2020 AAUP Updates

The AAUP sent a letter to New York University president Andrew Hamilton to express concern about the academic freedom implications of a decision by the Zoom webinar platform to cancel an event hosted by the NYU chapter of the AAUP and co-sponsored by NYU departments and institutes. The event was organized to protest Zoom's previous censorship of a webinar at San Francisco State University.

The University of Akron has been added to the AAUP’s ongoing investigation of the crisis in academic governance that has occurred in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Association’s concerns regard actions taken by the University of Akron administration to terminate the appointments of ninety-six full-time faculty members in a manner that appears to have departed from normative standards of academic governance.

In this election, democracy as a concept is on the ballot. A well-functioning democracy requires respect for rules and standards, and respect for the rule of law. A vibrant democracy demands an educated citizenry and a free press. We need to vote for norms and standards, the rule of law, racial justice, social justice, and decision making with integrity based on reasoned arguments and expert knowledge. We need to vote for a living wage, for access to health care, for access to affordable high quality public higher education as a common good. To be silent now is to be complicit.

The report will reach findings on whether there have been departures from AAUP-supported principles and standards of academic governance, and may explore other issues, such as the effects of unilaterally imposed mass layoffs on academic freedom and tenure, the enrollment and financial challenges facing many institutions, and the impact of these challenges on higher education, especially the humanities and liberal arts.

AAUP president Irene Mulvey issued a statement on September 9 calling on faculty and administrations to condemn President Trump's attack on critical race theory and to actively support the work of critical race theorists and other academics who offer indispensable resources for understanding the past and present and for building a more racially just society.

The AAUP sent a letter to the president of Illinois Wesleyan University and to the chair of the university's board of trustees regarding action taken by the board to discontinue programs in anthropology, French, Italian, and religious studies and potential termination of tenured appointments. 

The AAUP’s Committee on Contingency and the Profession has issued a statement with recommendations and resources for the higher education community.

AAUP president Irene Mulvey has issued a statement of solidarity with medical faculty who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. AAUP members and supporters can send a message of support and donate personal protective equipment.