2024 AAUP Updates

The 1776 Report, released on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, is an attack on the socially progressive and antiracist goals that King worked toward. The report, which was issued by a commission appointed by President Trump last fall in response to the New York Times's 1619 Project and to racial justice demonstrations, is based on falsehoods but poses as history.

The AAUP calls for the immediate removal of President Trump from office and fully supports all legal efforts to remove him.

The AAUP is appalled by the assault on the US Capitol today. The current administration’s attacks on truth, inflammatory rhetoric, and baseless objections to the result of a free and fair election have now led to violence, highlighting the precarious state of our democracy. We look forward to working with the new administration, Senate, and House to strengthen our democracy and to strengthen our education system, a key underpinning of a functional democracy.

The AAUP authored and filed yesterday an amicus brief in support of a lower court decision holding that Margaret DeWeese-Boyd, a professor at a Christian college, is not a “minister” and thus was protected by Massachusetts antidiscrimination laws.

The AAUP signed onto a long-form comment seeking an exemption from a prohibition on circumventing technological protection measures for text and data mining (TDM) of lawfully accessed motion pictures and lawfully accessed literary works distributed electronically. The comment was submitted yesterday to the US Copyright Office with Authors Alliance and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (the Berkeley Clinic).

An updated demographic profile of full-time faculty by academic rank and institution type, highlighting disparities among women and people of color in an effort to analyze demographic breakdowns and salary differences.

In a December 7 virtual listening session on higher education with the Biden-Harris transition team and other higher ed advocacy organizations, AAUP president Irene Mulvey delivered remarks about planning for a better future for higher education; supporting students, faculty, and staff; and reversing Trump administration policies.

The AAUP joined nearly one hundred other higher education associations in signing on to a letter sent yesterday by American Council on Education president Ted Mitchell to US congressional leaders, documenting the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter called for quick action to finalize negotiations for supplemental expenditures of at least $120 billion to support colleges, universities, and students.