How can I let people know what is happening on my campus and communicate the faculty’s or my AAUP chapter’s views?
Depending on your circumstances and your goals, you may want to inform people about your chapter’s situation through a press event, an op ed in student or local media, social medi, or a simple website.
It is highly recommended that each chapter maintain some form of social media account on at least one platform to keep members, the campus community, and the larger public informed on current events impacting your campus. We recommend utilizing platforms such as Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to promote written, visual, and short-form video content. The national AAUP office can assist with reaching a wide audience.
While crisis communications don’t allow time for leisurely planning, taking some time to talk through your strategy and create a plan will make your communications more effective. Some questions to consider:
- What are your chapter’s communication goals? Every message your chapter issues, whether to your members, a reporter, or a wider audience, should serve to advance the chapter’s short and longer-term goals. Deciding what you want to achieve should be the first decision when creating a communications plan. For example, is your goal to make sure that faculty are included in decision-making, to reverse or negotiate proposed pay cuts or freezes, or to reach out to a wider audience to create public pressure for state funding?
- Determine who can help you achieve your goal and how. Each communication method a chapter employs can target different audiences. If you’re hoping to involve students in order to pressure the administration on a particular point, consider what communication tactics and outlets are most likely to reach students. Do you want to launch a social media campaign using memes and compelling images that communicate the issues? If you are sending press releases, which news outlets speak to the audiences you want to reach? A newspaper in the state capital, a local radio or TV station, and a national higher education reporter each speak to a different audience.. Make sure to identify key allies to enlist in your campaign and always anticipate your opponent’s arguments so you can be prepared to counter. Make every effort to simplify your message for a broad audience.
- Whom do you speak for? You will have more strength and credibility with an organization behind you—an AAUP chapter or conference, the faculty senate, or an ad hoc coalition or committee devoted to one issue.
- Do you need national or local media attention? Often, you will get better results by concentrating on your campus community and local media market. No one cares more about faculty cuts or learning conditions than the students who will be affected, their parents, and people in the community who have ties to your institution. Residents of your state will be more interested in the distribution of taxpayer funds than non-residents. This is especially true in today’s economic climate where most institutions and states have financial concerns of their own. If your situation is in some way remarkable—affecting a large number of employees or students, for example, or involving violations of academic practice—you may wish to contact national media. The top national higher education news outlets are the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Education. Additional outlets worth considering include Open Campus, the EDU Ledger, Higher Ed Dive, and the Hechinger Report. The AAUP can also offer advice to chapters about selecting media outlets to target or posting chapter stories on the Academe Blog and the AAUP’s social media platforms.
- Designate a person to manage your chapter’s social media accounts. Not everyone feels comfortable using X or Facebook for professional communications, but it's important that a chapter designates one or two people to manage its social media presence. This is a great opportunity to tap the strengths of your chapter membership and locate someone who is already proficient in using social media. Social media engagement is crucial to any campaign and can help spread your message widely and rapidly. While audiences and tastes shift in social media, a broad academic community has coalesced in recent years on Bluesky and many AAUP chapters are increasingly using Instagram to reach supporters, members, and students.
Here are some additional resources to aid your crisis communications.
Our Guide to Communicating through the Media includes resources on writing press releases, talking to reporters, and writing op-eds and letters to the editor.
The Faculty First Responders resource guide, in the event of backlash or targeting during crisis communications.
We also have a collection of AAUP logos, photos, and other useful assets. That’s here.