Issues in Higher Education

Academic freedom is indispensable for quality institutions of higher education. As the AAUP's core policy document states, "institutions of higher education are conducted for the common good and not to further the interest of either the individual teacher or the institution as a whole. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition."

The Trump administration and many state governments are accelerating attacks on academic freedom, shared governance, and higher education as a public good. We are working with our chapters and with allies in higher ed and the labor movement to defend and advance our vision: Higher education that is accessible and affordable for all who want it. Freedom to teach, to learn, to conduct research, to speak out on issues of the day, and to assemble in the organizations of our choice. Colleges and universities that create opportunity for students, workers, and communities.

Useful resources on academic collective bargaining.

Governance of higher education institutions traditionally has been a responsibility shared by  faculty, administrators, and trustees. 

The AAUP defends the right to free speech, expression of political convictions, and peaceful protest on university campuses. Our colleges and universities are places of inquiry, and debate. Even when campus constituents disagree, the goal should be to foster communication, learning, and understanding. The critical evaluation of different points of view and the questioning of even the most deeply held beliefs are essential to education.

Results of the AAUP's Faculty Compensation Survey are published in April each year with a full Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession published in the summer issue of the AAUP magazine, Academe, which is included in AAUP membership.

The AAUP is committed to fighting systemic racism and pursuing racial justice and equity in colleges and universities, in keeping with the Association’s mission to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good. Black lives matter, and Black and indigenous people and other peoples of color—including faculty and students—have the right to thrive and not just survive. The inequities, systemic racism, and implicit bias evident in US higher education institutions reflect our country’s failure to redress the harms caused by slavery and by centuries of violence and discrimination.

In the face of recent attacks from reactionary state governments and a conservative Supreme Court, the AAUP reaffirms its commitment to the crucial goal of ensuring that a diverse range of students have access to US colleges and universities.

FAQs to assist members of the academy in addressing the challenges faced in times of financial stress.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, when faculty members were forced to adapt their courses abruptly for remote learning, corporate-run online programs were being developed at more and more colleges and universities across the country, with administrators often emphasizing increased access to higher education as a core value of online initiatives. This trend is likely to continue and even accelerate. In corporate-run online programs, emphasis on the quality of education may get lost in the pursuit of revenue.

Who are "contingent faculty"? Depending on the institution, they can be known as adjuncts, postdocs, TAs, non-tenure-track faculty, clinical faculty, part-timers, lecturers, instructors, or nonsenate faculty. What they all have in common: they serve in insecure, unsupported positions with little job security and few protections for academic freedom. And they are the vast majority of US faculty today. Something needs to change.

The principal purpose of tenure is to safeguard academic freedom, which is a requisite condition for all who teach and conduct research in higher education. When faculty members can lose their positions because of their speech or their publications, they cannot properly fulfill their core responsibilities. The AAUP insists that all full-time faculty members are to be considered eligible for tenure and supports tenure for part-time faculty members whose duties consist of teaching or research conducted at a professional level.

The AAUP receives hundreds of inquiries on work-related issues.  We've compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions.

Women academics sometimes face unique challenges to their entry and advancement in the academic profession, among them potential inequities in salary and promotion rates, sexual harassment, and discriminatory treatment.

Placed on watchlists. Harassed on social media. Threatened. This is becoming normal in an environment increasingly hostile to faculty. Over the last few years, targeted online harassment of faculty has emerged as a significant threat to academic freedom. Fueled by websites such as Professor Watchlist, Campus Reform, and College Fix, campaigns of threats and harassment are directed against faculty members for what they are reported to have said in the classroom or posted on social media.

The AAUP believes it is appropriate to issue a warning: your intellectual property is in danger. In trying to reassert the principles inherent in the US Constitution, two centuries of patent law, and a landmark 2011 US Supreme Court decision, the first task is educational. Everyone on campus needs to learn more about the law, the issues at stake, and the rights they can assert through collective action.

Calls by university administrators for civility have raised concerns over their potential to restrict extramural speech of faculty members. The AAUP has defended the right of faculty members to speak as citizens since its inception.

The AAUP receives many inquiries about the application of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to faculty members at colleges and universities. To clarify how to apply the FMLA in academic settings, our guidebook is broken into sections in which specific mandates are introduced and explained through a series of questions and answers.

The AAUP guidebook "Pregnancy in the Academy: A Guidebook for Faculty, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Graduate Students" explains how the Pregnancy Discrimination Act applies to women in the academic workplace and addresses such issues as the differences between pregnancy disability leave and family and medical leave; the application of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in job interviews and the promotion and tenure process; and academic employees’ rights under the act.