The recent escalation of political attacks on higher education, from the dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to the overt censorship of courses and curricula, has led faculty members and students nationwide to mobilize in defense of academic freedom and institutional autonomy. Following are a few examples of how AAUP chapters are standing with allies and building collective power.
Texas A&M University
In January, after Texas A&M University abruptly canceled several courses and banned multiple texts (including works by Plato in a philosophy course) in an attempt to com ply with a new Texas law prohibiting “race and gender ideology” in the classroom, the TAMU AAUP chapter organized a rapid-response press conference and a campus rally that drew more than four hundred attendees. Faculty members, students, and alumni stood shoulder to shoulder to send a clear message to the administration that political censorship fundamentally undermines the integrity of institutions and threatens the very foundations of higher education.
“We will not be intimidated into silence,” said Leonard Bright, president of TAMU AAUP and a professor in the university’s Bush School of Government and Public Service. “We’re going to teach the truth because this fight is bigger than Texas A&M—it is about whether public universities will serve democracy or fear it.”
St. John's University
In February, after nearly a year of contract negotiations, the St. John’s University administration made headlines by withdrawing recognition of its two faculty unions after fifty-six years of collective bargaining. In an announcement to the faculty, SJU President Rev. Brian J. Shanley argued that faculty unions were a “burden” to the university’s mission and that core academic decisions should not be “entangled in a collective bargaining relationship.” At the time of Shanley’s announcement, the faculty had been working without a contract for more than 250 days.
SJU’s AAUP chapter immediately mobilized for a “Hands Off St. John’s Faculty Unions” rally demanding that the administration reverse course, cease its union-busting tactics, and return to the bargaining table in good faith. Days later, the unions escalated tactics by holding a massive rally outside Madison Square Garden as the St. John’s men’s basketball team kicked off the Big East Tournament. Organizers blasted the administration’s “union-busting” as a “flagrant foul” and an act that was “unholy” in its disregard for SJU’s Catholic social teaching. Both rallies drew support from the New York City Central Labor Council, New York State United Teachers, and former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.
The New School
Last November, New School President Joel Towers sent a university-wide email announcing radical cost-saving measures to address a supposed $48 million deficit. The moves included a pause on most PhD admissions, the cancellation of twenty-three academic programs, and voluntary separation and retirement packages for faculty members and staff. Recipients were given less than two weeks to express interest in the packages.
In response, the New School’s AAUP chapter joined forces with United Auto Workers Local 7902 to stage a massive march and rally demanding an end to the manufactured crisis resulting from the administration’s financial mismanagement. The unions are calling for a public meeting with the board of trustees and the entire university community before any action is taken on what the administration is framing as “realignment measures.”
A broad coalition committed to defending the New School’s founding mission as a haven for critical thought, social justice, and antifascist scholarship has coalesced to put pressure on the administration. Jeremy Varon, president of the AAUP chapter and professor of history at the New School, has called on the administration to sit down with student, staff, and faculty unions to discuss alternatives to the cuts. “We will not sit by calmly as our university is dismantled and as our colleagues quietly disappear,” Varon said.
Virginia State University
Last December, five tenured faculty members and one tenure-track assistant professor were abruptly removed from Virginia State University’s Agricultural Research Station (ARS) without notice and in apparent violation of the basic procedural protections that tenure and VSU’s own severance policy and faculty handbook guarantee. The six faculty members were called individually into what the administration described as discussions about transformational efforts at ARS only to be told that their research programs were being “sunsetted” and that their employment was to end immediately. They were given no written grounds for the termination of their services and were pressured to sign severance agreements without adequate time to review the documents or consult legal counsel. The faculty members were warned that refusal to sign would mean forfeiting any severance. When they declined, they were escorted off campus by university police; required to surrender their IDs, keys, and equipment; and issued trespass warnings.
In February, after multiple appeals to the VSU administration for an explanation of these unprecedented appointment terminations, “the Fired Six” held a press conference to demand their immediate reinstatement. They were joined by members of United Campus Workers and the AAUP’s Committee on Historically Black Institutions and Scholars of Color. The following week, the Fired Six brought the fight to the capitol, joining the call for collective bargaining rights for all higher education workers in Virginia. “A union contract would have prevented all this,” said Vitalis Temu, VSU AAUP vice president and professor of small ruminants and forage ecology, one of the Fired Six.
With support from the national AAUP, the Fired Six are continuing to speak out and have begun asking state officials to step in and demand answers about the terminations from VSU’s administration and the board of visitors.