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About Us

The IDEA

The idea of an association of university teachers at U.W.I. was first raised by Dr. R. B. Davidson, who before taking up an appointment here, had asked the British Association of University Teachers to put him in contact with the local A.U. T. On discovering that there was none, Dr. Davidson, after his arrival at Mona, tried in 1958 to interest others who were already corresponding members of the AUT to form such a local association. The first recorded result of this effort was a meeting on 7th. May 1958 at Dr. Davidson’s house at which himself and three others decided to call a meeting of persons interested in forming a local A.U.T.

The First General Meeting

The meeting, held on 30th May 1958, was attended by twenty-five people, twenty of whom were corresponding members of A.U.T. That meeting, learning that the A.U.T. in England did not permit local branches overseas, empowered a steering committee under the Chairmanship of Sydney Martin to arrange for a further general meeting to establish the local Association.
It was this meeting, on 24th October 1958, that can be recognized as the official start of the West Indies Group of University Teachers, since it was at this meeting that the name was approved and a resolution passed setting up an Executive Committee with Sydney Martin elected to Chairman and R.B. Davidson Secretary/Treasurer. Twenty-one people attended the founding meeting, which was held at the S.C.R. - the bar was opened for an additional hour to facilitate the Association.

The Executive was empowered with the arrangement of meetings of general interest to members of the Group and specifically the consideration of the possibility of forming a permanent organization in the U.C.W.I. The name therefore derives from the Group being one of Corresponding Members of the British A.U.T. (referred to as "the parent body") of whom forty-six were on staff at the time. One of the first decisions of that meeting was that meetings to discuss a general topic should be open to all members of the academic staff, but that all business meetings should be confined to members only - a policy still in force.