The AAUP and AFT jointly launched a new comprehensive policy platform ahead of the 2026 midterms aimed to counter the Trump administration’s far right extremist attacks on American higher education and secure a strong future for public colleges and universities. The new framework, titled “A Blueprint for Strengthening and Transforming Higher Education,” outlines a vision where colleges and universities are treated as an indispensable public good crucial for a functioning democracy rather than corporate entities.
Key pillars of the platform include:
- Restored Funding: A sustained reinvestment in public higher education to ensure college degrees are accessible and debt-free.
- Freedom to Learn: New safeguards for academic freedom, shielding researchers and faculty from political interference and ideological thought policing.
- Shared Governance: Ensuring faculty and staff—not corporate administrators—make final decisions on curriculum, research priorities, and institutional priorities.
- Labor Reform: Ending the reliance on low-wage contingent labor and securing collective bargaining rights for all faculty and staff at public institutions.
Read “A Blueprint for Strengthening and Transforming Higher Education” here.
Read the policy platform fact sheet.
In this unprecedented political moment, the AAUP and the AFT are calling for a fundamental shift in how the nation values its academic institutions. Our shared vision concludes with a definitive call to action: “Together, the AAUP and the AFT are fighting to make higher education the public good it should be: affordable and accessible, not a privilege for the wealthy; a central hub for world-leading research; a driver of a vibrant democracy. This platform outlines a path forward to strengthen higher education by defending it from political capture, restoring public investment, respecting labor, and recentering student learning so that students receive the education they deserve.”
