2023 AAUP Updates

The AAUP joined gun violence prevention organizations Brady and Team Enough in filing an amicus brief in support of the University of Michigan’s ordinance prohibiting the possession of firearms and other dangerous weapons on university property, citing that the university's prohibition protects the free speech rights of students and faculty, safeguards academic freedom, promotes the free exchange of ideas on campus, and furthers the university’s core educational goals.

On Saturday, the governing Council of the AAUP voted unanimously to add Indiana University Northwest to the Association’s list of censured administrations after an investigation found that the administration acted against Dr. Mark McPhail in a way that violated AAUP-supported standards of academic due process. The committee further concluded that conditions for academic governance at the institution are unsound and its racial climate is unwelcoming to faculty members of color.

With the introduction of HB 999, the Florida legislature—at Governor DeSantis’s urging—has doubled down on its attacks on academic freedom with a bill that would effectively silence faculty and students across the ideological spectrum and purge whole fields of study from public universities.

AAUP president Irene Mulvey submitted public comments to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), urging the body responsible for making recommendations to the US Department of Education on issues related to accreditation and educational quality to uphold principles of academic freedom as political interference increases.

The AAUP joined the AFT in submitting two public comments on proposals made by the US Department of Education. We support the administration’s efforts to lower monthly payments for borrowers, decrease the time to forgiveness for many borrowers, increase the income threshold to qualify for $0 monthly payments, and stop negative amortization for borrowers who are on income driven repayment. But we urge the department to lower the discretionary income cap to 5 percent for all borrowers, including graduate and undergraduate borrowers, and to work to include Parent PLUS borrowers in their proposals.

The vindictive act of cutting graduate student healthcare and tuition benefits rather than simply sitting down at the table to negotiate is a shameful tactic meant to break the will of the hard-working graduate students whose contributions make Temple University the premier university it is.

The AAUP submitted testimony in opposition of a proposed bill in the North Dakota state legislature that would effectively end tenure at two higher education institutions, with the potential to extend the policy to all public colleges and universities in the state. This bill establishes a dangerous precedent that threatens academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance and further entrenches the politicization of higher education.

Today the AAUP published an investigative report on the summary suspension and dismissal of Dr. Mark McPhail, a tenured professor of communication at Indiana University Northwest. The investigating committee found that the administration disregarded AAUP-supported standards of academic due process and violated McPhail's academic freedom.