New Chapters Chartered amid the Pandemic

The AAUP welcomed sixty-nine new chapters in 2020, nearly twice the number chartered during the previous year. Christopher Simeone, the AAUP’s director of organizing and services, noted that faculty members are joining together in chapters “as a means to address a variety of issues that have come up as part of the COVID crisis.”

Most of the new AAUP chapters formed during the pandemic are nonunion advocacy chapters. While they do not engage in collective bargaining, advocacy chapters can build collective power for change and promote academic freedom and shared governance on campus. During the pandemic, AAUP advocacy chapters have pushed back against a new wave of austerity measures, demanded a greater voice in institutional decision-making, fought for improvements in faculty working conditions, and advocated for structural and policy changes to address inequities.

If you are interested in organizing a chapter on your campus, please write to organizing@aaup.org.