BY PETER N. KIRSTEIN “Yes Virginia, there is a constitution”: an AAUP constitution. While inexplicably not included in the “centennial” edition of the Redbook, (American Association of University Professors Policy Documents and Reports, 2015, Eleventh Edition) there is indeed an AAUP constitution. It does appear along with an excellent preambular historical statement on pp. 283-90 in the tenth edition…
The AAUP at its 2016 annual meeting today voted unanimously to censure the administrations of the College of Saint Rose, for the dismissal of 23 tenured and tenure-track professors, and the University of Missouri (Columbia), for the Board’s dismissal of Melissa Click without due process. The members also rejected a proposal to give Committee A authority to…
BY HANK REICHMAN Two days ago I posted a piece about the University of Chicago’s ill-considered attempt to discipline graduating senior and student body president Tyler Kissinger for his leadership of a peaceful and brief sit-in advocating, among other demands, a $15 minimum wage for campus workers. Kissinger’s disciplinary hearing was held yesterday and The…
BY HANK REICHMAN On June 4, following Committee A’s annual spring meeting, present and former AAUP leaders, activists, and staff members gathered in Washington to join family members and friends in honoring the memory of Jordan E. Kurland, who passed away in January at the age of 87, still actively employed by the AAUP. Jordan…
BY JOHN K. WILSON The AAUP today issued a report on the University of Missouri, condemning the Board’s decision to fire Melissa Click. The full report is well worth reading, and I have previously argued in defense of Click, but I want to make a personal response to the Mizzou Board of Curator’s 10-page letter that it…
Among other things, I am (or have been) an historian of railroad labor, so I was especially thrilled to learn that University of Wisconsin-Madison labor historian William P. Jones had joined the conversation around the assault on tenure in the Wisconsin system. Professor Jones, by the way, will be the plenary banquet speaker at AAUP’s…
The following is the text of a letter sent today by AAUP Associate Secretary Anita Levy to Dr. Ángel Cabrera, President of George Mason University, and Mr. G. Gilmer Minor III, Chair, State Council of Higher Education for Virginia: Dear President Cabrera and Chair Minor: Members of the faculty at George Mason University have advised…
BY HANK REICHMAN Last week two-time Polk award-winner Juan Gonzalez wrote his final column for the New York Daily News, where he worked for 29 years. A former national President and one of the founders of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Juan will continue as co-host of the popular independent global news show Democracy…
Howard Bunsis, Chair of the AAUP Collective Bargaining Congress, and David Hughes, President of the Rutgers University AAUP-AFT, discussed college and university sports spending and priorities on an episode of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, to be aired tonight. Here is a segment with Howard Bunsis: And here’s a link to the trailer featuring…
Here’s a roundup of AAUP events and other academic freedom and higher education-related conferences coming up this year. Feel free to add any events in the comments. Tomorrow is the Illinois AAUP Annual Meeting, Sat. April 16, 9:15am-4pm, Dominican University, Priory Campus, 7200 Division Street, River Forest, Illinois, featuring AAUP President Rudy Fichtenbaum, plus sessions…