Lessons from the Faculty of a Small Denominational Seminary on Defending Academic Freedom What one AAUP chapter’s history can teach us about struggles over the control of higher education institutions.

Richard L. Hester writes in #Academe about how faculty organized with the AAUP to defend academic freedom during the fundamentalist takeover of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in the late 1980s—and draws lessons from the experience for AAUP chapters today.

Keeping Humans in the Loop How Illinois’s H.B. 1859 protects learning in the age of AI.

H.B. 1859 requires that “every course offered by an Illinois community college district . . . be taught by a credentialed human instructor.” @troy-a-swanson.bsky.social of @ccctu1600.bsky.social writes in #Academe about a legislative win on AI:

AI as a War Issue, War as a Workers’ Issue The fight against the University of Michigan–Los Alamos data center.

The fight against the University of Michigan–Los Alamos data center reveals the “political and planetary stakes” of AI and the threat of “tech-enhanced militarism,” @tisjune.bsky.social , @shreyachowdhary.bsky.social & @nathanckim.bsky.social write in #Academe:

Color-Coded Austerity and Shades of Gray Decision intelligence and program cuts at Portland State University.

@psuaaup.bsky.social's David Kinsella writes in #Academe about the spread of AI-enabled tools in higher education consulting: “The experience at PSU suggests that what is being sold as decision intelligence is better understood as a new frontier in academic austerity.”

Cal State’s War on Working-Class Education The surprise rollout of ChatGPT Edu across the California State University system has provoked outrage and opposition.

The surprise rollout of ChatGPT Edu across the California State University system provoked outrage and opposition. The California Faculty Association @cfaunited.bsky.social is fighting the initiative “on every front,” Martha Lincoln @heavyredaction.bsky.social and Martha Kenney write in #Academe

Bringing the Fragments Together At the bargaining table and in shared governance, faculty members must demand a meaningful role in decisions about the procurement and use of AI and other technology.

At the bargaining table and in shared governance, faculty members must demand a meaningful role in decisions about the procurement and use of AI and other technology, @hellobrittparis.bsky.social and @rebeccareyn.bsky.social argue in a new #Academe article:

The Marketplace of Expertise and Authority: Notes from the Noise Ecosystem This blog post was initially written in French, L’écosystème du bruit et la fabrique de l’autorité For a few months...

#Academe #consulting #enshitification #think #tank

Origin | Interest | Match

www.washingtonpost.com/education/2026/02/19/col... #Racism in the #USA is now "respectable" again, even in the groves of #academe, thanks to Donald #Trump & his anti-DEI #policy. The leaders of these institutions should hang their heads in shame!

University of Scranton Faculty Affairs Council The University of Scranton is in the uncommon position for a private, Jesuit institution of having a faculty union. The AAUP-AFT chapter, known as the Faculty Affairs Council (FAC), represents all ful...

As FAC, the AAUP-AFT chapter at the University of Scranton, nears a ratification vote on a new CBA, the union's leaders reflect on a long, hard-fought contract campaign. Read FAC's story in the new issue of #Academe:

@academemagazine.bsky.social

Our new #Academe issue highlights articles on organizing efforts in academic labor, artificial intelligence, and contingency and graduate student labor, as well as several book reviews and a profile of the AAUP’s University of Scranton Faculty Affiars Council.

Check out the issue below⬇️

Cover of the winter 2026 Academe issue, "What Is Academe Labor Now?" The title is written on an open notebook and a red bookmark and black pen are visible on the page

Check out our new #Academe issue, “What Is Academic Labor Now?,” edited by @uupinfo.bsky.social Vice President Alissa Karl: www.aaup.org/issue/winter...

Academic Freedom's Uneven First Amendment Path This review is part of a preview of the winter 2026 issue of Academe. The issue will be released in full in February.

David Rabban’s Academic Freedom: From Professional Norm to First Amendment Right “could not be timelier” in today’s climate of political interference, writes @aaup.org Committee A member Anil Kalhan in a new review for #Academe.

How Academic Workers Have Reenergized the Labor Movement The demographic reconfiguration of academic labor is changing our sense of justice and possibility.

Gary Rhoades writes for #Academe about how the changing working conditions of academic labor, demographic shifts in the workforce, and a new "sense of justice and possibility" have reenergized the labor movement in #highered.

The Underclass Is in Session What do we see when we view the structure of academic labor as it is, not as we wish it to be?

A new #Academe article from @davidabanks.online takes a clear-eyed look at the academic “underclass” and the “ever-widening gap between those who do the work and those who administer it” in #highered.

@aaup.org

Gatekeepers of the Ivory Tower Executive search firms have played a significant, often underexamined, role in the erosion of shared governance and the corporatization of American higher education.

New in #Academe: Judith A. Wilde and James H. Finkelstein examine how executive search firms have played a significant, often underexamined, role in the erosion of shared governance and the corporatization of American higher education.

What’s New About the Attack on Academic Freedom? Attempts to bar some speech by academic units in the name of “institutional neutrality” disregard the associational nature of academic freedom.

Writing in #Academe, Ajay Skaria of @umn-tc-aaup.bsky.social breaks down how recent attempts to bar speech by academic units in the name of "institutional neutrality" undermine academic freedom:

Fall 2025: Defending Academic Values Volume 111, Number 4Download the whole issue as a PDF (AAUP member login required)If you are a member and have forgotten your password, or wish to update your subscription preferences, please visit ou...

The fall issue of #Academe is out today! Contributors examine a range of threats to academic freedom, freedom of expression, and shared governance on campuses today. Check out the full issue here:

Between Scylla and Charybdis Henry Reichman reviews The Challenge to Academic Freedom in Hungary by Andrew Ryder.

Andrew Ryder’s The Challenge to Academic Freedom in Hungary “illustrates how reactionary campaigns against higher education are not only a response to the rise of academic capitalism but also in some ways a fulfillment of that program,” writes @hankreichman.bsky.social in a review for #Academe.

Legacies of Teacher Persecution and Resistance Joan W. Scott reviews A Blacklist Education by Jane S. Smith.

Committee A member Joan W. Scott praises Jane S. Smith’s A Blacklist Education as “a carefully wrought analysis of power and of different kinds of resistance to it.” Read the full review in #Academe:

Building One Faculty from Below Everyday actions by department chairs and other tenured and tenure-track faculty can build solidarity and faculty power.

"Step by step, by recognizing in word and deed the important contributions of contingent faculty . . . we can pave a path toward the ‘one faculty’ we need at this critical time.” Eva Swidler writes in #Academe about everyday actions to build faculty solidarity.

On Internal Funding, Shared Governance, and Program Reduction The rise of minigrants is a symptom of larger problems.

“The atmosphere of scarcity reduces our field of vision, decimates departments, and leaves researchers scrambling.” Leslie Bary writes in #Academe about the implications of shrinking departmental budgets and the proliferation of “minigrants” in #highered.

@lesliebary.bsky.social

When the Law Is Lawless The politicization of the civil service is a cornerstone of the Trump administration’s assault on our institutions.

“What happens when the guardrails that civil rights law once provided disappear or are twisted into something unrecognizable?” A new #Academe feature by Committee A member @jenniferruth.bsky.social discusses Title VI and the politicization of the civil service in the second Trump administration.

The "Secret Weapon" in Right-Wing Attacks on Higher Education The Trump administration is leveraging the accreditation system to force its political agenda onto colleges and universities.

“An attack that undermines accreditation is an attack on independence in higher education.” A new #Academe article by Antoinette Flores examines both the history of accreditation in higher ed and political interference in the accreditation system today.

@antoinetteflores.bsky.social
@newamerica.org

Seven Theses Against Viewpoint Diversity Demands for “viewpoint diversity,” a pillar of the Right’s strategy to remake higher education, collide with the pursuit of truth.

“Put most bluntly: Viewpoint diversity is anathema to academic freedom.” JHU-AAUP President Lisa Siraganian presents seven theses against viewpoint diversity and the dangers it poses to academic freedom in a new article for #Academe.

@lsiraganian.bsky.social

Academe

New #Academe articles are out today! Check out selected articles and book reviews from the forthcoming fall issue and an article from the #Academe archives here:

#trump-administration #harvard-university #us-universities #higher-education #political-agenda #university-crackdown #university-policy #academe #political-conflict #academic-freedom #university-regulation #donald-trump #education-policy #university-governance #government-intervention #us-politics

Negotiating Redbook Policies For over five decades following its founding in 1915, the AAUP carried out its mission outside of the realm of collective bargaining. The organization formulated policy on a constantly evolving range ...

"It behooves us to envision how we might use collective bargaining to thwart the newly configured attacks on rights enunciated in Redbook statements and reports." Michael Mauer writes for #Academe about using the Redbook in collective bargaining contexts: www.aaup.org/article/nego...