Join us for discussion and reports about:
Contract preparations
Survey to address adjunct needs
Delegate election to the Illinois Education Association Representative Assembly
Outreach plans to members
Local, state, and national union reports
RAFO leadership elections discussion
As always, refreshments will be served!
RAFO asked IEA lawyers to look at this, particularly the paragraph on "intellectual property." Those lawyers noted several potential issues and RAFO then urged its members not to sign the document. At the December 8 meeting, the University acknowledged that the paragraph on intellectual property was included by mistake and said that it would be removed.
RAFO is now urging that members wait for a new letter from the University and to sign it only if the intellectual property paragraph is gone.
RAFO also raised other concerns about compliance with the confidentiality issues and was told that the University has prepared a PowerPoint presentation which expands on the themes of the mailing. It is available on the RU website at http://www.roosevelt.edu/registrar/ferpa_files/frame.htm. If you have time (about 20 minutes), give it a look.
The Illinois Education Association is one of the partners in a march for education (focusing on funding reform) to be held Saturday, October 14 at noon downtown. The march will begin at Federal Plaza.
RAFO-ites,
I would like to invite everyone here to a staged reading of a new play about ... well ... you! "You" being "adjuncts," that is.
The play is called THE LEAST YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ENGLISH, it is A Comedy in Twelve Periods, and here's what you need to know about the play itself:
A young Ph.D. dreams of academic superstardom and adulation from fantasy co-eds. Those dreams smash face first into the reality of a community college classroom half-filled with barely literate and occasionally awake students. Will those heady dreams crumble and fade? If so, can happiness be found in hunting down dangling participles? We have two acts to complete the answer.
The play, to be directed by Greg Kolack (currently directing a production of THE EXONERATED at Raven Theatre), takes place Saturday, September 23, at 2 p.m. at Chicago Dramatists, 1105 West Chicago Avenue. Recommended admission is $5, and as this is a play-in-progress there will be a discussion afterwards about the strengths and weaknesses of the script.
It's fun. Please come!
RAFO has finalized plans for a forum / town hall meeting on the crucial topic of academic freedom. Entitled "Academic Freedom Under Fire," it will feature a four-person panel who'll examine the issue from local to national perspectives. There will be plenty of time for audience questions and discussion both about the issue and what can be done to protect academic freedom. Below is a list of the panelists. Follow the link below that for a copy of the flyer to post and distribute.
Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association
John K. Wilson, PhD candidate, author of Patriotic Correctness: Academic Freedom and Its Enemies
Jack Metzgar, retired labor historian at Roosevelt University
Tom Auxter, president of the United Faculty of Florida (an affiliate of the NEA and AFT)
Flyer for the Academic Freedom Forum / Town Hall Meeting
Adjuncts elected to the University Senate
Jan Bone forwarded a listing posted at HigherEdJobs.com stating that Illinois Institute of Art in Schaumburg is looking for part-time instructors in English and Math.
Also, LuAnn Swartzlander forwarded this notice about a full-time non-tenure track position in English at Loyola University:
The Department of English at Loyola University Chicago seeks qualified candidates for a newly authorized position as an Instructor of English for the Academic Year 2006-7. This non-tenure-track full-time position entails a 4-4 teaching load, primarily or exclusively in composition and core literature courses; the salary is competitive, with full benefits. Successful candidates will have an M.A., an M.F.A., or a Ph.D. and will demonstrate proven excellence in the teaching of composition as well as broad usefulness in the full range of the department’s core curriculum offerings. Applications, which should include a summary letter describing the candidate’s qualifications, a curriculum vitae, and a dossier with reference letters, can be directed (by U.S. mail only) to Dr. Frank Fennell, Chair, Department of English, Loyola University Chicago, 6525 N. Sheridan Rd., Chicago, IL 60626 and must be postmarked by July 15, 2006; interviews with finalists will be conducted in late July, and the fall semester begins in late August. Loyola University Chicago is in equal-opportunity affirmative-action employer. Minority and women applicants are particularly welcome.
We hope to vindicate this vote of confidence by continuing to work hard to defend adjuncts at Roosevelt and to improve their situation here.
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.F.D.R., March 1, 1945