AAUP Updates

The recent decision by noted physicist Stephen Hawking to call off plans to attend a major conference in Israel out of deference to an academic boycott advocated by some pro-Palestinian groups and the vote in late April by the membership of the Association for Asian American Studies to endorse such a boycott have again raised the issue of whether such boycotts violate the principles of academic freedom.

At its November 2012 meeting, the AAUP Council approved a number of proposed amendments to the AAUP Constitution that are recommended for adoption by the 2013 Annual Meeting. 

The AAUP's Committee on Women, responding to threats of sexual violence against a University of Connecticut student who issued an open letter to university president Susan Herbst, wrote President Herbst  urging the university to commit time and resources to the development of sound policies and procedures for managing sexual assault on campus.

This year’s Sternberg Award committee is pleased to announce Janet Golden of Rutgers University, Camden as the winner of the 2013 Marilyn Sternberg Award. The committee was especially impressed by Janet’s work on the campaign to “Save Rutgers Camden.”

The faculty of the University of Toledo College of Nursing have voted for collective bargaining and will form a unit as part of the UT-AAUP. 

In a letter to the president of Florida Atlantic University, the AAUP defended a communication professor’s right, under principles of academic freedom, to speak on matters of public concern without fear of institutional discipline.

On April 12, 2013, the faculty union at Bowling Green State University voted 97% in favor of their new collective bargaining agreement. The contract is the first between the BGSU Faculty Association and the BGSU administration since the FA won recognition in October 2010.

The AAUP’s annual report is the premier source for data on full-time faculty salaries, and this year’s report also provides updates on pay and working conditions for colleagues in contingent appointments.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) condemns recent congressional action to defund the political science program of the National Science Foundation.

Actions by colleges and universities to cut the courseloads of part-time faculty members to evade provisions of the Affordable Care Act are reprehensible. Institutions must recognize the many activities in which part-time faculty members engage, and provide benefits accordingly.