I speak to you today on behalf of the Illinois State University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors. We thank you for this opportunity to express our views to the Board.
The chapter would like to recommend to the Board those parts of the Fisher Report that we believe to be crucial to maintaining and improving the quality of education and research at Illinois State University. We especially wish to commend the Report's call for the adoption of a general model, like that of the Public Ivy University, which would inspire a shared effort to raise academic standards, although we believe that the entire University, along with the Board, would have to determine what that model would mean for Illinois State University in particular. We believe that the adoption of a model, like the Public Ivy model, could make a substantial difference in ISUs ongoing effort to provide the very best undergraduate education in Illinois.
An essential first step towards achieving such an academic ideal, we believe, is the Fisher Report's call for "accommodation on the governance matters before . . . the Board of Trustees and the University community." We believe the Report is right on the mark in its identification, as the fundamental means towards accommodation on governance issues, "respectful discussion and compromise" and the building of "mutual confidence and trust." It is in this spirit of respectful discussion and compromise that we offer these comments today.
An essential first step towards achieving such an academic ideal, we believe, is the Fisher Report's call for "accommodation on the governance matters before . . . the Board of Trustees and the University community." We believe the Report is right on the mark in its identification, as the fundamental means towards accommodation on governance issues, "respectful discussion and compromise" and the building of "mutual confidence and trust." It is in this spirit of respectful discussion and compromise that we offer these comments today.
The Fisher Report focuses on a means of reconciling the Board's legal responsibility and the Faculty's professional responsibility to ensure the future of academic excellence at ISU. It is critical, the Report suggests, that all accept the Board's legal responsibility for final decisions made by the University. It is equally critical that all accept that the Faculty -- as set forth in the 1966 AAUP Statement on the Government of Colleges and Universities and as cited by the Fisher Report --- have primary responsibility for decisions on academic and curricular issues and for those issues upon which the academic quality of the University depends: faculty affairs issues (such as appointment, merit, tenure, and promotion) and aspects of student life related to the academic process.
We believe that mutual acceptance of and respect for both of our responsibilities to this university are possible if we accept the Fisher's Report's recommendation of the 1966 Statement's guideline that, in academic issues, faculty affairs issues, and educational issues related to student life: "the power of review or final decision lodged in the governing board or delegated by it to the president should be exercised adversely only in exceptional circumstances; and for reasons communicated to the faculty."
If we can agree on the implementation of these governance principles, then we can work together to raise the academic standards of Illinois State University to the level of universities like Miami University and William and Mary. As a particularly effective means of bringing about the most productive joint effort, we recommend the 1966 Statement on Government's suggestion of direct, two-way communication "among the faculty, administration, and governing board." The 1966 Statement lists "joint ad hoc committees" among the means by which universities have achieved productive, two-way communication. It is just such a joint committee, the ISU presidential search committee, which, according to its faculty members, has been demonstrating that direct, two-way communication can reconcile the joint responsibilities of the faculty and the board. We believe the presidential search committee provides a crucial model for the future of decision-making at Illinois State University.
If we are to truly raise the academic quality of Illinois State University, however, we must also attract the best possible students and the best possible faculty. To do this, we must provide those excellent faculty members with the academic freedom necessary to perform the best possible teaching and research. This is why the ISU Chapter of the AAUP applauds the support that the Board of Trustees has expressed for tenure at ISU and urges it to continue to tenure approximately the same percentage of full-time faculty members in the future. Tenure is the only proven means of guaranteeing academic freedom and it is, without question, the only way to attract and keep the best faculty. With your continued support for tenure and with true collaboration, we believe that we can together make substantial progress towards offering to the citizens of Illinois a truly exceptional, undergraduate education. Thank you.
Jim Reid, President
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