2021 AAUP Updates

The AAUP joined an amicus brief with Brady: United Against Gun Violence and Team ENOUGH filed in the State of Michigan Supreme Court in support of an appeal affirming that the University of Michigan’s prohibition on firearms does not infringe on Second Amendment rights.

The AAUP notes with sadness the death of Joseph Duffey, who served as AAUP general secretary from 1974 to 1976. Duffey was an accomplished academic who was also an anti-war activist and the Democratic Party's candidate in the 1970 US Senate election in Connecticut.

With the new administration and Congress come new opportunities to ensure significant, sustainable public investment in higher education.

The AAUP joined a coalition of fifty plus organizations to applaud the bicameral resolution calling on Biden to cancel $50K of student debt.

The AAUP wrote Lesley Hallick, president of Pacific University, to convey concerns about the failure to afford academic due process to Richard J. Paxton, a tenured full professor. In early October, the administration summarily removed Paxton from the classroom pending an investigation of student complaints about his classroom speech, a process that could potentially result in dismissal.

The AAUP seeks a book review editor for Academe, its quarterly magazine. The book review editor’s primary responsibilities include identifying books for review and soliciting and editing reviews. The application deadline is March 15, 2021.

The AAUP issued a statement objecting to efforts by legislators in several states to restrict teaching about oppression, race, and gender. Such efforts thwart antiracist work at a time when the nation is confronting deep-rooted racial inequity, attempt inappropriately to transfer responsibility for curriculum from educators to legislators, and disregard the importance of understanding the past to serve the needs of the living.

The AAUP sent an advisory letter today to the officers of the Kansas Conference of the AAUP in response to the Kansas Board of Regents' recent "COVID exception" termination policy.