June 1999
Austin Peay State University AAUP Chapter Receives
1999 Beatrice G. Konheim Award
Washington, D.C.-The Austin Peay State Univeristy (Tenn.) Chapter of the AAUP is the recipient of the 1999 Beatrice G. Konheim Award. The chapter president, Richard Gildrie, along with Tennessee Conference President, Marius Carriere, accepted the award on Sunday morning, June 13.
The Konheim Award recognizes a chapter for “outstanding achievement in advancing the Association’s objectives in academic freedom, student rights and freedoms, the status of academic women, the elimination of discrimination against minorities, or the establishment of equal opportunity for members of college and university faculties.” The winning chapter receives $1,000.
Faculty members at Austin Peay State University have demonstrated exemplary leadership throughout a turbulent eighteen-month period from late 1997 to early 1999. It began with a “no confidence” vote for university president Sal Rinella by the faculty senate in fall 1997. But due to the faculty’s cooperative efforts in resolving contentious governance issues, the faculty went on to win the president’s grudging respect, and in December 1998, he praised faculty members as “honest, talented and hard-working.” And the APSU-AAUP chapter, established early in the conflict, has emerged as the leading voice for faculty at the Clarksville campus.
The vote of no confidence reflected the faculty’s sense of exclusion from effective participation in three areas of shared governance: creation and organization of academic and administrative programs and units; appointment, evaluation, and retention of academic administrators; and budgetary planning and implementation bearing directly on instruction, research, and public service.
Following the vote, the president formed a Communication and Coordination Committee (CCC) composed of faculty, staff, alumni, and community leaders. It provided recommendations for collaborative decision-making, communication, and collegiality. The CCC opened new lines of communication among administration, faculty, and staff. AAUP chapter president Dr. Richard Gildrie, a member of the CCC, said, “We have made good progress in all of these key areas and are continuing to work on other substantive issues as part of an ongoing process.”
By 1998-1999 the Senate had developed, with the strong support of the APSU-AAUP chapter, a regular pattern of evaluation of administrators conforming to AAUP guidelines. The chapter has established Academic Freedom and Governance committees and is working with faculty colleagues to ensure that AAUP standards are in place and being implemented.
Tennessee AAUP Conference president Marius M. Carriere, Jr., in his letter of nomination, wrote, “I believe the local chapter is a model for what other chapters should be doing to strengthen faculty governance and faculty rights at a time when there is increasing erosion in these areas.”