IWU Chapter of the AAUP, Illinois Wesleyan University

Tiede, Joerg

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Illinois Wesleyan UniversityDigital Commons @ IWUDougan Award Winners IWU AAUP2011Mike Young, 2011 James D. Dougan AwardPresentationJoerg TiedeChapter President, Illinois Wesleyan UniversityIWU Chapter of the AAUP, Illinois Wesleyan UniversityThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Ames Library, the Andrew W. Mellon Center for Curricular and FacultyDevelopment, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Commons @ IWU bythe faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@iwu.edu.©Copyright is owned by the author of this document.Recommended CitationTiede, Joerg and IWU Chapter of the AAUP, Illinois Wesleyan University, "Mike Young, 2011 James D. Dougan AwardPresentation" (2011). Dougan Award Winners. Paper 1.http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/iwuaaup_win/12011 James D. Dougan Award Presentation Joerg Tiede, President, IWU AAUP Chapter  It is my distinct honor and privilege to present the inaugural James D. Dougan Award for Contributions to Faculty Governance. The award was created by the IWU AAUP chapter to recognize meritorious service in the cause of faculty governance and to honor our colleague and friend Jim Dougan. The recipient was selected by a committee of chapter members, who are Meghan Burke, Joanne Diaz, Jim Matthews, Becky Roesner, Aaron Zerhusen, and myself. On behalf of the AAUP chapter, I would like to thank Interim Provost Boyd for providing financial support for the plaque and the monetary award associated with the Dougan Award.  Arguably, Jim Dougan’s central contribution to faculty governance at Illinois Wesleyan was an amendment to the Faculty Constitution that required that all faculty representatives serving on an administratively-formed committees be elected by the faculty or appointed by CUPP. This change, while controversial at the time, has become so ingrained into our culture, that it is hard to imagine a time where, say, members of a provost search committee or a reaccreditation steering committee would simply be appointed by the president. Yet it took to courage to make this proposal. It is the kind of courage that Jim Dougan displayed when he presented this proposal that the award seeks to recognize. As Cary Nelson pointed out at his recent speech at Illinois Wesleyan, it is a central role of an AAUP chapter, but, I would add, also of good faculty governance, to speak truth to power. Speaking truth to power requires courage. Jim Dougan embodied that courage, and the recipient of the inaugural James D. Dougan Award for Contributions to Faculty Governance, Professor Michael B. Young, embodies that courage.  Mike Young began his career at Illinois Wesleyan in 1970. The minutes of the September 3, 1970, faculty meeting - Mike Young's first faculty meeting as a new faculty member - state that the first order of business, a proposal by the Curriculum Council to permit students to miss classes to campaign for political candidates, was approved after discussion by several faculty, including Mike Young. Since that first faculty meeting, we have always been able to count on Mike to speak out for what's right. Mike has always been an advocate for the faculty; as one of his closest colleagues observed, Mike is the conscience of the faculty.   Among Mike Young's many important contributions to faculty governance, his service on the last two presidential search committees, in 1988 and 2003, stands out to me. When Jim Dougan was chair of CUPP, we elected the faculty for the search committee that brought President Wilson to campus. I remember Jim joking that Mike was already elected by virtue of being nominated so many times.   During the search that brought Minor Myers to campus, the search committee consisted of trustees only. The faculty group that had been elected was seated in a separate room, while the trustees deliberated. They were supposed to communicate their views on the candidates, so that the trustees could take them into consideration. Mike led the faculty in issuing a demand: give us a seat at the table; make us members of the search committee. The trustees agreed. By the time of the next presidential search, the faculty representatives were automatically invited to be members – how could it be different? This change led to increased recognition of faculty governance throughout the Myers and Wilson presidencies.    When Mike and I served on the Faculty Handbook Review Task Force together, Mike pointed out that the Bylaws of the Board did not recognize faculty as members of the search committee, asking instead for “student and faculty participation.” Mike wrote a memo recounting the history of the faculty’s role on the last two presidential searches and pointing out how the process had succeeded in so many ways.  He wrote:  [T]rustees and faculty serving side-by-side on the search committees developed a great degree of mutual respect and understanding.  There was a sense of camaraderie as trustees and faculty worked together toward a shared goal and found themselves agreeing on what was in the best interest of the University.  The goodwill generated by this process was a considerable benefit.   Mike went on to say  [T]he full inclusion of the elected faculty in the search process gave legitimacy and credibility to the process and more widespread confidence in the outcome.  Mike concluded his memo by requesting that the Board reflect the past practice in their Bylaws, and at the May 28, 2010, Board of Trustees meeting, the Bylaws of the Board were amended to reflect that the faculty representatives be members of presidential search committees. This change, initiated by Mike’s courageously speaking truth to power over 20 years ago, strengthened the role of the faculty in the governance of this university.   This is of course just a single example in a long line of important achievements in the cause of faculty governance. Take for example the order of business of faculty meetings. Making sure that the business of the faculty came first and administrative announcements after that was a small change that Mike advocated for that improved faculty governance.   On a personal note, I have had the good fortune of serving with Mike for eight years on the Health Care Advocacy Committee and for three years on the Strategic Planning and Budgeting Committee. During that time, Mike has been a mentor and role model to me. I could always count on him for advice and perspective. I and many other faculty learned what faculty advocacy is by observing the example Mike set and still sets every day.   And so, in conclusion, I am proud to present the first James D. Dougan Award for Contributions to Faculty Governance to my colleague, my friend, my hero: Mike Young. 

Mike Young, 2011 James D. Dougan Award Presentation

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Mike Young, 2011 James D. Dougan Award Presentation

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