2018 AAUP Updates

The AAUP joined with the American Council on Education and other higher education groups in submitting an amicus brief to the Supreme Court opposing the Trump administration’s most recent travel ban. The current iteration of the travel ban places restrictions on entry to the United States from citizens from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela. The AAUP previously joined a Supreme Court amicus brief that supported the largely successful attempts to prevent enforcement of earlier iterations of the travel ban.

The data in this year’s AAUP Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession explores changes in faculty compensation, gender equity, and retirement security challenges for faculty.

The AAUP calls on our members and all faculty and students, on college and university administrators and trustees, and most of all on our political leaders to support broader sensible gun control measures like those proposed by the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The Collective Bargaining Congress of the AAUP stands in solidarity with the striking members of the Graduate Employees Organization at the University of Illinois, AFT Local 6300.

The national American Association of University Professors joins its California state conference in urging the suspension of two executive orders, EO 1100 (revised) and EO 1110, that make extensive changes to the general education requirements, placement testing, and remedial education policies applying to all of the California State University campuses. The policies mandate significant changes to the graduation requirements, curricula, and course offerings at CSU. Faculty groups decry this unilateral action and disregard for necessary input.

The AAUP joined in an amicus brief supporting a permanent injunction against a Trump administration executive order that sought to strip federal funding from “sanctuary jurisdictions.” The AAUP’s interest in the case stems from the potential application of the executive order to colleges and universities.

Last week, news surfaced of an email by University of Wisconsin system president Ray Cross conveying his disrespect for shared governance, which he characterized as an obstacle to institutional restructuring. The AAUP’s Committee on College and University Governance joins the growing chorus of voices denouncing Cross’s ill-judged remarks and calling on him to explain them.

The National Education Association and the American Association of University Professors submitted an amicus brief today with the Supreme Court in the case of Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31. The case is the latest legal threat to union rights and is part of a broader effort to weaken the freedom and power of working people, to undermine public services, and to erode the common good.