Alert Top Message

Due to concerns about COVID-19, the AAUP office has transitioned to telework. Please contact staff by email.

 

Our Programs

The AAUP has been protecting the rights of faculty and other higher education professionals for ninety-five years. Through assistance and advice to individuals, state and federal lobbying, amicus briefs, support for collective bargaining, and other means, the AAUP helps shape American higher education and ensure higher education's contribution to the common good.

 

 

Protecting Academic Freedom

Protecting academic freedom is the AAUP's core mission. For a century, we have been developing standards for sound academic practice and working for the acceptance of these standards by the community of higher education.

Shared Governance

Since its founding, the AAUP has been working to ensure meaningful faculty participation in institutional governance. Our first statement on the subject, emphasizing faculty involvement in personnel decisions, selection of administrators, budgeting, and determination of educational policies, was published in 1920.

Chapter Organizing

The main principle behind successful organizing, and behind the formation of AAUP chapters, is collective action. When faculty speak and act with one voice, they demonstrate a large-scale commitment to the issues around which they organize.

Collective Bargaining

Academic collective bargaining includes the unionization of all sectors of the higher-education workforce—from tenure-line faculty to graduate student employees, and from academic professionals to support staff. The growth of academic collective bargaining has occurred in two waves. The first was the expansion of faculty and support staff collective bargaining fueled by the changes in federal and state labor laws during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The second was the rapid increase in graduate-employee unionization during the 1990s in response to the increased use of graduate-employee labor.

Summer Institute

Our Summer Institute is the premier training program for faculty advocates.

Research

The AAUP's research program promotes the economic security of the profession through advanced research on higher education.

Legal Program

The AAUP's legal office supports the activities of the Association in a variety of ways. The office responds to inquiries on higher education law from professors, academic administrators, attorneys, and others; monitors legal developments in higher education around the country; leads workshops and presentations on higher education law; and drafts informational outlines on specific areas of the law. 

Government Relations

The AAUP's government relations program tracks legislation that is relevant to our mission at both the federal and state levels. We also communicate legislative information to members and encourage them to become active in the issues affecting higher education in general and faculty in particular.