AAUP Policies & Reports

Since 1915, the AAUP has been crafting policies for the academic profession on both fundamental principles and emerging issues.

AAUP annual meeting and business reports are published annually in the Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors. Annual meeting reports for 2011 and earlier can be found in the July-August issues of Academe.

Academic Freedom and Tenure Investigative Reports

2017 | Academic Freedom and Tenure: Spalding University (Kentucky)

This report concerns actions taken by the administration of Spalding University to terminate the appointment of tenured professor of social work Erlene Grise-Owens after she criticized the administration’s handling of an incident involving a student who brought a gun to a campus parking lot. The social work school’s chair immediately alerted social work faculty about the incident—except the school’s three faculty members of color, even though the student was scheduled to attend class with one of them the next day.

2017 | Academic Freedom and Tenure: Community College of Aurora (Colorado)

This report concerns actions taken by the administration of the Community College of Aurora, during the fourth week of the fall 2016 semester, to terminate the appointment of part-time instructor of philosophy Nathanial Bork without affordance of academic due process. Mr. Bork was dismissed after conveying his intention to send to the college's accreditor a report detailing his “deep concerns” about the college’s Gateway to Success initiative, which modified certain entry-level liberal arts courses in an effort to improve their pass rates.

College and University Governance Reports

2015 | College and University Governance: University of Iowa

This report describes departures from shared governance standards in the hiring of new University of Iowa President J. Bruce Harreld, appointed by the Iowa Board of Regents in spite of overwhelming objections from faculty. The investigation found that in contrast to historical practice at the university, which had been to involve faculty fully in presidential searches, the board designed this search process specifically to prevent any meaningful faculty role in the selection of the final candidate.

2015 | College and University Governance: Union County College

This report describes severe departures from generally accepted standards of academic governance at Union County College in Cranford, New Jersey and details how the administration sharply diminished the role and influence of the faculty in the college’s governance system.

Standing Committee and Subcommittee Reports

2017 | Visualizing Change: The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2016-17

Between the 2015–16 and 2016–17 academic years, average salaries for full-time ranked faculty members (assistant, associate, and full professors) increased by 0.5 percent after adjusting for inflation. The average salary for full professors in 2016–17 was $102,402, the average salary for associate professors was $79,654, and the average salary for assistant professors was $69,206.

2016 | Higher Education at a Crossroads: The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2015-16

Last year full-time continuing faculty experienced an inflation-adjusted increase in salary exceeding 2 percent for the first time since the Great Recession began more than seven years ago. This year, inflation-adjusted full-time continuing faculty salaries increased by 2.7 percent. Table A provides four decades of data on the percentage change in average salaries in both nominal (actual dollar) and real (inflation-adjusted) terms from one year to the next for all full-time continuing faculty whose institutions participated in the AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey.

Audit Reports

08.23.2013 | Agency-Fee Audits

Information about agency-fee audits.

03.21.2012 | AAUP Audit Reports

Audited reports of the AAUP's financial statements from the past three years.

Academic Freedom Fund

The AAUP Foundation’s Academic Freedom Fund supports academic freedom through research, publication, and direct assistance to faculty members whose academic freedom has been threatened. Donate today!

Join the AAUP

As an AAUP member, you join forces with colleagues who care about academic freedom and shared governance. You help protect quality higher education and shape the future of our profession. In addition, there are practical benefits such as discounts, insurance programs, and a subscription to Academe
magazine.

Learn more

Secondary menu

AAUP Policies & Reports