Assault on Academic Freedom at UC Irvine

BY EILEEN BORIS This post is part of a blog series, organized by Annelise Orleck, that will focus on recent crackdowns on protests at US college and university campuses against Israel’s war on Gaza. You can read the first post and an introduction to the series here. In yet another assault on academic freedom, civil…

U. of Washington Jewish Community Response to Campus Antisemitism Task Force Report

POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following public response was addressed to the administration and regents of the University of Washington. We write as Jewish faculty, staff, alumni, and students of the University of Washington to voice our concerns with the Antisemitism Task Force’s Report, titled “Climate Assessment and Reports from the Antisemitism and Islamophobia Task…

white speech cloud with SURVEY in bright blue letters on bright blue background

Results from 2024 Faculty in the South Survey

BY MATTHEW BOEDY A first-of-its-kind survey of higher education faculty across the South has revealed that an overwhelming majority of respondents in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas are deeply dissatisfied with the current state of higher education. The survey, which received responses from nearly 3,000…

Logo of the UNC Chapel Hill AAUP chapter

Unauthorized Recording of Classes at UNC

POSTED BY HASSAN MELEHY In response to reports in April and May of a colleague’s classes being secretly recorded by an associate dean, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s AAUP chapter has issued the following statement. Details on the recording incident involving Professor Larry Chavis of UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, may be found…

a view of protesters from behind; one black sign with the word "RESIST" in white letters appears among the white back sides of other signs

Defending Students

BY MATTHEW BOEDY As Emory University sent police in late April to raid a student protest encampment—during which at least three faculty were arrested, one thrown to the ground—my state’s largest newspaper asked me as president of the state AAUP conference for my thoughts on the national situation that engulfed more than seventy-five public college…

Image of four fists of different skin tones raised in solidarity against a yellow background

FAMCO’s Fight for Fair Healthcare

BY MEGAN DELANEY, GABRIELLE HACKENBERG, AND AMANDA STOJANOV The Faculty Association of Monmouth University (FAMCO) recently finished an extensive reopener with university administration regarding our healthcare costs and plans. We were aware that our members had been overpaying for healthcare for several years and that the administration was diverting costs onto members through the cover…

A tear in a green paper folder reveals the words "final thoughts" typed in black on white paper

Put Democracy in the Lecture

BY MATTHEW BOEDY You may remember several years ago a phenomenon called “the last lecture.”  It began with the heartbreaking story of Randy Pausch, who was a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. He was diagnosed with cancer and literally gave his last lecture in September 2007. That became a book in 2008…

Crowded school hallway

Put Democracy in The Community

By MATTHEW BOEDY Last month I encouraged faculty to put democracy on the syllabus.  In that post, I wrote: “No one is coming to save us. We all have to do this together.” To further that call, I urge faculty now to put democracy in the community.  AAUP unions and advocacy conferences do a lot…

Your Pension, Your Future, and Your Students’ Future

BY DON NONINI, SHELDON POLLOCK, AND DAN SEGAL Over the past decade, faculty have most often encountered the problem of financial investments and the climate crisis when their students mobilized to divest their school’s endowments from fossil fuels. That mobilization, across some 1600 educational, religious, and other institutions world-wide, has been stunningly successful: to date,…