LMU AAUP COVID-19 Petition


To President Tim Snyder and Provost Tom Poon,

The global COVID-19 pandemic has presented higher education in general and Loyola Marymount University in specific with an unprecedented set of challenges. The responses to these challenges will be felt far into the future. As we settle into a long-term mode of crisis management, the LMU chapter of the AAUP advocates for faculty at all levels in support of faculty governance, safe and healthy teaching and learning conditions, and an approach to budgeting and labor rooted in the mission of LMU as a university in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions and in the mission of the AAUP.

We deeply appreciate the University administration’s work and care over the last two months, but wish to amplify here the importance of faculty leadership and shared governance as the source of LMU’s strong academic culture. Continued faculty leadership and governance puts us on sound footing now and ensures the success of the University in the future.

To that end, we ask the University administration to prioritize the following principles and actions:

• Because faculty bear primary responsibility over curriculum and pedagogical methods, including online teaching modalities, faculty must be substantively included in all decisions about curriculum, pedagogy, or methods of instruction, including the continuation or extension of remote education, and especially on the current Continuity of Instruction committee. All decisions on these matters should be guided primarily by the concern for the health and safety of our students and all campus workers, and secondarily by best practices in online pedagogy, led by faculty expertise.

• Because the mission of the AAUP guides the contribution of higher education to the common good, and because the mission of Loyola Marymount guides our common commitment to the encouragement of learning, the service of faith and the promotion of justice, in our budgetary decision-making we must shield the most vulnerable members of our community. As such, hiring freezes, spending pauses, and budget cuts should be equitably shared, beginning with those at the top who can best afford them. A comprehensive and transparent reconsideration of all current and proposed administrative, capital, extra/co-curricular, and athletic projects must be undertaken.

• Because we are one community working together in support of our students and colleagues, all financial planning processes, as well as decisions regarding class cancellations or modes of instruction, must be clearly and transparently communicated and coordinated with those most affected.

• Because we are one faculty, all contracts for non-tenure line faculty should be extended for one year. This is a matter of equity for those faculty who cannot benefit from an extension of the tenure clock.

• Because our students are best served by a faculty who can prepare adequately for their courses and teach without fear of financial ruin, all contracts for term faculty must be expedited in order to give them the security they need headed into what are often lean summer months. This is both a matter of equity for those faculty without “evergreen” contracts, and clearly communicates our commitment to be here in the fall for our students.

— Endorsed by LMU AAUP and the undersigned members of the LMU community.

Marilyn Beker , Professor, Screenwriting SFTV

Michael Brodsky, Professor, Art and Art History

Jane Brucker, Professor, Department of Art and Art History

Mónica Cabrera, Associate Professor, Modern Languages and Literatures

Paul Chitlik, Clinical Associate Professor, Screenwriting

Ernesto Colín, Associate Professor, Teaching and Learning

Michael Daley Clinical Assistant Professor, Screenwriting

Kurt Daugherty, Professor, Recording Arts

Andrew Dilts, Associate Professor of Political Science

Fernando Estrada, Assoc Prof, Spec Prog in Prof Psych

Emily Fisher, Professor, School of Education

Véronique Flambard-Weisbart, Professor, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures

David Garden, Senior Lecturer, Production

Glenn Gebhard, Professor, Production

Cecilia González-Andrieu, Professor, Theological Studies

Anna Harrison, Associate Professor, THST

Ignacio Higareda, Associate Prof., SOE

Laura Huffman, Full Time Instructor, MDLL

Gil Klein, Associate Professor, Theological Studies

Sina Kramer, Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies

Mary Kuryla, Clinical Professor, Screenwriting

Yvette Lapayese, Professor, Teaching and Learning

Nina Lozano, Associate Professor, Communication Studies

Anna Muraco, Professor of Sociology

Skinner Myers, Clinical Assistant Professor, Production

Aine O’Healy, Professor, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures

Rodger Pardee, Professor, Recording Arts

Kyra Pearson, Associate Professor, Communication Studies

Tara Pixley, Assistant Professor, English/Journalism

Alicia Partnoy, Professor, Modern Languages and Literatures

Luis Proenca, Professor, Production

Martina Giselle Ramirez, Professor of Biology

Francisco Ramos, Professor, SOE

Marta E. Sanchez, Professor, SOE

Sue Scheibler, Associate Professor, FTVS

Mark Schwartz, Assoc Prof, Scwr

Mairead Sullivan, Assistant Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies

Tracy Sayuki Tiemeier, Associate Professor, Theological Studies

Rachel Washburn, Associate Professor, Sociology

Katerina Zacharia, Professor, Classics & Archaeology

Sylvia Zamora, Assistant Professor of Sociology


Below are linked actions from sibling AAUP chapters and other national actions which inform this petition:

Covid-19 Academic Solidarity Statement

Trim the Branches, Not the Roots (OSU Faculty Solidarity)

Faculty express concerns over university furloughs, financial decisions, Marquette Wire

AAUP-OSU Statement on the COVID-19 Crisis: What Does OSU Value and How Should It Respond?

Bobcats Stand Together to Save Our Profs

Ohio State Chapter Supports Contingent Faculty and Graduate Students (Academe Blog)