FA News August 3, 2020: Call for Remote Learning
August 3, 2020
The FA, in conjunction with GAU, has just issued the attached press release.
Filed under 2019-2020 Newsletters, COVID
FA News 7/10/2020
July 11, 2020 by Dave Johnson
Our latest newsletter can be found below, with some remarks on confidentiality re health records, the push to do 101 classes face to face, and the new ICE policy.
Filed under 2019-2020 Newsletters
Admin plan for reopening
July 2, 2020 by Dave Johnson
The SIUC administration released the plan below for the Fall of 2020 on Monday, June 29.
Fall Academic Planning Draft 6-29
Filed under 2019-2020 Newsletters, COVID
GAU/FA statement on reopening
June 29, 2020 by Dave Johnson
On June 29 the GAU and FA released this joint statement on the principles that we believe should guide planning for the fall semester.
Filed under 2019-2020 Newsletters, COVID
SIUC FA statement on social justice
June 19, 2020 by Dave Johnson
The FA has released a statement on the local issues raised by the murder of George Floyd.
Filed under 2019-2020 Newsletters
FA News (5/29/2020): Transparency and Honesty
May 29, 2020 by Dave Johnson
Dear colleagues,
This morning at the Board of Trustees meeting I raised some difficult questions, on behalf of the FA, about the appointment of SIUC’s new chancellor, Dr. Austin Lane. Our full statement is available on our website. These questions concern core issues about the honesty and transparency of the SIU administration, qualities which will be of the highest importance as we face the COVID-19 pandemic and the other issues before us.
I noted that the Houston Chronicle ran a story this morning about major irregularities in admissions and scholarships at Texas Southern University under Dr. Lane’s leadership. I also asked about the false statement in SIU’s press release about Dr. Lane, the claim that enrollment at TSU went up by 28% under his leadership. In fact, TSU enrollment from 2016-2019 went up by only 172 students, from 8,862 to 9,034, as one can confirm from the TSU website. That is an increase of 1.9%.
Filed under 2019-2020 Newsletters
Statement to BOT 29 May 2020
May 29, 2020 by Dave Johnson
Here is the full statement made by SIUC-FA President Dave Johnson to the Board of Trustees on May 29, 2020.
Filed under 2019-2020 Newsletters
FA News (4/15): Evals; chancellor candidates
April 16, 2020 by Dave Johnson
Dear colleagues,
I hope all of you are doing well during this difficult time. I have two matters of some important to share with you.
Student evaluations
As part of consultations with the administration, the FA has recommended that faculty (and GA’s) should be able to opt-in to doing student evaluations this semester. The GAU and NTT-FA have provided similar recommendations. Unless instructors opt in, no evaluations should be administered in any given class. Instructors may choose to do evaluations, either limited to their own purposes or for use in the promotion and tenure process, should they wish. They should be able to decide what use to make of evaluations after seeing those evaluations; there is a basic parallelism here with the Pass/Fail grading option for students. But instructors should not be required to do evaluations in the special circumstances we currently face.
It is our understanding that the administration will probably not require that student evaluations be used to evaluate faculty; but it is difficult to ensure that evaluations, once done, will not be used for such purposes, and so we have advised that evaluations not be required at all.
Filed under 2019-2020 Newsletters
COVID 3/20 (second email)
March 21, 2020 by Dave Johnson
Here’s the second email sent to faculty on 3/20.
Dear colleagues,
Apologies for multiple messages this afternoon/evening.
See below for an important message that is making its way down the hierarchy this evening. Faculty (and presumably GA’s with instructional roles) will continue to be allowed access to private offices for work deemed essential. Given the normal rate of communication from deans and chairs, it’s possible this message may not make it to all instructors in a timely basis, so I thought I’d send it out promptly. I’ve also been able to clarify one thing with Dave DiLalla this evening.
The policy of allowing faculty continued office access will come as a relief to many colleagues, but also raises issues we are all only starting to think through. Coming to campus will impose some risk, despite everything being done to keep campus safe. We have clarified with the administration this evening that faculty (and presumably GA’s) are not required to come to campus.
Filed under 2019-2020 Newsletters, COVID
COVID news from 3/20 (first post)
March 21, 2020 by Dave Johnson
Two separate newsletters/announcements came out on Friday, 3/20. Here’s the first.
Dear colleagues,
Please carefully read the new update from the Chancellor regarding the latest developments on campus, particularly in response to the state’s “stay at home” order. Such campus messages can be found here:
https://shc.siu.edu/coronavirus/campus-messages.php
Locally, there is some good news. I am happy to say that communication and consultation between the administration, unions, and constituency heads has been strong, particularly over the last couple of days. Some of our recommendations have yet to be implemented, and more questions will arise in the days to come, some of which will probably prove controversial, given the range of issues facing us. But so far we are doing a pretty good job of facing the crisis together.
Filed under 2019-2020 Newsletters, COVID
SIUC Faculty Association 