AAUP Purdue

Inside Higher Education reports today that Purdue Global has dropped the expectation that Purdue Global faculty sign a NDA as part of their terms of employment.  However, the expectation that students must forgo their legal rights and agree to undergo forced arbitration instead of bringing Purdue Global to court continues. 

Read the Inside Higher Ed piece here.

Tell Purdue what you think about its practice of requiring forced arbitration here. 

We will have our Fall meeting on Nov 1, 2018 from 5-6 pm in STEW 314.

We will share a more formal agenda closer to the time, but the current sketch of a plan is to review the chapter bylaws (which I will send out in advance), discuss chapter dues, and figure out both officers and Committee A membership, both of which are in dire need.  (I do have one new volunteer for committee A already. :-) )  If you have something else for the agenda that needs to be discussed by the chapter, please let me know as soon as reasonable.

Please, if you are interested in AAUP’s efforts, and haven’t yet formally joined, please do so here: https://www.aaup.org/membership/join
 

AAUP National is inviting faculty upset about the Purdue Global NDA to join with them in supporting a statement posted here.  Please join us by adding your name!

AAUP National posted today a press release about an NDA that it appears employees of Purdue Global are expected to sign.  

Purdue Global’s NDA states that any work product, including all course materials "or other intellectual property that arises in any part in the course of … employment at Purdue Global, is commissioned and owned by Purdue Global as a work-for-hire and may not be used, duplicated or distributed outside of Purdue Global."

“Asserting ownership over the faculty’s teaching-related materials undermines standard academic practice, violating faculty rights to their own intellectual property as well as their academic freedom,” Scholtz says. “This type of agreement would be unprecedented for a public, non-profit university.”

More information available through the press release here.

Hello!  It's been kind of quiet around here. We're getting back in the saddle with a whole new communication plan.  

If you have found this website, please make sure you find our other places for posting information too!

AAUP Purdue Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/aauppurduechapter

AAUP National: http://www.aaup.org

Already a member? Join our listserv: aaup-purdue@googlegroups.com

If you have questions, send us an email at aaup.purdue@gmail.com. Hope to see you at a forthcoming meeting, which when we schedule, we will post in all these places!

Purdue AAUP Spring meeting

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

PMU, room 263AB

4:30pm

"... is the freedom to teach, both in and outside the classroom, to conduct research and to publish the results of those investigations, and to address any matter of institutional policy or action whether or not as a member of an agency of institutional governance. Professors should also have the freedom to address the larger community with regard to any matter of social, political, economic, or other interest, without institutional discipline or restraint, save in response to fundamental violations of professional ethics or statements that suggest disciplinary incompetence.” 

 To view the entire presentation use the read more link to the right

Dear Fellow AAI Members:

Recent political events in the United States have caused distress to many of our members and have led some of our international members and colleagues to question the values of our great nation. This is deeply troubling to me as well: as your president, as a scientist, and as a U.S. citizen.

As you know, The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) is the nation’s largest professional society of research scientists and physicians who are dedicated to advancing our understanding of the complexities of the immune system and applying these discoveries to the development of urgently needed treatments and cures. We welcome members of every race, religion, ethnicity, age, disability, gender, and sexual preference and orientation. We take great pride in our diversity and in our international members, with whom we collaborate and from whom we learn. We believe that every member is important and contributes to the accomplishment of our shared goals.

Author: Sin Eun-jung, Verita$: Harvard’s Hidden History, PM Press, Oakland California, 2015.

A Review by Harry Targ, Purdue University in Socialism and Democracy, November, 2016.

About 25 years ago I was listening to one of the premier conservative radio pundits claim that the only institution “we” do not yet control is the university. That statement was prophetic in that the profusion of books and articles today document the multiple ways in which colleges and universities are being transformed by the neoliberal economic agenda, the pursuit of so-called STEM-based education, and the seizure of power in higher education by the Koch Brothers. 

The 2016 election has exacerbated a political climate that was already inimical to academic freedom. We have recently seen legislative and gubernatorial attacks on individual faculty members, course offerings, governing boards, the institution of tenure, and, generally, the institutional autonomy of colleges and universities. Websites such as Professor Watchlist are monitoring activities of faculty members and denouncing departures from what they view as acceptable. These activities have led to targeted harassment of faculty members. This presentation provides an overview of the concept of academic freedom, recent attacks on academic freedom, and how you can defend academic freedom.

Hans-Joerg Tiede is a senior program officer with the national AAUP in the department of academic freedom, tenure, and governance. He previously served as a professor of computer science at Illinois Wesleyan University.