To: Arts and Sciences Faculty
From: David Larson, President, CSU-AAUP-- For the CSU-AAUP Executive Committee
Subject: CSU-AAUP Position on Arts and Sciences Re-organization
Date: November 4, 2002

It has been brought to my attention that rumors have been circulating on campus concerning the AAUP's position on the proposed re-organization of the College of Arts and Sciences. Since all of the rumors I have heard are inaccurate, I thought it important that I state and disseminate the CSU-AAUP's view of this matter.

The CSU-AAUP takes no position whatsoever on the merits of the various proposals to re-organize the College of Arts and Sciences. It would be completely inappropriate for us to do so. For one thing, AAUP members (including Executive Committee members) can be found on all sides of this issue. Consequently, it would make no sense for the AAUP to support one proposal or another. Faculty members who belong to the CSU-AAUP are free, of course, as individuals to argue for their own positions on these issues. No statement by an individual, however, should be construed as the Union's position.

More important, the AAUP firmly believes that the Union has no business making judgments on the substance of academic proposals. The faculty should express its will on these matters through the collegial governance process. In short, evaluating the merits of the various proposals for college re-organization is properly the business of the appropriate college and university committees, of the Arts and Sciences faculty, and, ultimately, of the Faculty Senate.

However, the AAUP firmly supports due process and faculty primacy in decision making in matters of curriculum and academic organization. Changes in these areas must occur only with faculty approval. All proposals for changes in the academic sector of the University must be reviewed by the faculty through the regular democratic process and win approval through that process. It is the responsibility of those faculty members and administrators who desire change to use reason and argument to persuade their colleagues of the benefits of such change. That is a fundamental principle of academia which the AAUP as a professional organization has supported since its inception and which we continue to support.

Proposed changes in the structure of academic units at Cleveland State University must be reviewed and approved by the appropriate faculty bodies through the established processes. Any attempt to impose changes in academic structures without faculty approval would be a violation of long-established, widely-accepted, fundamental principles of collegial governance. Such a violation could have the very gravest consequences for this University. We trust that it will not occur.