Dear Members of the Barnard AAUP,

On Friday, August 2, 2024, members of the Barnard AAUP Executive Committee, as well as members of the FGP and faculty representatives to the Board, met virtually with the Academic Affairs Committee of Barnard's Board of Trustees, together with Provost Walkowitz, and President Rosenbury. There were quite a few Board members on the call (we counted 14), and after introductions – which took a bit of time! – faculty in attendance presented our concerns to the Board. We are grateful to the faculty who attended, as well as to those of you who in advance of the meeting shared statements of concern on the recent challenges faced by the Barnard community.

Fred Neuhouser began by giving some background on the nature of the AAUP as a non-political national organization that sets standards for academic freedom and shared governance, and on the history of Barnard's and Columbia's handling of protests and protesters. For the latter he focused on the differences between 1968 and this past spring. Nara Milanich then spoke to our specific concerns, emphasizing the No-Confidence vote and calling on the administration to commit to democratic decision-making, transparency, communication, and mutual respect. Nancy Worman emphasized the overarching principle of faculty participation in college governance and the myriad examples of how the administration has ignored it, including the curtailing of the powers of the FGP, the disregarding of votes taken by the full faculty, the changing of policies without meaningful faculty input, and the constant, draconian changes to and restrictions on campus access.

Next, Najam Haider discussed academic freedom, explaining the background of the original Freedom of Expression committee and underscoring that the committee members who had resigned in frustration had emphasized that any new committee should be constituted by the FGP and run by the faculty. He also stressed that faculty and students hold a wide range of positions on the situation in the Middle East and that faculty do their best to support free and open discussion on any topic. Maria Rivera Maulucci then discussed student discipline, describing the punitive measures that the Barnard administration has taken against student protesters, including intimidating hearings, exclusion from campus and classes, and threats of suspension or expulsion.

Finally, Elizabeth Bernstein summarized the AAUP’s central demands to the Board and the administration, which are the following:

1. A moratorium on new task forces, which undermine existing faculty governance;

2. The restoration of   FGP control of faculty meeting agendas and procedures for putting items to a full-faculty vote;

3)    The inclusion of faculty representatives at meetings of the Board of Trustees and of the Senior Staff;

4)   A moratorium on new policies (or changes to policy on policies) without full faculty participation and voting; the rescinding of all policies instituted last year pending faculty review and approval;

5)  The restoration of normal campus access and event policies;

6) The  restoration of the Barnard Judicial Council, a committee comprised of faculty, students, and administration that previously oversaw all student disciplinary cases.

We await word on next steps from the Board and administration regarding these demands and we will keep the AAUP membership updated on what we hear. Please feel free to write to us with any comments or questions.

The Executive Committee of the Barnard AAUP