One Faculty. One Voice. One Hundred Years.
THE UCONN-AAUP REPRESENTATIVES ASSEMBLY:
INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE REPRESENTATIVES
Thank you for considering service to the UConn AAUP as a Representative in the new Representatives Assembly! Below you will find information that will hopefully help you to make your decision. If you have any questions that are not answered below, feel free to contact Barbara Kratochvil at BarbaraK@uconnaaup.org
What is the Representatives Assembly?
At a Chapter meeting in the spring of 2014, the UConn AAUP approved the creation of a Representatives Assembly, the structure of which was codified in an amendment to the Chapter’s bylaws (see below). Before these bylaws were enacted, the main decision-making and deliberative body of the UConn AAUP was the Executive Committee, consisting of the 3 officers and approximately a dozen elected members. The Executive Committee has been retained, but the Representatives Assembly was added to increase participation within the Chapter and make it truly representative of the will of UConn faculty. With your participation, the Assembly will help to ensure that the officers, Executive Committee, and contract negotiating committee truly represent the membership. When a much wider body of people are actively engaged in the AAUP, it will significantly strengthen its negotiating power.
Organization and Authority
Within the Assembly, the default unit of representation is the academic department. The body is structured so that most departments on campus get one Representative each. Larger departments – those with more than 45 faculty, inclusive of non-tenure track faculty – get two representatives. In addition, there is a seat in the Assembly for each of the five regional campuses, 2 special seats for adjuncts and 2 special seats for full-time non-tenure track faculty (in addition to whatever department seats that regional and non-tenure track faculty may hold). There is also a seat for Institute faculty (African American Studies, El Instituto, Asian American Studies).
The Executive Committee still holds most of the decision-making authority in the Chapter, but the Assembly is more than an advisory body. The Assembly elects a Chair and a Vice Chair who serve as voting members in the Executive Committee, and who represent the will of the Assembly to the Executive Committee.
Duties and Time Commitments
In short, being a Representative will require attending meetings of the Assembly (likely 2-3 times per semester) and will require attending the orientation for the Representatives. Beyond this, it will mainly involve keeping your eyes and ears to the ground, forwarding the concerns of your constituents to the Assembly or other AAUP bodies, informing your constituents of AAUP activities and discussions and trying to get them to take small actions when necessary. If you are elected to the Chair or Vice Chair position within the Assembly, you will attend and participate in the Executive Committee meetings of AAUP, every other week during the academic year.
According to the new bylaws, the duties of a representative are as follows:
a. Keeping their constituencies fully informed of AAUP activities and representing the individual and collective concerns of their constituents to the Representatives Assembly, the Executive Committee, and the staff.
b. Serving as a point of contact for the grievance issues of their constituents.
c. Forwarding concerns to the Executive Committee, the Contract Committee, and the staff on contract bargaining.
d. Encouraging colleagues to actively participate in the activities of the AAUP, and recruiting colleagues for service in the Chapter.
e. Attending Chapter meetings and orientations for representatives.
Nominations and Elections
Currently, the simplified nomination and election process is as follows: all UConn faculty will be asked to volunteer for service in the Assembly. If a department is allotted one representative, and only one person has stepped forward by the time the nomination window closes, that person will be the Representative. If, in a given department, the number of people who step forward exceeds the number of seats, then the AAUP staff will organize an electronic ballot election for faculty in that unit.
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Below is the new By-Law for the Representatives Assembly.
By-Law
E-2014
E. Representatives Assembly
The Chapter shall create and maintain a Representatives Assembly structured as follows:
1. Basis of Representation:
Upon ratification of this By-Law, the Executive Committee will divide the bargaining unit into Units paralleling, as far as possible, existing academic departments, interdisciplinary units, and other divisions. Where an academic department has 10 or more faculty, the department should be considered a Unit.
Representation shall be afforded to each Unit as follows:
Less than 45 faculty = 1 Representative
More than 45 faculty = 2 Representatives
Full-time, non-tenure track AAUP members shall elect up to 2 representatives for additional seats in the Assembly which are explicitly reserved for full-time, non-tenure track faculty. Adjuncts shall also elect up to 2 representatives to the Assembly for seats especially reserved for Adjuncts. This shall be in addition to whatever seats that nontenure track faculty hold as Unit representatives in the Assembly.
After the first year in which the Representatives Assembly is constituted, it will be the annual responsibility of the Assembly to evaluate the appropriateness of the Units, and, where appropriate, re-adjust as necessary. If a Unit is entitled to two representatives, strong efforts should be made to recruit at least one non-tenure-track faculty member to run for election, and to ensure representation at multiple campuses when applicable.
Members of the Executive Committee cannot simultaneously serve as Representatives, with the exception of the elected Speaker and Vice Speaker of the Representatives Assembly.
2. Duties:
Representatives are tasked with the following responsibilities:
a. Keeping their constituencies fully informed of AAUP activities and representing the individual and collective concerns of their constituents to the Representatives Assembly, the Executive Committee, and the staff.
b. Serving as a point of contact for the grievance issues of their constituents.
c. Forwarding concerns to the Executive Committee, the Contract Committee, and the staff on contract bargaining.
d. Encouraging colleagues to actively participate in the activities of the AAUP, and recruiting colleagues for service in the Chapter.
e. Attending Chapter meetings and orientations for representatives.
3. Authority:
The Representatives Assembly shall elect a Speaker and, when applicable, a Vice Speaker from among its members. The position of Vice Speaker will only be created in years where the Assembly has 30 or more Representatives. The term of office of the Speaker and Vice Speaker is one year. The Speaker and Vice Speaker shall each have a vote on the Executive Committee.
The Representatives Assembly shall make recommendations to the Executive Committee regarding issues facing the union. The Assembly shall also review the recommendations of the Contract Committee regarding terms to be sought in the contract agreement, and shall assist in gathering the data necessary to support such recommendations.
4. Elections/Nominations:
By December 1st, the Nominating Committee shall solicit the entire membership for nominations to the Representatives Assembly for the following fiscal year. From departments and units where there are more nominees than available seats to the Assembly, elections shall be held by electronic ballot or by a meeting of the faculty of that Unit, overseen by any person or persons approved by the Nominating Committee. Term of office shall be one fiscal year.
Nominations for the Speaker and Vice Speaker of the Assembly should be called no later than the first fall Chapter meeting or by October 15th, whichever comes first. These positions may be elected by secret ballot at an Assembly meeting, with 40% of the Assembly’s membership constituting a quorum, or by electronic ballot.