For AFT Higher Ed Members

Welcome to the many resources of the AAUP! As an AFT higher ed member, you may be interested in the following AAUP programs, publications, research, and more.

  • Academic Freedom: Advancing and 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. The AAUP's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure promotes standards of academic freedom, tenure, and due process in higher education through the development of policy documents and reports relating to these subjects and the application of those standards to particular situations that are brought to its attention. Learn more about the work of the Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance here. 

  • Shared Governance: Since its founding, the AAUP has been ensuring meaningful faculty participation in institutional governance, which is the joint responsibility of faculty, administrations, and governing boards to govern colleges and universities. Differences in the weight of each group's voice on a particular issue should be determined by the extent of its responsibility for and expertise on that issue. Our work helps protect the role of the faculty to have primary responsibility for such fundamental areas as curriculum, subject matter and methods of instruction, research, faculty status, and aspects of student life which relate to the educational process. Learn more about our shared governance work here. 

  • The AAUP's Policy Documents and Reports (widely known as the "Redbook" because of the color of its cover) presents in convenient format a wide range of AAUP policies. Learn more or purchase the book here. AFT members are entitled to a 30% discount.
  • The Faculty Compensation Survey and AAUP Research Data Site: The AAUP’s research department has launched new interactive data tools. We've started with a limited number of data tools for exploring Faculty Compensation Survey data, but additional data tools will be added, beginning with interactive tools for exploring IPEDS data on the makeup of the academic workforce (including contingent faculty employment). Interactive data tools on academic freedom, tenure, and governance are also planned. Explore data on key issues facing higher ed. 

  • Leaders of AFT locals can also order at no cost the datasets from the AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey. Information on ordering and available products is here

  • Additional Research: In addition to its annual Faculty Compensation Survey, the research department conducts research on academic freedom, tenure, and governance, the academic workforce, and more. Links to recent reports and ways to contact the department can be found here. 

  • Academe and Academe Blog:The AAUP publishes Academe magazine, with three issues per year in the fall, winter, and spring featuring articles about academic freedom, labor, and higher education and the annual Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors published each summer. Our Academe Blog  publishes short pieces on current issues in higher education throughout the year. 

  • Journal of Academic Freedom: The AAUP’s Journal of Academic Freedom publishes scholarship on academic freedom and on its relation to shared governance, tenure, and collective bargaining.  Essays range from historical studies to analyses of contemporary conflicts, from accounts of individual faculty experiences to institutional histories.The Journal is published online annually, and we release a call for papers each fall.

  • AAUP Presents: Check out our podcast, AAUP Presents, where we discuss issues related to academic freedom, shared governance, higher ed, and more. New episodes will be posted on our site and all major podcasting platforms regularly. Subscribe on your preferred platform so you don't miss any episodes.

  • Summer Institute: Our Summer Institute is the premier training program for faculty advocates. Every year, faculty members from around the country attend this four-day series of intensive workshops to learn about AAUP policies, discuss the issues facing the academy, sharpen their skills as union leaders, and develop strategies for organizing.