2013 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.

To clarify how to apply the FMLA in academic settings, the AAUP produced a guidebook, authored by attorney Kathi Westcott and economics professor Saranna Thornton and now available online in an updated edition.

The AAUP-supported legislation is effectively dead for the 2013 legislative session, having failed to pass out of the Senate Higher Education Committee prior to cut-off.

The AAUP is pleased to announce that the Bowling Green State University Faculty Association and the BGSU administration have tentatively agreed to a contract, nearly two years after the union was formed. Faculty will vote on the contract in early April.

The AAUP’s Committee on Women in the Academic Profession has sent a letter to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp, expressing its strong support for a student charged with Honor Court violations after speaking publicly about her allegations of sexual assault by another UNC student.

The faculty and academic staff union (AAUP-AFT) and the administration at Wayne State University have tentatively agreed to an eight-year contract. In addition to changes in wages and benefits, the contract establishes ongoing committees to explore the use of technology in education and the changing realities of health care benefits.

The recent crisis at the University of Virginia (UVA) regarding governance was the impetus for the reactivation of a dormant local chapter of the AAUP.  The chapter has adopted by-laws, elected officers, and received a charter from the national office, which recently sent an investigative team to UVA in the wake of the events of summer 2012.

The Campaign for the Future of Higher Education has released three working papers with ideas on ways to fund higher education. One, by AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum, explains how to achieve vastly improved funding for higher education through a miniscule tax on selected financial transactions. Learn how to add your voice to the conversation.

The AAUP issued a new report which details the widespread problem of sexual assault on campus, and includes proposed policies to curb instances of sexual assault and provide greater support to victims of assault. The report also explains current law and proposes an increased faculty role in ending campus sexual assault.

Hundreds of faculty and students at Bowling Green State University protested yesterday over the administration's plan to slash 100 faculty positions. "That is a mistake that BGSU must not make," BGSU AAUP chapter president David Jackson said. "We will be losing somewhere between 500 and 800 classes to be taught next year."

In a letter to Karen Gould, the AAUP applauds her support of a department's right to co-sponsor a controversial forum.