the
TACT Quarterly eBulletin

July/Aug/Sept 2004 Vol. LVI No. 5

Texas Association of College Teachers ~ TACT Rally for Higher Education

President's Column
Quality of Higher Education in Texas: “Where TACT is Headed”
by Dr. James Puckett, TACT President

Being just past the middle of the two-year cycle as TACT President, it is time to take a look back and a look forward.

In the past year, we have striven to improve relations with other constituencies so that we will have a stronger hand in the legislature this coming year and lay the seeds for greater influence in the longer term. To that end, we have improved and solidified relations with the Texas Council of Faculty Senates and the American Association of University Professors. We have also begun to form alliances with the state’s Student Government Associations.

Also in preparation for the coming legislative year, the TACT State Board took input from faculty members at TACT’s regional Spring meetings and distilled the legislative agenda down to five items:

1. Benefits should be maintained for faculty and staff; rescind the 90-day waiting period for health care coverage; rescind 10-year wait for retirement benefit accrual to begin.

2. Financial aid should be maintained for students.

3. Faculty salaries should be brought in line with state law.

4. Community colleges should not offer baccalaureate degrees.

5. A shared governance law such as Arizona’s should be enacted; and student and faculty representatives should be required on Boards of Regents.

While the problems facing state government may be serious and intricate, the coming academic year promises to be filled with opportunities to educate legislators as to what we need to function effectively as faculty members and what our universities need to function effectively as institutions. Opportunities to educate legislators exist through roundtable discussions (involving university, community, and legislative leaders); through inviting legislators to shadow faculty members as they go about their everyday business; and through media coverage in television and newspapers, to name a few.

TACT continues to work very hard and very efficiently to support you and support faculty interests in university education. Check with your chapter president or contact to find out how you can lend a hand.

Executive Director’s Report
by Chuck Hempstead



If you have been following the Legislative First Alerts since Spring, you’ll know that one of TACT’s primary monitoring functions has been to follow the progress of the Joint Interim Committee on Higher Education. First Alerts are archived at First Alerts.

Usually interim committees and their charges are split between the House and the Senate. The fact that this one contains members of both houses, and is co-chaired by House Higher Ed Chair Geanie Morrison and Senate Education Chair Florence Shapiro, and includes Senate Higher Education Subcommittee Royce West, lends additional gravity. The elements of the Interim Report will no doubt translate into draft legislation.

The interesting thing is that the charges are so broad it is difficult to predict the Report’s contents. TACT has communicated with Committee Members and recently visited with committee staff. As usual, staff is reluctant to release draft information to “outsiders” before adoption of the report, so I have an appointment with a Committee Member to review the initial draft when it is delivered September 13 and will share highlights with TACT members.

Further timeline dates are Sept. 22 for Members to respond to the draft, Sept. 29 for final draft, Oct. 5 for member sign-off, October 12 for printing and Nov. 1 for final submittal. So, it will be a done deal by the TACT Conference October 22-23 and I will try to bring a “pre-release” copy for discussion.

As I’ve communicated before, the Legislative Budget Board asked universities to submit their 2006-2007 Legislative Appropriations Requests at 95 percent of the current biennium’s budget, and comments from Committee Members indicated that they don’t expect to see new money, so early indications are for another difficult budget session.

Please try to attend the TACT Fall Conference in October as we develop strategy to address these difficult times for Texas higher education.

TACT Endorses TRS Candidate



TACT State Board has endorsed Dr. Robert Marshall as preferred candidate for an upcoming vacancy on the Teacher Retirement System Board of Trustees. The position will become available when TACT Past President Mary Alice Baker completes her term.

As TACT succeeded in promoting the candidacy of Dr. Baker six years ago, it will again coordinate a petition drive on behalf of Dr. Marshall. Once the application and petitions are submitted for election by TRS members, TACT will encourage the govenor to select Dr. Marshall from among the top three Higher Education vote getters.

Please see the TRS Petition for Trustee Election form and send it into the TACT State Office.

About Dr. Robert Marshall

Robert Marshall is a newly selected Professor of Education to assist in the development of an Educational Leadership Ph.D. Program at Prairie View A&M University. He has served as Interim Department Chair of Educational Leadership and Counseling at Texas A&M University-Kingsville for the past year. Over the past six years, he has served as Director and Chair of the Joint University Program in Educational Leadership in Kingsville. Additionally, he served as Chair of the Texas A&M University-Kingsville Graduate Council and was selected as the outstanding faculty member in the TAMU-K College of Education in 2000.

Dr. Marshall was instrumental in the development of over 20 on-line courses in the TAMU-K Educational Administration, Superintendency and Principalship Preparation Programs. Moreverer, he is responsible for the development of a Master of Education in Instructional Technology Program and the expansion of the Educational Leadership Doctoral Program to better provide educational opportunities to the underserved minority populations in the Rio Grande Valley and Del Rio areas of Texas. He has chaired over 30 dissertations and served on doctoral committees of over 50 students at TAMU-K over the past 6 years.

He was formerly a public school teacher, campus principal and central office administrator for in Texas public schools for twenty years. Throughout his career as a professional educator, research and best practices in creating a high quality learning environments for students in transition to high school has been a passion.

Dr. Marshall holds a Doctor of Education from Texas A&M University, Principalship Certification from the University of Texas-Tyler, a Master of Science in Agriculture from Texas A&M University-Commerce, and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Education from East Texas State University.

Publications by Robert Marshall Ed.D.:

Books:

Marshall, R. (2003). Pivitol Year: How Freshmen Become Sophmores An Educators Guide to Ensuring Student Success. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press.

Marshall, R. & others. (2002). Educational Leadership in a Nutshell: A Guide to Comprehensive Exam Success 2nd Ed. TAMUK.

Marshall, R. & others. (2001). Educational Leadership in a Nutshell: A Guide to Comprehensive Exam Success. TAMUK.

Published Dissertation

Marshall, R. L. (1995). The Effect of Cooperative Learning and Academic Teaming on Ninth Grade Student Success at Three Selected East Texas High Schools. Texas A&M University.

Book Chapters Contributed to:

Texas Professors of Educational Administration. (2001). Study Guide For Texas Public School Organization And Administration: 2001. Kendall/Hunt Publishing.

TACT Fall 2004 Membership Drive:

What's in it for you!

During the summer and fall of each even-numbered year, we conduct a special membership drive to strengthen our voice before the upcoming legislative session. This year, we are offering free educator's professional liability insurance, now with $2 million coverage, for new members through November 1, 2004 who choose credit card drafting and for current members who recruit two new members.

CURRENT TACT MEMBERS: print out two TACT applications and put your name at the top of the application, indicating that you are the "sponsor" for the new member. Hand them to two colleagues. As long as we get two new members credited to you as their sponsor, by November 1st, 2004, you will get a year of free EPLI (11/04-10/05)! (Some members have had success by offering to mail or fax the completed applications to the state office.) Your assistance with this "member-get-a-member" campaign contributes to our goal of doubling our membership. Your reward is a $59 liability insurance policy.

NEW TACT MEMBERS: either fill out an application given to you by a current member, or complete one online, indicating that you will be charged membership either annually or monthly, and you will get a year of EPLI free (11/04-10/05)! This is not only a $59 value, but peace of mind.

"TACT is the least expensive association I belong to, with the most benefits."

--Laurie Hawke, Tarleton State


Now is the time to support Higher Education in Texas. You can be a part of a progressive support system of university faculty, staff, businesses, and libraries that have joined together to make a difference in the way Texas operates at the university level.

TACT lobbies the Texas Legislature for higher salaries, better health and retirement benefits, tenure, academic freedom, and emails you up-to-the minute legislative developments.

TACT offers virtually free educational seminars, an Academic Freedom and Defense Fund, and a low-cost educators’ professional liability insurance plan.

FY03 ORP Participation Report Summary: FREE!

ORP Participation Report

TACT Doubles Member Liability Coverage

Beginning November 1, 2004, TACT members are eligible for twice the current Educators' Professional Liability Insurance coverage. Personal asset protection will increase from $1 million to $2 million for only a twenty percent premium increase (from $49/year to $59).

"This is something the TACT Board realized we could accomplish in partnership with our insurance carrier to significantly enhance membership value at the nominal cost of eighty-three cents per month," said TACT President Jim Puckett. "Everyone is aware of the litigious society in which we operate, and jeopardizing one's family financial future is not a risk we need to take in order to practice our profession. In fact, I would hope that our members who do not presently participate consider buying the current coverage for the remainder of this policy year."

A quick review of the literature suggests that this inexpensive coverage may help cure insomnia.

Several years ago, within the California State University System, a professor filed suit against two of her colleagues claiming sexual harassment. Both defendants retained private counsel after the State Office of General Counsel denied representation "because this lawsuit concerns matters outside the course and scope of their university employment," causing one defendant to promise countersuits.

In another case, this one on the East Coast, a nationally respected legal scholar demonstrated a traditional tort lesson in class by "tapping" (his word) a student on the shoulder. You guessed it - she called it a "caress" which reminded her of being terrorized, raped and molested when she was 11 years old. The subsequent civil charge was styled "assault and battery."

A professor providing expert testimony based on her research at a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania must have been so convincing that she was sued for $225,000 for defamation. In this case, the private school administration and legal counsel came to her assistance.

What's the latest battleground in the area of faculty evaluation? It might be "collegiality," according to AAUP's Martin Snyder as quoted in the New York Times. A Maryland professor won $425,000 from a public university based on "personality discrimination," though it was reversed on appeal.

Issues surrounding academic freedom are fraught with interpretation and, when they inevitably reach the courtroom, dollars seem to be the magic barometer of who wins. The issues are important; ruining someone's retirement shouldn't be the answer. Think about the emotion of your profession and whether separating your passion from your financial future isn't worth sixteen cents per day.