2017 AAUP Updates

A former AAUP vice president, Baumol is best known for identifying the phenomenon now known as Baumol’s cost disease, which explains why the cost of services such as college educations increases more rapidly than the cost of goods.

A professor at Spalding University was abruptly fired after she questioned the handling of a gun incident.

Legislation has recently cropped up in several states that addresses issues related to campus free speech. The AAUP strongly supports freedom of expression on campus and the rights of faculty and students to invite speakers of their choosing. We oppose, however, any legislation that interferes with institutional autonomy.

Today, a strong majority of graduate employees at the University of Chicago filed authorization cards to hold a union recognition election. The union will be affiliated with the AAUP, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and the American Federation of Teachers.

AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum calls on the University of North Carolina board of governors to stop interfering with the educational mission of the center and allow it to continue its work, which is consistent with the university mission and serves the common good.

New guidance from the Department of Labor heightens the potential for faculty on contingent appointments to get unemployment compensation over breaks between semesters.

Susan Fountain (CUNY School of Professional Studies) will be awarded the AAUP’s Georgina M. Smith Award on June 17 at the AAUP's annual conference. The award is presented to a person who has provided exceptional leadership in a given year in improving the status of academic women or in academic collective bargaining and through that work has improved the profession in general. Charlie Baker (College of the Holy Cross) will be awarded the AAUP’s Outstanding Achievement Award, presented for outstanding chapter- or conference-level work in advancing academic freedom or shared governance; promoting the economic security of academics; helping the higher education community organize; or ensuring higher education's contribution to the common good.

A proposed amendment of the AAUP Constitution for adoption by the 2017 Annual Meeting addresses course-release compensation for AAUP officers who are in part-time positions.