2015 AAUP Updates

The AAUP and the Council of University of California Faculty Associations call upon University of California regents to protect the right of administrators and faculty to determine internal university policies through established processes of shared governance free from external political pressure.

Volume 6 of the Journal of Academic Freedom includes eight essays that discuss the case of Steven Salaita and eight essays addressing other academic freedom issues.

This brief argues that the challenged statutes help protect teachers from retaliation, help keep good teachers in the classroom by promoting teacher longevity and discouraging teacher turnover, and allow teachers to act in students’ interests in presenting curricular material and advocating for students within the school system.

Henry Reichman, AAUP first vice-president and chair of the AAUP's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, said “Jennifer Ruth's wide-ranging interests in topics as diverse as Victorian literature and higher education in China, her fervent commitment to academic freedom and shared governance, and her ambitious, innovative, and courageous efforts to address the profound implications of universities' increasing reliance on non-tenure-track faculty, make her an ideal candidate to edit the Journal of Academic Freedom."

This report questions hasty actions by the administration, procedures followed, and low tolerance for profanity at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. This supplementary report on a censured administration is one of only seven such reports issued in the AAUP’s century of existence.

Catherine Moran, co-lead negotiator with Adam St. Jean of the UNHLU, said, “This CBA is an important tool that will support UNH lecturer faculty as we continue to deliver high-quality instruction to UNH students and mentor them in their academic pursuits. Clarity and transparency in policies and practices better enable lecturer faculty to meet the needs of our students.”

In a highly publicized case in which the AAUP filed an amicus brief, the National Labor Relations Board declined to assert jurisdiction over the Northwestern University football players’ petition seeking union representation rendering the players unable to unionize under the auspices of the NLRB. The Board, however, explicitly limited its decision to the unusual circumstances of the case, avoiding broader questions involving the unionization of graduate student assistants and others.
 

The court firmly rejected the university’s claim that it did not have a contract with Professor Salaita, stating, “If the Court accepted the University’s argument, the entire American academic hiring process as it now operates would cease to exist.”