2022 AAUP Updates

Provisional data are now available. Preliminary findings are that average salaries for all full-time faculty members increased 2 percent, one of the smallest increases on record since the AAUP began tracking this measure in 1972. Real average salaries decreased 5 percent, after adjusting for inflation, representing the greatest decrease in real wage growth decreased since the 1979–80 academic year.

The AAUP is relaunching its investigation into the terminations or nonrenewals of appointment of faculty members at Collin College. In all three cases, the administration’s actions appear to have been for reasons that violated the faculty members’ academic freedom.

AAUP's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure published a statement today that addresses recent partisan efforts in state legislatures to enact bills targeting teaching about Israel and about the history of racism in the United States. The statement urges defeat of such legislative initiatives, which threaten academic freedom and its vital role in preserving democracy.

The AAUP Council has recommended that the Biennial Association Meeting ratify the action of the Council to affiliate with the American Federation of Teachers. This affiliation would build on our ten-plus year partnership with AFT and strengthen both organizations, while ensuring that the AAUP will maintain its independence and autonomy.

The move comes after the USG board of regents adopted policy changes that make it possible to fire tenured faculty members without a dismissal hearing.

The AAUP joins ninety-four higher education groups in a joint statement calling for free and open inquiry on campuses amid efforts to suppress inquiry, curb discussion, and limit what can be studied. These efforts violate the basic principles of free speech and an open exchange of ideas, and undermine the very purpose of higher education.

After extensive negotiations two AAUP chapters, Emerson College in Los Angeles and Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, have ratified new contracts. Faculty in the CSU system represented by the Calfornia Faculty Association, an AAUP affiliate, have also voted to approve a tentative contract. 

The AAUP stands resolute in our core mission to advance and protect academic freedom and quality in education in the face of these perverse and duplicitous threats at political interference.