a collaborative spirit, we collectively achieved a huge victory for transparency at George Mason University (GMU). Last week, Provost Wu announced at our GMU Faculty Senate meeting that we will institute a new gift acceptance policy at our institution that will garner significantly more donor transparency and shed much … Continue reading “A Hard-Fought Win for Transparency at GMU”

Posted on March 22, 2019February 16, 2022Tags

Are We Next?: GMU Administration’s Stealthy Quest to Build a New Privatized Online University

by Bethany Letiecq, Betsy Demulder, and Tim Gibson March 22, 2019 First published in Academe Blog On August 24, 2018, George Mason University (GMU) President Ángel Cabrera floated an idea during our faculty convocation. In order to serve more students, especially those who cannot easily access and afford a brick-and-mortar university experience, such as single mothers, full-time workers, and veterans, he was exploring the build-up of a new fully online university akin to Purdue University Global. Like Purdue Global, this … Continue reading “Are We Next?: GMU Administration’s Stealthy Quest to Build a New Privatized Online University”

Posted on May 5, 2018February 16, 2022Tags

UnKoching George Mason University: The Power of Organizing

by Bethany Letiecq May 5, 2018 First published in Academe Blog When I joined the George Mason University faculty in 2013, I had already had a taste of what could be achieved when faculty, students, community members, and organizations work together in common cause. Earlier in my career, I helped organize a faculty union at Montana State University and, in my community-based work in partnership with Mexican migrants, I co-founded the Montana Immigrant Justice Alliance, which successfully sued the state … Continue reading “UnKoching George Mason University: The Power of Organizing”