2023 AAUP Updates

In episode 1, we discuss grappling with the history of higher education in order to figure out how to ensure that traditionally marginalized voices not only have a seat at the table but are leading the way forward. Episode 2 focuses on how to achieve greater racial diversity and equity in higher education after the Supreme Court overturned forty years of precedent and ended race-conscious admissions as we know it.

Today, the AAUP sent a letter to the administration of West Virginia University warning that it “would view with grave concern any terminations of tenured faculty appointments for financial reasons that are effected in a manner inconsistent with” AAUP-recommended standards. The university’s board of governors is scheduled to vote tomorrow on final recommendations to reduce and eliminate academic programs, which could result in the termination of dozens of faculty appointments, as part of WVU’s “Academic Transformation” process.

After more than three and a half years, student loan payments will resume in early fall. Make sure you’re ready!

The AAUP and the Nevada Faculty Alliance filed a joint amicus brief in support of a former University of Nevada, Reno, assistant professor who alleges that her tenure denial, based largely on assessment of student evaluations of her teaching, violates the Title VII prohibition on sex-based discrimination. 

After months of organizing, more than 80 percent of the 170 faculty at Howard Community College and 100 faculty at Frederick Comunity College petitioned the state Public Employee Relations Board to join the AAUP, AFT-Maryland, and the AFT.

The AAUP urges WVU's governing board and administration to reaffirm their commitment to shared governance standards and the role of faculty in addressing financial crises. 

By limiting racial and economic diversity on college campuses, legacy admissions, particularly in highly selective schools, effectively restrict racial and economic diversity in workplaces and in economic and political power structures.

The Supreme Court has dashed the hopes of millions of borrowers who had expected to benefit from the Biden administration's 2022 student-loan-relief plan. Although the plan was not a solution to the crisis of affordability in higher education, it was a first step toward acknowledging and alleviating the burdens so many students and families face. The AAUP will continue to fight for debt cancellation and affordable access to higher education for all students.