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HOW
TO JOIN the AAUPP
Join online: go to
http://www.aaup.org/
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On the left side of the home page, click on menu item "Membership"
(4th item from the bottom of the menu).
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When the "membership" screen appears, you will see "Not
a member yet? Please click "here". Do so.
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The next screen will explain the various methods of joining. You can join
On- or Off-line. If you choose to join On-line, the next screen will ask
you to enter the state you work in (CA). After that, you get the actual
membership form. Whether you choose to join On- or Off-line, if you are
full-time faculty, you can join at the "entrant" level for $87.00
(half the fee paid by full-time faculty at institutions that offer tenure).
That fee will be good for the first 4 years of membership.
Hope this helps. Any more questions, feel free to email CalArts AAUP President
Bill Powell.
Join by mail: pdf
enrollment form
Whether you choose to join On- or Off-line, if you
are full-time faculty, you can join at the "entrant" level for
$87.00 (half the fee paid by full-time faculty at institutions that offer
tenure). That fee will be good for the first 4 years of membership.
AAUP
Briefing Document for the faculty at the California Institute of the Arts
1. What does
AAUP membership mean to an individual faculty member?
Membership is the only meaningful way to connect individual academic professionals
to the AAUP's broad defense of academic freedom, shared governance, and
faculty authority. Because we are dedicated to protecting the academic
enterprise in toto, the AAUP investigates alleged violations of academic
freedom or sound governance principles regardless of the membership status
of aggrieved individuals. As a business model, this would probably be
disastrous; however, the AAUP is not a business and does not behave like
one.
Our tax status is that of a 501(c)(3) educational charity and so our members
and chapters voluntarily place themselves to the fore in the fight to
ensure higher education's contribution to the common good. We need you
to support our principled defense of the Academy. You need us when academic
rights and responsibilities at your institution are threatened, diminished,
or abrogated. Joining the AAUP affirms your dedication to the education
profession and to your colleagues everywhere by maintaining the Association's
capacity to respond to challenges as they arise.
The AAUP has always relied on the brains and savvy of our members to formulate
policy, develop model practices, and spearhead faculty advocacy at the
national, state, and local level. When your membership comprises 45,000
of the smartest people in America, this isn't a bad way to get things
done! To facilitate member activism, the AAUP maintains an elite professional
staff of academics and lawyers whose collective knowledge of higher education
institutions and practices is enormous.
2. What would AAUP membership do for the Faculty Association?
AAUP chapters provide local members with an efficient conduit so that
they can tap into the resources available through the AAUP to press for
changes and improvements on their own campuses. At the local level, the
Association becomes the framework upon which faculty members can build
a more effective advocacy organization. By working in concert with the
faculty's existing governance bodies, AAUP chapters are able to pursue
effective "inside/outside" advocacy strategies. Moreover, by
becoming an AAUP chapter, the faculty association would position the weight
of the national organization behind the faculty's voice at the University.
3. What is the status of the AAUP in California?
The AAUP is well represented on California’s campuses. The AAUP
has members on over 100 of California’s colleges and universities
and functioning chapters at 24 campuses. We have an organizational affiliation
with California Faculty Association (CFA) chapters throughout the state,
and have this year established chapters at UCLA, Santa Clara University,
and the California Institute of the Arts. The California Conference of
the AAUP (CA-AAUP) has also recently embarked on a chapter service program,
which will augment the organizing and advocacy work of faculty at campuses
where chapters have been recently established or where chapter revitalization
efforts are in place.
4. What is the status of the AAUP in the Private sector?
While the AAUP has represents faculty at two- and four- year institutions
across the country, the Association disproportionately represents faculty
at private colleges and universities. With the precedent of the 1980 Yeshiva
decision full-time faculty at private institutions have lost the collective
bargaining protections offered by the National Labor Relations Board and
therefore many (although by no means all) of AAUP’s chapters at
these institutions are advocacy chapters. In California, the AAUP currently
has chapters at institutions similar to your own, including a well established
chapter at the San Francisco Art Institute.
5. What legal services does the AAUP make available to its members?
The Association maintains a database of attorneys around the country who
have some experience with higher education litigation. On request, AAUP
members seeking legal counsel can make use of our Attorney Referral Service
to help find suitable lawyers in their area. The Association also makes
available low-cost professional liability insurance to its members. No
matter how well you perform your professional duties, you can always be
sued. And regardless of whether the suit is unfounded or not, you'll spend
time and money to defend yourself. The AAUP Professional Liability plan
helps counter these risks. Among other things, it covers suits pursuant
to the dismissal or disciplining of other faculty member (tenured or not);
evaluations of students; judgments regarding the salary, promotion, or
work assignments of colleagues; and issues arising from publications for
which compensation did not exceed $3,000.
Although the AAUP's legal office cannot represent individual members,
it responds to informational inquiries, monitors legal developments around
the country, leads workshops, and offers presentations on higher education
law. In support of AAUP principles, our legal department submits friend-of-the-court
briefs in key appellate cases and this has helped give AAUP policy added
legal weight over the years.
6. What can
the AAUP do to help with governance?
Along with the Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, the AAUP's
prestigious Committee on Governance develops policy guidelines to help
institutions conform to sound academic practices. Both Committees investigate
substantive violations of AAUP policy with consequences that extend all
the way to on-site investigations and the formal censuring (for academic
freedom cases) or sanctioning (in governance cases) of institutional administrations.
Often, of course, the threat of such actions can have a salutary effect
and AAUP staff work hard to resolve problems long before such public exposure
becomes necessary. Nonetheless, it took AAUP censure to restore suitable
academic freedom protections to faculty in the Virginia Community College
system.
The AAUP assists local chapter leaders in a variety of ways and a great
deal can usually be accomplished simply through consultation with our
policy and organizational experts: the former providing guidance on best
practices and the latter specializing in more tactical advice about what
can most likely be accomplished given circumstances at the institution.
On request, AAUP staff will conduct a thorough review of specific policies
up to and including full review of the faculty handbook.
7. How does the AAUP help advocacy chapters with recruitment and
chapter development?
The AAUP holds various training events for faculty leaders of which the
most popular by far is our annual Summer Institute which typically draws
150-200 faculty leaders from across the country for three days of intensive
workshops. This year's Institute--held at Portland State University--included
sessions on higher education data sources and analysis, strategic communications,
negotiations, and government relations.
One of the hardest tasks of any volunteer organization is identifying,
recruiting, training and holding on to individuals committed to the organization
and its ideals. The AAUP’s Assembly of State Conferences sponsors
an intensive training session geared specifically toward faculty activists
in advocacy chapters. Our next training session will be held in the Washington,
DC office of the AAUP on Friday and Saturday, October 6th and 7th. The
workshops at this session range from an introductory course on the AAUP
to courses on designing and implementing a membership drive and the basics
of chapter management, as well as a workshop on a current issue of importance.
8. What is the cost of joining the AAUP?
In California, full AAUP dues are currently set at $173/year for full-time
tenured faculty. First-time members without tenure are eligible for half dues
($87 per year) for four years (the so-called "entrant" rate). Comprehensive (Mandatory) California
Conference dues of $6 are included.
9. Why should a local faculty association become an AAUP chapter?
Along with the reasons mentioned above, organizing a chapter is perhaps
the only way for faculty to move beyond the typical outrage-response cycle
that typifies the faculty experience at all too many institutions. In
the AAUP world, we recommend building and maintaining the collective strength
of the faculty precisely to avoid the need for dramatic responses to fresh
crises. One might call this the Swiss approach, but we just call it common
sense.
Practically, we recommend using AAUP member incentives (described above)
as a way to establish a local treasury. By setting local dues at a rate
just above that of the full national dues, the chapter can be assured
of relatively rapid treasury growth as members join under the entrant
rate, and will avoid the problem of "sticker shock" when membership
dues increase to their normal rate as faculty reach their fifth year of
membership.
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