Governing boards oversee the activities of the Association's Academic Freedom Fund (established 1956), Contingent Faculty Fund (established 2003), and Legal Defense Fund (established 1975).
Academic Freedom Fund Board
The Academic Freedom Fund provides financial assistance to faculty at institutions where a significant threat to academic freedom arises which implicates AAUP policy. Assistance may include temporary financial aid or help with legal defense costs for an affected faculty member. The fund also supports research or investigative projects that promote the importance of academic freedom. The governing board determines the policies that govern the fund, publicizes the fund, provides for it is administration, and approves requests for assistance.
Members
S Jay Levy
Lincolndale, NY, 2013
V. Rama Murthy (Geology and Geophysics)
University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, 2013
Hank Reuichman (History)
California State University-East Bay ex officio as chair of Committee A, 2015
Gregory F. Scholtz, staff
Contingent Faculty Fund Board
The Contingent Faculty Fund supports research, publication, leadership development, and other efforts to promote full professional status and academic freedom protections for contingent faculty members. Assistance may include financial aid to faculty at institutions where a significant threat to contingent faculty arises that implicates AAUP policy, as well as funding to attend training programs that deal with contingent faculty issues. The governing board determines the policies that govern the fund, publicizes the fund, provides for its administration, and approves requests for assistance.
Members
Mayra Besosa (Spanish),
California State University, San Marcos, ex officio as chair of the Committee on Contingency and the Profession, 2014
Howard Bunsis (Accounting),
Eastern Michigan University, ex officio as chair of the Collective Bargaining Congress, 2013
Ann Green (English),
Saint Joseph’s University, ex officio as chair of the Committee on Women in the Academic Profession, 2013
Donna L. Potts (English),
Kansas State University, ex officio as chair of the Assembly of State Conferences, 2013
Gwen Bradley, staff
Legal Defense Fund Board
The Legal Defense Fund assists academics across the country in cases that raise legal issues of national significance in higher education and involve AAUP-supported policies. The fund provides financial assistance in cases at the trial and appellate levels that implicate important legal rights of those in academia, especially cases that have precedential value. The average award is $1,500-$3,000. The governing board determines the policies that govern the fund, publicizes the fund, provides for its administration, and approves requests for assistance.
Members
Theresa Chmara
ex officio as general counsel, 2014
Judith Areen (Law)
Georgetown University, 2014
Paulette M. Caldwell (Law)
New York University, 2015
Martha E. Chamallas (Law)
Moritz College of Law, 2013
Ann C. Hodges (Law)
University of Richmond, 2014
Linda H. Krieger (Law)
University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015
Michael A. Olivas (Law)
University of Houston, 2013
James T. Richardson (Sociology and Judicial Studies)
University of Nevada, Reno, 2014
Edward F. Sherman (Law)
Tulane University, 2014
Martin D. Snyder, staff
(updated 9/11)