2019 AAUP Updates

After President Trump announced that he would soon issue an executive order denying federal research funds to colleges and universities that do not "support free speech," the AAUP and eleven other groups issued a statement, calling it a dangerous solution to a largely nonexistent problem.

The Executive Committee of the AAUP Collective Bargaining Congress sent a letter of support for striking teachers to the Oakland, California, schools superintendent on March 1. Teachers returned to work March 4 after coming to an agreement with the district.

A clear majority of faculty at the University of New Mexico have declared their support for unionization in an official election petition filed today with the UNM Labor Management Relations Board. The UNM bargaining unit, comprising more than 1,600 full- and part-time faculty on five campuses has organized under the banner of United Academics of the University of New Mexico which is affiliated nationally with AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers.

An AAUP investigative report finds the most plausible explanation for the dismissal of Professor Richard Schmitt from Nunez Community College was that it occured as a retaliatory measure, violating his academic freedom.

Yesterday evening the AAUP-WSU negotiating team came to a tentative agreement with the Wright State University administration, and the AAUP-WSU Executive Committee voted to end the faculty strike that began on January 22.

We note with sadness the death of William Van Alstyne, who served as president of the national AAUP from 1974 to 1976.

The AAUP sent a letter to the president of Augsburg University after the university suspended Phillip Adamo over his use of a quoted passage from a book by James Baldwin, which used the n-word.

AAUP submitted comments today on amendments proposed by the Department of Education to the regulations governing the implementation of Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded education programs. The proposed regulations ultimately fail to specify the importance of academic freedom and shared governance for Title IX proceedings. Moreover, we object to proposed regulations that unduly narrow the scope of protections against sexual harassment.