Warmest Congratulations to The Catholic University of America Class of 2018!
The community at Save Catholic has several updates to report.
On May 9, 2018, the Academic Senate voted to forward an amended version of the Proposal for Academic Renewal to Catholic University’s Board of Trustees. The Senate’s vote was procedural, and not for formal approval of the plan. The Senate will also forward the full report from the Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Renewal, with all appendices, to the Board.
On May 11, the amended version of the Proposal for Academic Renewal was released. While this newest version of the Proposal still does not explicitly protect tenure at The Catholic University of America, is a significantly changed and improved document. All references to the elimination of tenured positions have been removed from the text of the proposal, as has the tiered teaching system. These improvements are a significant victory for Catholic University.
We remain gravely concerned about two items. First, the revised Proposal still contains “Appendix C,” which relies on flawed data and methodology to call for the elimination of three faculty positions. Second, the document still makes no explicit commitment to protecting tenure at The Catholic University of America. We therefore call upon the Board of Trustees, in its June meeting, to reaffirm the University’s commitment to tenure as defined by the Faculty Handbook and the American Association of University Professors. Furthermore, we call upon the Board to launch a thorough review of the executive leadership of the university.
We remain especially grateful to the Ad Hoc Committee of the Academic Senate, along with all the standing Senate committees, for compiling such a thorough evaluation of the potential negative impacts of the Provost’s Proposal for Academic Renewal, and for producing incontrovertible evidence of the widespread opposition to certain aspects of this proposal across so many Schools and Departments.
We are also grateful to the newly reconstituted Faculty Assembly, which held its second meeting on Thursday, May 10, at which 101 members commended the work of this website, endorsed the report of the Ad Hoc Committee in its entirety, and expressly rejected “Appendix C” of the provost’s proposal, on the basis that it relies on inaccurate data.
And we are grateful to you, the readers of this website, who have helped to bring the discussion into the public sphere. The Comments page remains open, and we welcome your assessments of the revised Proposal for Academic Renewal.
– Save Catholic