2024 AAUP Updates

The AAUP condemns the reported arrests of two faculty members and three designations of faculty as "persona non grata" at New York University. As the AAUP has maintained since 1940, faculty should be free from institutional censorship and discipline when speaking or writing as citizens. 

The AAUP urges the Western Association of Schools and Colleges’ Senior College and University Commission not to bend to the political winds by reversing its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in its standards for accreditation.

The AAUP is thrilled to announce the appointment of Veena Dubal, professor of law at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law, as the Association’s next general counsel. Professor Dubal’s research focuses broadly on law, technology, and precarious workers, combining legal and empirical analysis to explore issues of labor and inequality. Dubal will work closely with the AAUP’s legal staff to pursue AAUP activities, which include advising on higher education legal issues; preparing amicus briefs; monitoring legal developments in higher education around the country; and keeping the Association apprised of new and emerging legal issues that may have implications in areas such as academic freedom, labor and employment law, freedom of expression, and intellectual property rights.

The AAUP stands with Texas faculty associations in protesting the reported censorship of more than 200 courses at the University of North Texas. The reported removal of words such as “race,” “gender,” “class,” and “equity” from undergraduate and graduate course titles and descriptions appears to represent a troubling departure from widely accepted standards of academic freedom and shared governance.

The AAUP is committed to defending our campuses and the mission of higher education through organizing our communities to face the challenges that lie ahead. Our collective power is needed now more than ever. To that end, we will do everything in our power to protect our institutions, faculty, staff, and students and stand up against those seeking to violate academic freedom and the core principle of higher education conducted for the common good.

After years of cuts to academic budgets at the state’s flagship, the University of Connecticut, dozens of majors and scores of graduate programs are now on the chopping block. According to news reports, majors including philosophy; women’s, gender, and sexuality studies; and animal science could be discontinued, as could all but one program within the university’s Literatures, Cultures, and Languages Department. And this is just the beginning in what could be a series of cuts unless the Connecticut legislature provides a stable funding source for the state’s system of higher education. Without adequate funding, Connecticut students will face larger class sizes, higher tuition , and fewer class offerings. They deserve better.

As Professor Steven Thrasher faces potential discipline for exercising his academic freedom, the AAUP urges Northwestern University to remain committed to academic due process and academic freedom as well as anti-discrimination regulations designed to protect historically marginalized communities.

Thrasher, holder of the Daniel Renberg chair in the Medill School of Journalism, is a nationally recognized, decorated journalist and scholar of race, LGBTQIA identity, and infectious disease. Despite his exemplary research and teaching record, Thrasher has been summarily placed on leave and suspended from teaching while an ad hoc faculty committee has reportedly been assembled to investigate whether he should be sanctioned for alleged antisemitism and “lack of objectivity.” These charges stem from attempts by Thrasher and several colleagues to de-escalate tensions at Northwestern’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment in April by forming a human chain between students and police officers.

The AAUP is excited to be kicking off a new organizing campaign, Organize Every Campus. The program will help hone and develop member and leader organizing skills so that we can stand together, fight back, and build a better future for ourselves, our students, and higher education.