Committee Reports

Statement on Political Interference in Higher Education

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.

Statement on Online 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.

On Eliminating Discrimination and Achieving Equality in Higher Education

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. 

Report of a Special Committee: Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida’s Public Higher Education System

This report details the findings of the special committee appointed by the AAUP to investigate the state of academic freedom and political interference in Florida, focusing on the threats to higher education and the foundational principles of shared governance that have intensified under the DeSantis regime. Following a preliminary report released in May 2023, this final report reaffirms the "chilling effect on academic freedom" outlined in the preliminary report and expands on how AAUP-supported principles and standards are implicated.

Academic Freedom and Outside Speakers

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.

The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2022-23

This year’s Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession examines the economic conditions of the academy in a year that has seen both the World Health Organization and the US government declare an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report documents the economic status of both full- and part-time faculty members in a year when the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 6.5 percent from December 2021 to December 2022, following a 7.0 percent increase the previous year, which was the largest percentage increase since 1981. Furthermore, this report revisits the findings of the 2020–21 annual report, which documented institutional responses to COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic, including salary freezes or reductions, elimination or reduction of fringe benefits, and terminations or nonrenewals of faculty appointments.

Preliminary Report of the Special Committee on Academic Freedom and Florida

Earlier this year, the AAUP established a special committee to review the apparent pattern of politically, racially, and ideologically motivated attacks on public higher education in Florida. In May 2023, the committee released this preliminary report concluding that academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance in Florida’s public colleges and universities currently face a politically and ideologically driven assault unparalleled in US history. If sustained, this onslaught threatens the very survival of meaningful higher education in the state, with dire implications for the entire country.

The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2021-22

This year’s Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession documents the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in a year when the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 7.0 percent, the largest December-to-December percentage increase since 1981. The report documents the economic status for not only full-time faculty members but also part-time adjunct faculty members paid on a per-course-section basis—and faculty members on contingent appointments in general. It also includes special sections on the academic labor force and key gender equity indicators, with an eye toward documenting changes that have occurred since the 2019–20 academic year, when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Governance, Academic Freedom, and Institutional Racism in the University of North Carolina System

This report details an investigation of governance, academic free­dom, and institutional racism in the University of North Carolina system. The report considers the influence of the gerrymandered North Carolina state legislature on the systemwide board of governors and campus boards of trustees and how political pressure has obstructed meaningful faculty participation in the governance of the UNC system. It also assesses how the environment for academic freedom in the UNC system has been weakened by the politiciza­tion and increased centralization of system governance and by mounting political interference in university policy. Finally, the report focuses on key issues of institutional racism within UNC: the racial climate, institutional inequities, and retention of faculty of color. It demonstrates how the areas of governance, institutional racism, and academic freedom overlap significantly.

Legislative Threats to Academic Freedom: Redefinitions of Antisemitism and Racism

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. 

 

On Academic Freedom and Transphobia

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.

The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2020-21

This year’s Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession outlines how years of unstable funding, combined with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, have created an existential threat to shared governance and academic freedom in higher education that severely weakens our nation’s ability to effectively educate our communities. The report presents findings from three related studies conducted by the AAUP: the AAUP’s annual Faculty Compensation Survey, a follow-up COVID-19 survey, and secondary data analyses of national employment and finance data.

COVID-19 and Academic Governance

This report details an investigation of the crisis in academic governance that has occurred in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on eight institutions: Canisius College (NY), Illinois Wesleyan University, Keuka College (NY), Marian University (WI), Medaille College (NY), National University (CA), University of Akron, and Wittenberg University (OH). AAUP governance investigations are conducted under the aegis of the Association’s standing Committee on College and University Governance by AAUP members who have had no previous involvement in the cases under investigation. The investigating committee is charged with independently determining the relevant facts and the positions of the principal parties before reaching its findings.

On Campus Police Forces

This report of the Campus Police Working Group addresses the role of police on campus, the appropriateness of higher education institutions’ having their own police forces, the impact of systemic racism on campus policing, and changes needed to ensure that campuses are safe and welcoming for diverse peoples, especially those who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2019-20

This year’s Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession summarizes results from the 2019–20 Faculty Compensation Survey, which collected data from 928 colleges and universities across the United States, including community colleges, small liberal arts colleges, and major research universities. The survey covered almost 380,000 full-time and more than 96,000 part-time faculty members, as well as senior administrators at nearly 600 institutions. Data collection began in December 2019 and concluded in February 2020, just as the first cases of COVID-19 were being reported in the United States.

In Defense of Knowledge and Higher Education

This statement—adopted by the AAUP's Council and endorsed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, PEN America, and other organizations—advances an impassioned argument for the importance of expert knowledge and the institutions of higher education that produce and transmit it. Addressing an ongoing movement in the United States to attack the disciplines and institutions of higher education, the statement defends the critical role these institutions perform in producing the knowledge that sustains American democracy, especially in this moment of intense global instability.

The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2018-19

This year’s annual report provides an overview of the results of the 2018–19 AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey, which compiled data on more than 380,000 full-time faculty members at 952 colleges and universities, as well as improved data on pay and benefits for more than 64,000 part-time faculty members at more than 360 institutions. In addition, this year’s report examines the changes in full-time faculty salaries and appointment types, with a particular focus on progress toward gender equity, in the ten years since the Great Recession. Finally, the report explores some of the improved data on part-time faculty pay.

Campus Free-Speech Legislation: History, Progress, and Problems

Claiming that free speech is “dying” on American campuses, a conservative think tank has led an effort to push states to adopt a model bill that, in the name of defending campus free speech, risks undermining it. This report seeks to understand the context and content of the “campus free-speech” movement, to track its influence within state legislatures, and to draw some conclusions concerning the best ways to respond to it.

The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2017-18

Published in the March-April 2018 issue of Academe.

As several studies published during the past year have confirmed, higher education provides health and economic benefits that are vital to American society. These benefits, however, are threatened by ongoing political and financial attacks on higher education. Now, more than ever, faculty members and others who care about higher education must join together to resist these attacks.

National Security, the Assault on Science, and Academic Freedom

The Trump administration’s alarming hostility to science has exacerbated already troubling threats to academic freedom in the physical and natural sciences in two different areas. In the area of international scientific exchange, Chinese or Chinese American scientists have been targeted and charged with espionage. The second area, the field of climate science, has been subjected to vicious attempts to discredit its validity, which have intensified significantly since Donald Trump took office.

Visualizing Change: The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2016-17

Published in the March-April 2017 issue of Academe.

Between the 2015–16 and 2016–17 academic years, average salaries for full-time ranked faculty members (assistant, associate, and full professors) increased by 0.5 percent after adjusting for inflation. The average salary for full professors in 2016–17 was $102,402, the average salary for associate professors was $79,654, and the average salary for assistant professors was $69,206.

Threats to the Independence of Student Media

A report, issued by the AAUP, the College Media Association, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and the Student Press Law Center, that shines light on threats to student media. The report cites multiple cases in which college and university administrations have exerted pressure in attempts to control, edit, or censor student journalistic content. This pressure has been reported in every segment of higher education and every institutional type: public and private, four-year and two-year, religious and secular. The report finds that administrative efforts to subordinate campus journalism to public relations concerns are inconsistent with the mission of higher education to foster intellectual exploration and debate. And while journalism that discusses students’ dissatisfaction with the perceived shortcomings of their institutions can be uncomfortable, it fulfills an important civic function.

Higher Education at a Crossroads: The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2015-16

Last year full-time continuing faculty experienced an inflation-adjusted increase in salary exceeding 2 percent for the first time since the Great Recession began more than seven years ago. This year, inflation-adjusted full-time continuing faculty salaries increased by 2.7 percent. Table A provides four decades of data on the percentage change in average salaries in both nominal (actual dollar) and real (inflation-adjusted) terms from one year to the next for all full-time continuing faculty whose institutions participated in the AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey.

The History, Uses, and Abuses of Title IX

This report, released for comment in March 2016 and issued in its final version in June 2016, evaluates the history and current uses of Title IX and identifies tensions between current interpretations of Title IX and the academic freedom essential for campus life to thrive. The report makes recommendations for how best to address the problem of campus sexual assault and harassment while also protecting academic freedom, free speech, and due process.

Busting the Myths: The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2014-15

Last year, the American Association of University Professors launched the One Faculty campaign to improve the job security and working conditions of contingent faculty. Writing about the campaign in the November–December 2014 issue of Academe, Jamie Owen Daniel, the AAUP’s director of organizing, asserted that “shrinking public resources, administrators’ random introduction of ‘creative disruption’ agendas, and the increasing possibility that state legislators will push for more right-to-work legislation” can be resisted only by “reclaiming the narrative” through “aggressive and unified faculties organized to speak together.”

On Trigger Warnings

A current threat to academic freedom in the classroom comes from a demand that teachers provide warnings in advance if assigned material contains anything that might trigger difficult emotional responses for students.

On Partnerships with Foreign Governments: The Case of Confucius Institutes

Allowing any third-party control of academic matters is inconsistent with principles of academic freedom, shared governance, and the institutional autonomy of colleges and universities. Confucius Institutes function as an arm of the Chinese state and are allowed to ignore these principles.

Defending the Freedom to Innovate: Faculty Intellectual Property Rights after Stanford v. Roche

Tensions over control of the fruits of faculty scholarship have been slowly building since the 1980s and have intensified over the last three years. There have long been differences of opinion over ownership of patentable inventions, but recently a number of universities have categorically asserted that they own the products of faculty research. And there is increasing institutional interest in declaring ownership of faculty intellectual property subject to copyright—most notably evident in demands that faculty members cede ownership of online courses and other instructional materials to their universities, a trend that began escalating in the 2012–13 academic year.

Statement on Intellectual Property

Providing guidance, this statement deals with the management of inventions, patents, and other forms of intellectual property in a university setting.

Statement on Intellectual Property

The management of inventions, patents, and other forms of intellectual property in a university setting warrants special guidance because it bears on so many aspects of the university’s core missions, values, and functions, including academic freedom, scholarship, research, shared governance, and the transmission and use of academic knowledge by the broader society.

Academic Freedom and Electronic Communications

This revised report brings up to date and expands upon the Association’s 2004 report on the same topic, while affirming the earlier report’s basic principles. Academic freedom, free inquiry, and freedom of expression within the academic community may be limited to no greater extent in electronic format than they are in print, save for the most unusual situation where the very nature of the medium itself might warrant unusual restrictions,

Defending the Freedom to Innovate: Faculty Intellectual Property Rights After Stanford v. Roche

This report is being issued in the midst of fundamental changes in the character of faculty rights and academic freedom. The purpose of the report is to put the dialog on intellectual property on a new foundation, one that leads to a principle-based restoration of faculty leadership in setting policy in this increasingly important area of university activity. Administration efforts to control the fruits of faculty scholarship augur a sea change in faculty employment conditions, one too often imposed without negotiation or consent.
 

Confidentiality and Faculty Representation in Academic Governance

A report arguing that requiring faculty members to sign confidentiality agreements as a requirement to serve on university committees is in most cases inconsistent with widely accepted standards of shared governance and with the concept of serving as a representative. 

Faculty Communication with Governing Boards: Best Practices

From its initial statement of principles in 1915 and its earliest investigations into violations of academic freedom, the AAUP has emphasized the necessity of effective communication among those who participate in academic governance. Based on a consideration of relevant AAUP documents, the current climate in higher education, and feedback on an earlier draft, the final statement urges greater communication between faculties and governing boards in colleges and universities.

Regulation of Research on Human Subjects: Academic Freedom and the Institutional Review Board

Local institutional review boards, which make decisions about the permissibility of research, often have no special competence; the AAUP recommends improvements. Read the report.

The Inclusion in Governance of Faculty Members Holding Contingent Appointments

The proportion of faculty appointments that are “contingent”—lacking the benefits and protections of tenure and a planned long-term relationship with an institution—has increased dramatically over the past few decades. The structures of faculty governance, however, as well as AAUP policies on the subject, tend to assume a faculty that is primarily full time and on the tenure track. This report examines the issues and makes recommendations on how contingent faculty should be included in institutional governance.

The Role of the Faculty in Conditions of Financial Exigency

Recent years have witnessed massive closings of academic programs that are basic to a college or university’s curriculum, with a resulting erosion in the number and the authority of the tenured faculty.  The AAUP responded last month when its Council adopted as official policy the final text of a major report, The Role of the Faculty in Conditions of Financial Exigency.  

Joint Statement on Faculty Status of College and University Librarians

Statement arguing that because the scope and character of library resources should be taken into account in such important academic decisions as curricular planning and faculty appointments, librarians should have a voice in the development of the institution’s educational policy

Statement on Campus Sexual Assault

Statement reviewing the scope of the sexual harassment on campus, the frequently disappointing evidence about current campus practices and preparedness, the legal issues at stake, and giving special attention to faculty responsibilities.

Campus Sexual Assault: Suggested Policies and Procedures

The AAUP’s Committee on Women in the Academic Profession has issued a statement about the serious and continuing problem of sexual assault on campus.  The statement, adopted by the Association’s Council at its November 2012 meeting, represents the work of a subcommittee on sexual assault formed to research the issue thoroughly; meanwhile, recent events have highlighted its importance and perhaps underlined the need for its wide distribution and careful consideration. The statement, Campus Sexual Assault: Suggested Policies and Procedures, reviews the scope of the problem, cites the frequently disappointing evidence about current campus practices and preparedness, analyzes the legal issues at stake, and gives special attention to faculty responsibilities.

Recommended Principles to Guide Academy-Industry Relationships

This book-length report offers general advice on basic faculty intellectual property rights; mechanisms to ensure academic freedom in publishing; handling faculty and administrator conflicts of interest; and grievance procedures for faculty members, academic professionals, and students. An appendix provides language appropriate for inclusion in faculty handbooks and collective bargaining agreements.

Tenure and Teaching-Intensive Appointments

Recommendations on stabilizing the faculty infrastructure by converting contingent faculty positions to the tenure track.

Protecting an Independent Faculty Voice: Academic Freedom after Garcetti v. Ceballos

Report examining the potential impact on academic governance of the Supreme Court Garcetti v. Ceballos decision. It recommends actions to be taken in both public and private colleges and universities to preserve academic freedom in governance even in the face of judicial hostility or indifference.

The Use and Abuse of Faculty Suspensions

Report analyzing AAUP policy on the suspension of faculty members from teaching or research.

The Faculty Role in Regional Accreditation

Report providing encouragement and practical information to faculty members who might wish to serve on regional accreditation teams.

Looking the Other Way? Accreditation Standards and Part-Time Faculty

Report surveys six of the different regional accrediting organizations' handbooks and selected statements relating to part-time faculty.

Institutional Accreditation: A Call for Greater Faculty Involvement

A report calling for greater faculty involvement in the accreditation of colleges and universities.

Freedom in the Classroom

Report assessing arguments made in support of recent legislative efforts to regulate classroom instruction.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Recent Trends

Report discussing recent trends regarding Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Faculty Evaluation of Administrators

Report by the Committee on College and University Governance on principles and recommended procedural standards concerning the evaluation of administrators.  The statement supplements a paragraph in Faculty Participation in the Selection, Evaluation, and Retention of Administrators (1981). 

 

Research on Human Subjects: Academic Freedom and the Institutional Review Board

2006 report addressing aspects of the federal government’s regulations for research on human subjects that constitute a threat to academic freedom.

Professors of Practice

Report addressing a category of full-time non-tenure-track faculty appointments known as “professors of practice.”  It recommends, in accordance with Association principles, that these faculty members be accorded tenure's protections.

On Professors Assigning Their Own Texts to Students

Statement by the Committee on Professional Ethics that addresses the practice of professors assigning their own texts to students.  Related institutional and organizational policies are also addressed.

Financial Exigency, Academic Governance, and Related Matters

Report discussing  AAUP policies concerning the role of the faculty in budgeting in good times and when an institution must deal with a financial crisis.

Academic Bill of Rights

Report discussing the Academic Bill of Rights at its potential impact on academic freedom.

Contingent Appointments and the Academic Profession

Report examining the costs to academic freedom incurred by the current trend toward overreliance on part and full-time non-tenure-track faculty.  The report recommends that for the good of institutions, of the educational experiences of students, and of the quality of education, the proportion of tenured and tenure-track faculty should be increased.

 

Academic Freedom and National Security in a Time of Crisis

Report assessing risks to academic freedom and free inquiry posed by the nation's response to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Statement of Principles on Family Responsibilities and Academic Work

Statement addressing some of the current issues facing faculty members as they seek to integrate family obligations and academic work.  It recommends principles and guidelines for formulating appropriate policies and practices regarding family leaves, modified teaching schedules, "stopping the tenure clock," and institutional assistance for family responsibilities.

 

Institutional Review Boards and Social Science Research

Report addressing the government’s rules for protecting human beings who are the subjects of social science research.  It offers suggestions for the improvement of IRB practices and recommendations.

On Collegiality as a Criterion for Faculty Evaluation

Report addressing the increasing tendency to add the criterion of “collegiality” to faculty evaluations and enumerates why this practice should be discouraged.

Post-tenure Review: An AAUP Response

Policy discussing what post-tenure review should be and not be and its impact on academic freedom.

Statement on Copyright

Statement explaining faculty members’ basic rights of ownership of their intellectual property, prevailing academic practice, and exceptions in which colleges and universities may fairly claim full or partial ownership of works created by faculty members.

Sexual Harassment: Suggested Policy and Procedures for Handling Complaints

Statement proposing policy and procedures for colleges and universities that wish to formulate a statement of policy on sexual harassment that is separate from existing grievance policies and procedures.

Nonreappointment & Full-Time Renewable Term Appointments

Report addressing the applicability of the Standards for Notice of Nonreappointment to all full-time faculty members on renewable term appointments.

On Freedom of Expression and Campus Speech Codes

Statement addressing campus speech codes and advises consideration of means more compatible with the mission of an academic institution by which to deal with incivility, intolerance, offensive speech, and harassing behavior.

Due Process in Sexual-Harassment Complaints

Report discussing the protections of academic due process in sexual harassment cases

On the Relationship of Faculty Governance to Academic Freedom

Report linking the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure and the Association's 1966 Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities. 

The Status of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty

Recommendations for improving the professional status of the growing number of non-tenure-track faculty; suggests minimum standards designed to protect the professional standing of all faculty.

Statement on Collective Bargaining

Report addressing collective bargaining as an effective instrument for achieving the basic AAUP objectives of protecting academic freedom, establishing and strengthening institutions of faculty governance, providing fair procedures for resolving grievances, promoting the economic well-being of faculty and other academic professionals, and advancing the interests of higher education.

Statement on Plagiarism

Report discussing professional ethics and plagiarism.

The Role of the Faculty in the Governance of College Athletics

Statement addressing the general allocation of authority in the governance of athletics. It emphasizes the obligation of the faculty to ensure academic primacy in an institution’s athletic program.

Faculty Child Care

Statement arguing that in order for faculty members with child-rearing responsibilities to participate successfully in teaching, research, and service to their institution, they must have access to quality child-care facilities. Universities and colleges should assume a share of the responsibility for the provision of such services to their faculties.

The Status of Part-Time Faculty

Statement offering new propositions, consistent with Association principles, to address some of the continuing problems concerning part-time faculty members.

Statement on Teaching Evaluation

Statement outlining proper teaching evaluation methods and their appropriate uses in personnel decisions. This statement confines itself to the teaching responsibilities of college and university professors and is not intended as the definitive statement on reviewing and weighing all aspects of a faculty member’s work.

The Role of the Faculty in Budgetary and Salary Matters

Statement defining the role of the faculty in decisions as to the allocation of financial resources according to the principle of shared authority set forth in the 1966 Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities, and to offer some principles and derivative guidelines for faculty participation in this area

Faculty Appointment and Family Relationship

Statement urging the discontinuance of anti-nepotism policies and practices, and the rescinding of laws and institutional regulations that perpetuate them.

Freedom and Responsibility

Statement addressing the ethical responsibilities that go along with academic freedom.

Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students

Joint statement enumerating the essential provisions for students’ freedom to learn, including guidelines related to access to higher education, rights in the classroom, student records, student affairs, and procedural standards in disciplinary proceedings.

Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities

Statement calling for shared responsibility among the different components of institutional government and its specification of areas of primary responsibility for governing boards, administrations, and faculties, and remains the Association's central policy document relating to academic governance.

Statement on Professional Ethics

Statement outlining general standards that serve as a reminder of the variety of ethical responsibilities assumed by all members of the profession.

Statement on Procedural Standards in Faculty Dismissal Proceedings

Joint statement supplementing the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure by providing a formulation of the “academic due process” that should be observed in dismissal proceedings.

Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure

Regulations outlining recommended institutional processes that enable institutions to protect academic freedom, tenure, and to ensure academic due process.

1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure

Statement promoting public understanding and support of academic freedom and tenure and agreement upon procedures to ensure them in colleges and universities. 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.