Policy Statements

The statement that follows was formulated by a subcommittee of Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. It was approved by Committee A in December 2024 and adopted by the Association’s Council in January 2025. Following faculty involvement in the Vietnam Moratorium of October 1969, the AAUP considered “the role of academic institutions in reacting to social issues.” A special committee was appointed to make a statement on “the question of institutional neutrality,” but its resulting statement described conflicting views on the topic rather than endorsing one. The AAUP Council, the statement...

The statement that follows, prepared by a joint subcommittee of the Association’s Committee on College and University Governance and Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, was approved for publication by the parent committees in December 2024 and adopted by the Council in January 2025. As Donald Trump assumes the presidency for a second time, the outlook for higher education is dire. The new administration’s agenda for higher education has been thoroughly prepared by a series of statewide legal assaults on public colleges and universities in North Carolina, Florida, Texas, and elsewhere...

The Association views the use of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) criteria in faculty recruitment, promotion, and retention within a broad vision of higher education for the public good. Since the 1990s, many universities and colleges have instituted policies that use DEI criteria in faculty evaluation for appointment, reappointment, tenure, and promotion, including the use of statements that invite or require faculty members to address their skills, competencies, and achievements regarding DEI in teaching, research, and service. Such criteria are one instrument among many that may...

A new statement approved by the AAUP's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure and adopted by the Association's Council reconsiders Committee A's prior, categorical opposition to academic boycotts set forth in the 2006 report On Academic Boycotts. It maintains that academic boycotts are not in themselves violations of academic freedom and can instead be legitimate tactical responses to conditions that are fundamentally incompatible with the mission of higher education.

This statement sets forth applicable principles and procedural standards for online education, addressing concerns related to academic freedom and shared governance, learning management systems and virtual classrooms, and intellectual property.

This statement from the Committee on College and University Governance outlines the recent swath of political interference in higher education across the country, beginning with the Trump administration's executive order on divisive concepts. The statement includes steps faculty can take to combat interference and protect academic freedom and university governance and a sample resolution that faculty bodies can adopt to express opposition to restrictive legislation.

This statement reasserts the AAUP’s fundamental and enduring commitment to eliminating discrimination and addressing the persistent inequalities created by both past and present discriminatory practices in higher education.

This statement concerns academic freedom and outside speakers at colleges and universities. Respecting faculty and student choices of invited outside speakers is part of academic freedom and is a best practice that restrains the hands of politically zealous or overly cautious college and university administrators. At the same time, we note that this is only one aspect of the “right to hear” within the broader meaning of academic freedom, where “the protection of faculty rights based on disciplinary competence” remains essential to the furtherance of critical thinking and scientific inquiry.

This statement by the AAUP's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure addresses recent partisan efforts in state legislatures to restrict teaching that critically examines the history and policies of the state of Israel and the United States. The statement notes that conservative politicians have justified restrictive legislation on these two topics under the guise of protecting students from harm and urges the defeat of these legislative initiatives and others of their kind in order to protect the academic freedom that is vital to the preservation of democracy.

The statement that follows was prepared in 2018 and approved in 2019 by the Association’s Committee on Gender and Sexuality in the Academic Profession (formerly the Committee on Women in the Academic Profession) and approved by Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure in 2021. It was adopted by the Association’s Council in 2021.