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AAUP Welcomes New General Counsel
By Gwendolyn Bradley
The AAUP is pleased to announce that Mary L. Heen, professor of law at the University of Richmond, became the Association’s general counsel in June. The general counsel, who is appointed to a two-year term, remains in his or her faculty position while serving the Association. Heen will work closely with the AAUP’s legal staff to pursue the Association’s legal activities, which include advising faculty, administrators, lawyers, and others on higher education legal issues; preparing amicus briefs; monitoring legal developments in higher education around the country; and keeping the Association apprised of new and emerging legal issues that may have implications in areas such as labor and employment law, freedom of expression, and intellectual property rights. Heen, who holds degrees from Yale University, Harvard University, the University of California, Berkeley, and New York University, has been a member of the Association’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure since 2003.
“Mary has acquired many admirers of her intelligence and insight during her service on Committee A,” says Association president Cary Nelson. “She has brought her expertise in tax law and her many years of experience working with the American Civil Liberties Union. It’s wonderful to find someone who thus combines practical knowledge with high principle who is also willing to serve as our general counsel. We are lucky she is among the AAUP’s many leaders who work selflessly to promote the Association’s goals. Leaders and members alike will find her a tremendously resourceful colleague.”
Heen replaced David Rabban, professor of law at the University of Texas, Austin, who served as AAUP general counsel for eight years. During his tenure, Rabban oversaw groundbreaking litigation on such disparate areas as constitutional academic freedom, labor and employment rights, and limitations on academic freedom at religiously affiliated institutions.
“While we were delighted to welcome Mary Heen, we will miss David,” says AAUP general secretary Roger Bowen. “He helped guide us through both cerebral policy debates and convoluted legal issues with patience, political acumen, and persistence.”
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