Tuesday, August 15, 2006

By PIPER FOGG

A special American Association of University Professors committee
investigating layoffs, program cuts, and other moves by universities in the
wake of Hurricane Katrina is getting the cold shoulder from New Orleans
institutions.

The presidents of Tulane University and Loyola University New Orleans have
declined to meet with committee members, at least for the time being. And
the president of Louisiana State University System -- which oversees both
the LSU Health Sciences Center and the University of New Orleans -- has
proposed a number of changes to the meeting format, such as making the
meeting public. Committee members will be in New Orleans from August 28 to
30.

The committee's goal is to examine whether the universities followed their
own policies and procedures, as well as AAUP guidelines, in laying off
tenured faculty members and cutting academic programs in cases of financial
exigency. Committee members are also looking at whether faculty members had
enough say in the changes and at whether some academic policies and
procedures can be ignored in extreme circumstances. The committee plans to
release a report on the issues this fall.

The committee had hoped to meet with the top administrators at the four
institutions, which restructured their programs following last August's
devastating hurricane.

After declining to meet this month, Loyola's president, the Rev. Kevin W.
Wildes, said in a letter to Jordan E. Kurland, associate general secretary
of the AAUP: "If there is an agreeable time in the future when we can meet,
and if we can define clearly and agree upon, in advance, the purpose of
such a meeting, along with its scope and topics, I may meet with the
committee at some time in the future." Scott S. Cowen, Tulane's president,
wrote a letter containing similar language.

The president of the LSU System told the AAUP that the Health Sciences
Center and the University of New Orleans would prefer to get written
questions in advance and then choose the best representatives to meet
publicly with the committee, with lawyers present -- rather than privately,
as the AAUP had requested. A public meeting with some structure to it, says
P. Raymond Lamonica, general counsel for the LSU System, would be the best
way to conduct fact-finding.

"The notion of questions in advance and then a public hearing doesn't
interest us," Mr. Kurland said in an interview. But he said the association
hoped to work something out with the various institutions.

Meanwhile, several members of the committee will arrive in New Orleans
Wednesday night to conduct two days of interviews with New Orleans faculty
members and some administrators who have lost their positions. A handful of
committee members did the same last week. The full committee will return at
the end of the month.

Mr. Kurland said he was disappointed by the universities' responses. Still,
he said the case wasn't closed. "I hope there will be ... some discussion,"
he said. "If that means further visits to New Orleans, ... so be it."

Copyright © 2006 by The Chronicle of Higher Education