I joined the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) almost immediately after I first became a professor way back in the day. I thought it went with the profession, in much the same way that I joined the New York State Bar Association shortly after I became a lawyer. And then I discovered when I became an administrator that I was the enemy. I hung in for a while but eventually some issue or another took me over the top and I stopped paying dues and never looked back.
But I always believed it important that there be an AAUP, even if I myself was no longer going to participate. It was sort of like the student newspaper. I found myself regularly explaining to editors of undergraduate periodicals that even when the paper was criticizing me I thought it was imperative that there be a student newspaper. And yet, I confess to a little bit of schadenfreude when I started reading about the AAUP’s distress. Membership plummeted: “Good for them;” I thought, “perhaps they will develop a little humility.” Budgetary shortfalls: “Well, well;” I thought, “maybe they will discover it takes money to make the world go round.” But then I noticed that it was getting serious and it occurred to me that the organization might actually die. And that, I thought, was a bad thing. So, I’m pleased to see that the AAUP has appointed a promising new general secretary and I’m considering rejoining (hell, I am a professor again, after all) to put some money where my mouth is.
I wish Gary Rhoades G-d’s speed and I wish the AAUP president, Cary Nelson, well too, although I’d prefer if he’d be a little more temperate about university administrators. And I know it is not for me to say, but I couldn’t help think as I read the article about the AAUP in the September 12, 2008 issue of The Chronicle that it was probably a good thing that the new secretary was an academic or, as he is described, “a prominent scholar of higher education,” and maybe not such a good thing that in reading about his career I find no mention that he’s ever actually run anything.
I honestly believe that there is something to be said for experience. And that an organization like the AAUP that is trying to dig itself out of a hole might usefully have as members of its leadership team some people who have been, dare I say it, administrators and managers. What the AAUP seems to need now is vision, entrepreneurship, marketing skills — the sorts of things that universities, if you can believe the advertisements in the Careers section of The Chronicle, call for in university presidents: somebody who understands fundraising, the maintenance of resources, has a prior record of success, strong communications skills, the ability to work effectively and collegially, and an interest in external communities. Perhaps, after he saves the AAUP, Gary Rhoades might be persuaded to become the president of a university.
