Censure Removal in Jeopardy

Since the imposition of censure at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2018, the AAUP’s staff has worked with the UNL administration and faculty to remove the censure and has welcomed the considerable progress the university has recently made. Unfortunately, a proposed regents’ resolution that would prohibit “any imposition of critical race theory in [the] curriculum” may jeopardize these censure removal efforts. An institution whose governing board dictates the subjects that its faculty members may or may not address in their classrooms fails to honor the basic tenets of academic freedom that enable institutions of higher learning to seek the truth and promote the common good.

As a result, the AAUP has suspended a planned virtual site visit to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, one of the last steps for potentially removing censure, pending the regents’ action. We hope that the board of regents will demonstrate the University of Nebraska’s commitment to academic freedom by declining to adopt the critical race theory resolution. If the board does so, we anticipate resuming the virtual site visit as soon as possible.

Read the AAUP's letter to Chancellor Green.