We filed suit against the Trump administration (again) today to block the implementation of an unlawful executive order that seeks to undermine inclusion & equal opportunity, threatens government contractors w/ criminal prosecution, & chills protected speech.
These are not normal times.
In American Educator, @rweingarten.bsky.social and @proftwolf.bsky.social explain why we must defend higher ed institutions and the economic benefits they have for graduates and the greater society—spurring local business development, providing jobs, & generating tax revenue⤵️
aft.org/ae/spring202...
Today, the AAUP & @aft.org launched our national policy platform to win back an American higher education system that protects the freedom to teach & learn & strengthens our democracy.
Read it in full here:
www.aaup.org/blueprint-st...
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“They tried to weaken higher education, but instead they built a movement to fight for the future...
They can attack our institutions, but they cannot stop our movement….We will not stop until we have the higher education system and the democracy we all deserve.”
— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
"Students should be free to make up their own mind, but in order to be free to do so, they must be exposed to different ideas. We can't just expose them to conservative ideology approved by the board of regents or the governor of Texas."
— Martin Peterson, Texas A&M AAUP
NEW: Preliminary findings released today from the AAUP’s annual Faculty Compensation Survey reveal that real wages for full-time faculty decreased & remain below pre-pandemic levels.
The FCS is the largest independent source of data on faculty salaries. Check out preliminary findings below.
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Columbia must move beyond performative listening & commit to a true shared governance model where student & faculty voices carry real weight in shaping the university’s future.
True institutional stability requires leadership to be accountable to its community, not just a closed circle of trustees.
Event flyer
Join AAUP for these two discussions of the future of our university this week and next
“They want to do things which tend to be illegal. They have a penchant for illegality. They can be as thorough as they want, but if they want to stop freedom of speech, they're going to have a problem.”
— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President on the Trump admin's recent fondness for launching lawsuits.
"Together, our institutions have helped to build the freedoms now under attack. Reclaiming those freedoms, & the responsibilities they entail, begins with a respectful, democratic knock on the board-room door."
New op-ed in the @chronicle.com by Columbia AAUP leaders.
PSC/AAUP in force at NYC No Kings!
PSC-CUNY MONEY FO EDUCATION NOT FOR OLIGARCHS
Higher Ed workers in NYC showed up in FORCE this weekend at #NoKings.
@psc-cuny.org
@aaupcu.bsky.social
@afthighered.bsky.social
@newschoolaaup.bsky.social
Now, that's a nice shirt!
Rebecca Karl of NYU-AAUP breaks down the driving issues behind the Contract Faculty United Strike in @counterpunchmedia.bsky.social.
"Restructuring higher education is hugely responsible for this situation...the pivot towards contract faculty away from tenure lines...It is reaping what it sowed."
Oscar-winner Ryan Coogler recalling how a college writing professor pushed him to become a screenwriter & the possibility of #Sinners being taught in film curriculums someday:
“I have so much respect for professors…for dedicating their life to future generations & making sure their minds are solid.”
“There’s kind of a defeatism, this idea that there’s no stopping technology & that resistance is futile, everything will be crushed in its path. That needs to change … We can decide that we want to be human.”
#AcademicSky
“Father Brian Shanley is violating New York state law & ignoring decades of St. John’s institutional practice & centuries of Catholic social teaching around respect for labor & workers."
— Sophie Bell, St. John's University AAUP President
The far right's new politicized higher ed accreditor is illegitimate.
"Rather than protecting educational quality, the CPHE appears designed to give partisan political actors a powerful new tool to pressure universities to conform to a narrow ideological agenda"
— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
An Invitation: Get to know your Governing Board.
Academic governing boards exercise significant & often final legal authority over the colleges & universities they rule. We need a rebalance of this power.
#sharedgoverance
#academicsky
@actioninhighered.bsky.social
See below.
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“The response was quite different. It’s not clear whether this reflects the difference in the public stands these students have taken or a fundamental change in the university’s approach...I hope it will prove to be the latter.”
—Michael Thaddeus, Columbia AAUP
@aaupcu.bsky.social
Brad Lander: “It’s pretty outrageous…once people think that they don’t have to follow the law because the president doesn’t, workers suffer, our universities suffer, students & faculty suffer.”
St. John’s University can’t just UNrecognize faculty unions after 56 years. That’s not the law works.
I want to be clear, @aaup.org stands with our HBCUs. At the same time, what Virginia State University did by laying off 6 tenured/tenure-stream faculty, for NO CAUSE, & threatening them with trespass breaks every norm. It is shameful. Reinstate the Fired Six! SIGN & SHARE
tinyurl.com/9r864kmf
“Two powerful teachers’ unions that have committed at least $27.5 billion to Apollo wrote a letter to the SEC this week calling for federal regulators to investigate Apollo’s “apparent lack of candor” over its relationship with Epstein.”
Let’s get this investigation going NOW.
#academicsky @aft.org
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Congrats to Columbia AAUP on successfully standing up against ICE recruitment on campus.
Let's keep organizing and go all out to get ICE off our campuses.
@swcolumbia.bsky.social
@aaupcu.bsky.social
“Abolishing gender programs & the lessons they have taught, will, Trump & his acolytes hope, undermine our ability not just to condemn, but also to critically analyze the policies & practices they want to impose.”
Must Read by Joan Scott, member of the AAUP’s Committee on Academic Freedom.
AAUP President Todd Wolfson issued the following statement in response to Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt's Executive Order issued today immediately eliminating academic tenure at the state’s public regional universities and community colleges.
Reminder: Never capitulate to tyrants.
Fight Back.
#DefendHigherEd
#AcademicSky
Education is a public good for all.
When politicians censor classroom teaching in order to narrow the field of topics that students can engage in, they rob them of a stellar world class education.
This is what is happening at Texas A&M & other institutions in the state.
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If Texas A&M truly believes in the values of leadership, integrity, & service, it must defend academic freedom & protect student learning.
Please sign & share this petition to TAMU leadership demanding an end to all censorship of instruction & retaliation against faculty who refuse to censor.
“Judge Young affirmed unequivocally, without a doubt, that non-citizens lawfully present here in the US have the same free speech rights as everyone else. He established that the federal government clearly & unconstitutionally pursued a policy of discrimination against pro-Palestinian speech.”
"As we approach the start of the new semester it falls to us to do whatever we can to keep one another safe. Please remember: while ICE agents may enter public areas of the campus, they require a subpoena or a valid judicial warrant to enter private or restricted spaces."
– @umn-tc-aaup.bsky.social
