1. News & Updates from AAUP/AFT

January 25, 2026 FROM AAUP AAUP President Todd Wolfson issued the following statement in response to the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, January 24.

Today we mourn the tragic loss of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System who was known for his compassion, dedication to veterans, and deep commitment to his community. Alex devoted his life to healing others and to standing up for justice and human dignity; his apparent murder in Minneapolis at the hands of federal immigration enforcement agents is a devastating loss for his family, friends, coworkers, and the broader community. The aggressive and militarized actions of ICE and border patrol agents in Minnesota—which have now resulted in multiple fatal shootings—are unconscionable, and we unequivocally condemn the role these agencies have played in this tragedy.

This moment demands a unified, bold, and powerful response from the labor movement. We are uniting across sectors to organize, mobilize, and wield our full collective power to confront ICE, and demand the following:

Minnesotan and national companies should cease economic relations with ICE and refuse ICE entry or using their property for staging grounds.

ICE must leave Minnesota now and withdraw from American cities where its presence is escalating violence and tearing communities apart.

The agents who killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti must be investigated and held legally accountable.

Congress must use its power to hold ICE accountable, and allow no additional federal funding for ICE in the upcoming Congressional budget. ICE must be investigated for human and constitutional violations of Americans and our neighbors.

December 8, 2025 FROM AAUP Invitation to sign up for Policy Platform Development Conversations: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScn1j5-xEPPWBcZA9ecOslnd5883a8GovZ-R-VFifUc87zboQ/viewform?usp=header AND Invitation to sign up for Pods Organizing for Power: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScxLq6y5aMLM54vZ7weQnuBW7SKwpvSN1iFY_v74nl0koLuHA/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=115729308597429244308

UPCOMING EVENTS & RECAPS FROM AAUP! Here’s your weekly roundup of AAUP news, events, and trainings.

Upcoming Events

What Should Be the Faculty’s Role in Conditions of Financial Exigency? An AAUP Primer

Wednesday, December 3, 2–3 p.m. ET

This presentation will discuss the faculty’s role in conditions of financial exigency and in budgetary and salary matters, as that role is defined in the AAUP’s Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities and derivative policy documents. This event is for AAUP members exclusively. Please register using the email you use to get AAUP member communications so we can verify your membership. Registration will close two hours before the start of the meeting. Register here.

AAUP Chapter Leader Meeting

Monday, December 8, 7 p.m. ET

Please join fellow AAUP national, chapter, and state leaders in a meeting to discuss recent developments and strategy for the future. Please register using the email you use to get AAUP member communications so we can verify your membership. Registration will close two hours before the start of the meeting to allow time for verification. Register here.

AAUP/AFT Higher Education Member Campaign Update Meeting

Wednesday, December 10, 4 p.m. ET

Join AAUP president Todd Wolfson and AFT president Randi Weingarten for an update on the AAUP/AFT “Higher Education: Saving Lives, Building Futures, Powering the Economy” campaign. This webinar update will include an overview of legal victories, our successful pushback on the Trump Compact, and our Nov. 7 Day of Action, as well as a discussion of the campaign’s next steps. Join us for a discussion of how we continue to build our movement and defend our students, our colleagues, and our communities. Register here.

Time Sensitive Response Requested: Seeking Examples of Harm from Trump Admin Immigration Policies to Members

The AAUP recently joined Global Nurse Force v. Trump, a suit challenging the Trump administration’s imposition of a $100K fee for H1-B visas. We are also exploring a possible challenge to the US Citizenship and Immigration Service’s policy of considering alleged “antisemitic” or “pro-terrorism” social media activity as a “negative factor” when processing immigration benefit requests. The AAUP is seeking more information from our members about how these policies affect you.

Are you experiencing impacts in your lab or research stemming from the Trump administration’s imposition of a $100K fee for H1-B visas (including, but not limited to, withdrawn employment, withdrawn employment postings for non-citizens, visa processing delays, denials, or demands for the $100,000 fee, either for yourself or your research team members)?
Have you applied for an immigration benefit OR are planning to do so, AND could be seen as having supported or promoted so-called “anti-American” or “antisemitic” views OR fear expressing yourself in a manner that could be construed as such? For example:
1. Teaching about communism
2. Attending pro-Palestine protests
3. Avoiding any of the above out of fear of potential retaliation from the government
4. Using social media to talk about Israel or Palestine, or Charlie Kirk (including posting, sharing, or liking content; following or friending someone who shares these views; or joining a group where members share these views)

If any of these circumstances apply to you, we’d love to speak with you.

Please contact Taylor Fox (tfox@aaup.org) if you’re willing to discuss further. All communications are confidential and shared only with co-counsel.

If you are, or think you might be, impacted by the H1-B policy, we also invite you to fill out this survey. Please let Taylor (tfox@aaup.org) know if you have any questions or concerns.

In Case You Missed It

Check out this 23-minute recap of last month’s Professional Liability Insurance and Legal Resources Webinar.

In a recently published report titled In Defense of an Independent and Representative Faculty Voice: The Case of Faculty Senates, the AAUP’s Committee on College and University Governance responds to accelerating legislative and political attacks on faculty governing bodies at state institutions, including legislation recently enacted in Indiana, Ohio, Utah, and especially Texas.

Check out the latest episode of AAUP TV, “What the Victory in AAUP v. Trump Means for the University of California System and Higher Education.” AAUP president Todd Wolfson, AAUP general counsel Veena Dubal, and national council Member Chenjerai Kumanyika offer a recap of current events as well as break down the implications of the US District Court for the Northern District of California’s decision to issue a preliminary injunction for AAUP v. Trump, a historic wall-to-wall labor union lawsuit challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s attempt to unlawfully stifle free speech and academic freedom across the University of California System’s ten campuses and medical centers.

Some top social posts this week—please click and share.

Woot! We had a major victory in AAUP v. Trump, noted hereon BlueSky, Instagram, and Facebook

Scientist “Will” Kim was finally released from a months-long detention by ICE

We welcomed new chapters on multiple campuses.

Read the latest posts on the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom’s Substack here and here. Subscribe to get this newsletter straight to your inbox.

November 25, 2025 FROM AAUP When We Fight, We Win: Trump Loyalty Oaths Rejected When we fight, we win. And last Friday marked an important victory for AAUP members like you who have been fighting to defend students and co-workers.

The Trump administration’s deadline for nine universities to sign its loyalty oath—the Compact for Excellence in Higher Education—was November 21, 2025.

Not a single university accepted this bargain. Seven of the nine original campuses where the compact was first proffered have publicly rejected it.

This victory was driven by organized faculty, students, and staff who mounted an immediate and strong response to demand that their presidents and governing boards reject the compact. On November 7, higher ed students and workers around the country rose up together to send the same message.

The Trump administration’s efforts to extend the compact to colleges and universities nationwide have since fallen flat. In another significant development, the billionaire behind the compact has stepped down from chairing the University of Pennsylvania business school’s governing board.

AAUP members are holding the line, meaning that together we are getting into position to lead higher ed in a better direction. We must put forward a positive, pro-active vision that does not simply return to a previous status quo. We are fighting for colleges and universities that are tuition-free, debt-free, welcoming to all, conducive to academic freedom, and offer jobs with dignity. The compact is not the last tactic we’ll see in the attacks on higher ed, but we can draw courage from this victory and know that there are more to come.

In solidarity,
Todd Wolfson, AAUP president

November 17, 2025 FROM AAUP This Week at the AAUP

Win in AAUP v. Trump: Court Blocks Attacks on University of California System

In a historic wall-to-wall labor union lawsuit led by the AAUP, the US District Court for the Northern District of California has issued a preliminary injunction that will stop the Trump–Vance administration’s attempt to unlawfully stifle free speech and academic freedom across the University of California (UC) system’s ten campuses and medical centers. This marks a huge win for the broad coalition of faculty, staff, students, and labor unions that brought the lawsuit seeking to defend their First Amendment rights and to restore critical research funding.

Friday’s decision orders a stop to the Trump administration’s illegal weaponization of civil rights laws and federal funding to restrict free speech on UC campuses. Read more here. You can also read coverage in the New York Times here. You can share an Instagram post about the victory here.

Events

AAUP Member Meeting

Monday, November 17, 7–8 p.m. ET

Join us for this meeting for all AAUP members, where we’ll give updates and talk strategy as we start to develop a higher ed policy platform that charts the way forward for a transformative higher ed agenda. Check your email for registration and be sure to register by 5 p.m. ET to allow time for membership verification. Register here.

Deepening Your Bench: How to Recruit More Leaders and Build an Organizing Committee

Thursday, November 20, 1-3 p.m. ET

Do you feel like you’re constantly going to the same few people to do the work of your chapter? Do you know there are more people on your campus who would get involved, if only you could reach them? Come learn practical tips for building more leaders and developing an organizing committee that will help you reach more members and win on the issues you care about. This event is for AAUP members exclusively. Please register using the email you use to get AAUP member communications so we can verify your membership. Registration will close two hours before the start of the meeting. Register here.

What Should Be the Faculty’s Role in Conditions of Financial Exigency? An AAUP Primer

Wednesday, December 3, 2–3 p.m. ET.

This presentation will discuss the faculty’s role in conditions of financial exigency and in budgetary and salary matters, as that role is defined in the AAUP’s Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities and derivative Association policy documents. This event is for AAUP members exclusively. Please register using the email you use to get AAUP member communications so we can verify your membership. Registration will close two hours before the start of the meeting. Register here.

In Case You Missed It

Welcome to five new AAUP chapters at Brazosport College, Loyola University New Orleans, St. Edward’s University, Texas A&M University–Kingsville, and the College of Saint Scholastica! And a warm welcome back to the chapters at Gwynedd Mercy University and University of North Carolina at Asheville, chapters that reactivated their charters.
Check out the latest episode of AAUP TV, “Building a Broad Higher Ed Coalition.” AAUP President Todd Wolfson and national Council member Chenjerai Kumanyika discuss November 7 protests, the recent elections, and what it takes to build a coalition of power in higher ed.
Be sure to follow our Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok social media accounts to both receive and boost content about our national advocacy efforts defending academic freedom. Some recent posts include a call to sign on to a petition protecting postdoctoral fellowship programs, a clip from our most recent AAUP TV episode, and a summary of a special episode in our series, “Academic Freedom on the Line,” for our podcast, AAUP Presents.

AAUP in the News

“It really strikes at the heart of what education means and what universities do, which is circulate the exchange of knowledge without fear of retaliation, without fear censorship.”– Rana Jaleel, Chair of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom, quoted in the Associated Press.

“This represents saving higher education, saving public research and the standing up of faculty and staff and students.” – Veena Dubal, AAUP General Counsel, quoted in the New York Times.

“There is only one way forward in saving higher education and democracy writ large and that is students, faculty, staff united. We have to become a new political force.” – AAUP President Todd Wolfson quoted in The Guardian.

“We don’t want billionaires to put their hands on our institutions — and that would go for NYU as well.” – NYU AAUP member Andrew Ross quoted in Washington Square News

“The decision forces the university to respect the concept of shared governance. It’s a reminder to the university that they can’t simply make arbitrary administrative decisions without involving the faculty.” – Portland State AAUP AAUP President Bill Knight quoted in Inside Higher Ed.

October 28, 2025 FROM AAUP Upcoming Trainings and Webinars for AAUP Members

OCTOBER

Responding to Threats to Academic Freedom Around the World

Tuesday, October 28, 10:30–11:30 a.m. ET

Cohosted by the International Studies Association’s Academic Freedom Committee and the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, this webinar examines the evolving threats to academic freedom around the world.

Mobilizing for the November 7 Day of Action

Tuesday, October 28, 4–5 p.m. ET

This session will bring together the collective power of students and AAUP and AFT members. We’ll hear from AAUP President Todd Wolfson and AFT President Randi Weingarten, and share available resources and suggested actions that AFT locals and AAUP chapters can take on the National Day of Action.

Reclaim the Narrative: Higher Ed for the Common Good

Wednesday, October 29, 2–4 p.m. ET

This session is open to faculty and staff at all higher ed institutions who are members of the AAUP, AFT, Stand Together for Higher Ed, or PEN America. Together, we can reclaim the story of higher education as a public good essential to democracy.

How to Facilitate a Great Meeting

Thursday, October 30, 1–3 p.m. ET

Ever had a meeting that just didn’t go right? You couldn’t stay on task, a couple of people took over, or you couldn’t get anyone to participate? Come learn skills for how to have meetings be a great tool to make your chapter engaged and active!

This event is for AAUP members only. Check your email for registration and be sure to register two hours ahead of the event start time to allow time for membership verification.

Who is Marc Rowan? The Billionaire Behind Trump’s Higher Ed Loyalty Oath and How We Fight Back

Thursday, October 30, 7 p.m. ET

Billionaire Marc Rowan, CEO of the private equity giant Apollo Global Management, is a key author of the Trump administration’s compact for higher education—a loyalty oath that would award federal research funding based on allegiance to Trump’s far-right ideological agenda, roll back the gains of the civil rights movement, and erode the freedoms to teach, learn, and speak. Learn about Rowan’s agenda, how he and other private equity executives exercise outsized power in higher education, how Apollo has contributed to the student debt crisis, and how we can fight back. This webinar is open to AAUP and AFT members, higher education and healthcare workers, union members, and student groups.

NOVEMBER

Shared Governance: What It Is and How to Strengthen It On Your Campus

Wednesday, November 5, 1–3 p.m. ET

This session will discuss the fundamental principles that should shape governance at every institution of higher education in the US and cover tools you can use to assess and improve the conditions of shared governance on your campus.

This event is for AAUP members only. Check your email for registration and be sure to register two hours ahead of the event start time to allow time for membership verification.

College and University Legal Obligations to Pregnant and Parenting Faculty

Wednesday, November 12, 2–3 p.m. ET

This webinar will assist faculty in obtaining the benefits to which they are legally entitled by instructing them about requirements incorporated into key federal employment laws that mandate accommodations for pregnant and parenting faculty.

Having a Great Organizing Conversation

Thursday, November 13, 1–3 p.m. ET

In this training, DOS staff will help you learn how to really move your colleagues to action and involvement in your chapter. Learn tips and tricks for actually identifying people’s issues, helping them connect those issues to involvement in your chapter, and moving them to take action to win.

This event is for AAUP members only. Check your email for registration and be sure to register two hours ahead of the event start time to allow time for membership verification.

AAUP Member Meeting

Monday, November 17, 7–8 p.m. ET

A meeting for all AAUP members. Check your email for registration and be sure to register two hours ahead of the event start time to allow time for membership verification.

Social Media and Digital Organizing

Wednesday, November 19, 1–2:30 p.m. ET

Join this training to learn the best practices for using social media to further your AAUP chapter’s organizing.

This event is for AAUP members only. Check your email for registration and be sure to register two hours ahead of the event start time to allow time for membership verification.

Deepening Your Bench: How to Recruit More Leaders and Build an Organizing Committee

Thursday, November 20, 1–3 p.m. ET

Come learn practical tips for building more leaders and developing an organizing committee that will help you reach more members and win on the issues you care about.

This event is for AAUP members only. Check your email for registration and be sure to register two hours ahead of the event start time to allow time for membership verification.

DECEMBER

What Should Be the Faculty’s Role in Conditions of Financial Exigency? An AAUP Primer

Wednesday, December 3, 2–3 p.m. ET

This event is for AAUP members only. Check your email for registration and be sure to register two hours ahead of the event start time to allow time for membership verification.

Faculty Unionist Roundtable: Contract Language for AI and Ed Tech

Wednesday, December 10, 1–2 p.m. ET

Join Britt Paris of Rutgers AAUP-AFT and other AAUP members across the country for an informal discussion of the contract language available in the AAUP IP Committee’s Resource Guide for Addressing AI in Higher Education.

This event is for AAUP members only. Check your email for registration and be sure to register two hours ahead of the event start time to allow time for membership verification.

The AAUP, Stand Together, and PEN America invite you to join us on Wednesday, October 29, 2–4 p.m. ET for “Reclaim the Narrative: Higher Ed for the Common Good.” This two-hour training webinar will equip you with practical tools to tell your story and amplify the value of higher education in public life.

Higher education is under coordinated attack, from funding cuts and DEI bans to assaults on tenure, free speech, and the safety of international scholars and students. Our individual stories of how our work in higher education makes a difference are the most powerful antidote to the misinformation campaign against higher education. Truth is resistance. Every story we can share with the public pushes back against false narratives that paint higher ed as elitist and broken.

In this training, you’ll learn how to:

Write powerful op-eds and letters to the editor
Use social media to reach wider audiences
Prepare for media interviews with confidence
Adapt these materials to host Reclaim the Narrative workshops on your own campus

AAUP members can register here to attend. Together, we can reclaim the story of higher education as a public good essential to democracy.

In solidarity,

The AAUP

October 15, 2025 FROM AAUP/AFT Organize with Us to Protect Higher EdPlease join us this Friday, October 17, at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, for a national teach-in about Trump’s loyalty oath demands and our plan to combat them. Register here.

The Trump administration has imposed unprecedented demands on institutions of higher education, pressured them with coercive funding threats, extorted promises to fall in line with right-wing ideology, and upended long-held principles of civil rights, academic freedom, freedom of speech, and equality of opportunity.

Now the administration is planning to go even further.

Currently, the federal government funds research based on peer review and scientific merit. Under the proposed Trump loyalty oath compacts, it would make awards based on ideological fealty.

The Trump compact is not just wrong—like many of the Trump administration’s attacks, it is unconstitutional. It violates the First Amendment by forcing universities to surrender their rights of free speech and academic freedom in exchange for federal funds. Join us to learn more about the compacts and the coordinated fight back against them.

Mark your calendars for Friday, November 7, a day of action for higher education.

AAUP and AFT members will be organizing with student groups, campus unions, and other members of the higher education community for a day of action for higher ed. Register for November 7 here.

How to prepare:

Get trained! On October 21, October 28, or November 4, learn how to create place-specific action plans, set turnout goals, bring together allies and partners, and follow up to keep the campaign for higher education growing.
Join an op-ed workshop to share your perspective on the stakes of the current moment. This small group experience will guide participants in drafting and placing op-eds ahead of the upcoming National Day of Action on November 7.
Learn how to talk with reporters. On October 21 and October 23, these one-hour webinars will give you the tools to own the narrative, deliver powerful messages, and speak with confidence in interviews.
Survey your members in order to identify the highest-priority widely held and deeply felt local issue to organize around on your campus.

In solidarity,

Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

Randi Weingarten, AFT President

October 14, 2025 FROM AAUP Information for AAUP Chapter Leaders* *We invite all chapter members to consider how you would like to contribute leadership! We’re writing with some asks and updates.

First, the fight against Trump’s loyalty oaths.

Friday, October 17, 2-3 p.m. ET: The AAUP and AFT will be hosting a National Teach-In on Loyalty Oaths. Learn more about how these harmful proposed compacts attempt to force universities to surrender their rights of free speech and academic freedom in exchange for federal funds and how we are fighting back. Register here. This is an open event, so feel free to encourage chapter members or other members of the higher ed community to attend.
If you haven’t done so already, we invite your chapter to sign on to our joint statement with the AFT against the compacts. Please note: some people are reporting problems with the form. If it does not work for you, please email gbradley@aaup.org with your organizational sign on while we troubleshoot.

Second, next Monday’s AAUP chapter leader meeting. Join us October 20, 7–8 p.m. ET, for updates and strategy discussion. Since we will be verifying membership of registrants for this meeting and that takes time, please register at least two hours ahead of the meeting.

Third, upcoming trainings for chapter leaders. With the school year in full swing, we are offering trainings on a variety of practical topics to help you better run your chapters and advance academic freedom and economic security for your members.

Understanding the AAUP Constitution. Wednesday, October 15, 1–2 p.m. ET. What does the AAUP Constitution say about who can be a member? How do your own local chapter bylaws connect to the constitution? Who can run for office in your chapter? Who can vote in AAUP elections? Join AAUP staff and members for a conversation about the details of one of the AAUP’s foundational documents.
Register here. Registration closes two hours ahead of the event.
Union Roundtable: Impact Bargaining Trump’s Cuts to Higher Education. Thursday, October 23, 1–2 p.m. ET. Join AAUP staff and members of bargaining chapters for an informal discussion about ways chapters are addressing the federal funding cuts to higher education through negotiations.
Register here. Registration closes two hours ahead of the event.
How to Facilitate a Great Meeting. Thursday, October 30, 1–3 p.m. ET. Ever had a meeting that just didn’t go right? You couldn’t stay on task, a couple of people took over, or you couldn’t get anyone to participate? Come learn skills for how to have meetings be a great tool to make your chapter engaged and active!
Register here. Registration closes two hours ahead of the event.

As always, the full slate of upcoming AAUP events can be found on our website.

In solidarity,
The AAUP

October 9, 2025 FROM AAUP Get ready for NO KINGS DAY! October 18 The October 18 NO KINGS National Day of Action is less than two weeks away! Here’s everything you need to know:

Why participate: We’re organizing and taking action to defend each other and our communities, demand dignity, and say enough to all of the Trump administration’s power grabs. Millions of us took to the streets in June, and we’re doing it again on Saturday, October 18.

The impact: No Kings is a major movement—including the AAUP, sister labor unions, and millions of others. There are now more than 2,350 No Kings events scheduled in all fifty states, plus DC, and internationally. We’re showing up to demonstrate that power belongs to the people. America has no kings. This country does not belong to rulers, or billionaires. It belongs to us, and we will defend it.

How to participate:

To register to organize a chapter or local No Kings event, please use this link.
To find an event near you or access resources and information, go here.

How to prepare:

Make a sign! Come up with your own slogan or go with a classic: No Kings, No Dictators; Power to the People; Free Speech for a Free Society; This Country Belongs to Us.
Wear an AAUP T-shirt or sticker if you’ve got one.
Attend a Know Your Rights training sponsored by the ACLU, and access other live and recorded trainings on topics including safety, media/messaging, and host prep at Nokings.org/trainings

Let us know what you’re up to:

Follow us on our social media accounts and tag us in your posts about your chapter’s participation in the No Kings day of action!

Facebook: Facebook.com/AAUPNational
Bluesky: @aaup.org
Instagram: @aaupnational
TikTok: @aaup_national
Hashtags to use: #NoKings #NoKings[yourcity] (example: #NoKingsChicago) #DefendHigherEd #NoKingsAAUP

You are also welcome to consult the No Kings social media and messaging toolkit for more suggestions.

We’ll see you in the streets October 18!

October 7, 2025 FROM AAUP This Thursday: Join Us to Fight Back Against Trump’s Loyalty Oath Compacts The Trump/Mailman loyalty oath compacts demand our urgent response. They have been sent initially to nine colleges and universities, but if these nine agree, the Trump administration will soon be targeting other institutions.

We have a plan to oppose the loyalty oath compacts. Join this Thursday’s all-member meeting at 7 p.m. Eastern / 6 p.m. Central / 5 p.m. Mountain / 4 p.m. Pacific to learn how AAUP members from the nine targeted campuses are organizing to stop the compacts, and how you can be part of the fight back.

Register here. Registration will close two hours before the start of the meeting to allow time for membership verification. Thank you!

Here’s what else you can do:

Individuals: Sign on to this letter opposing the compacts
AAUP chapters and other organizations: If you are authorized to sign on on behalf of an organization, do that here.

In solidarity,
Mia McIver, AAUP Executive Director

October 3, 2025 FROM AAUP We’re Organizing, Fighting, and Winning The Trump administration’s assault on higher education continues this week with an offer to give preferential treatment to colleges and universities in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda. As the AAUP and the AFT said yesterday, this offer is entirely corrupt. It would reward campuses that toe the party line and punish those that cherish their independence. In so doing, it would commit the very viewpoint discrimination it claims to redress. And it’s only a first step—the administration this week also floated the idea of changing the way it awards research grants for all of higher education, replacing a system based on peer reviews and scientific merit with one that makes awards based on ideological fealty.

The AAUP and AFT urge all college and university governing boards, campus administrations, academic disciplinary organizations, and higher education trade groups to reject such collusion with the Trump administration and to stand firmly on the side of free expression and higher education as the anchor of opportunity for all. Read ourfull statement here. To learn more, watch a discussion I had with Chenjerai Kumanyika of New York University and Lorena Grundy, vice president of the University of Pennsylvania AAUP chapter: Breaking Down Trump’s New Higher Ed Loyalty Oath Compacts and Why We Must Resist.

We are in an existential fight for higher education and we are honored to have you with us in that fight. We are organizing, fighting, and winning on campuses and in the courts.

Next up—

October 18: plan to hit the streets with us and allies across the nation. It will be a day of peaceful and impactful protest as we come together to make clear: America has no kings! To find an event near you or get more info on the day of action, visit here. To register a chapter-led or local event, visit here.

November 7: plan an action on your campus in coordination with students and with support from AAUP organizers. More details coming soon!

See our full roster of upcoming events, actions, and trainings here.

In solidarity,

Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
Rotua Lumbantobing, Vice President
Danielle Aubert, Secretary-Treasurer

October 1, 2025 FROM AAUP We Won! Ideological Deportation Ruled Unconstitutional In a landmark ruling, a federal court yesterday ruled that the Trump administration, as part of a broad assault on our civil rights, violated the First Amendment in carrying out a policy of arresting, detaining, and deporting noncitizen students and faculty members for ideological reasons. The AAUP, the Middle Eastern Studies Association and several AAUP chapters brought the suit with the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, seeking to block the Trump administration from implementing this policy in an attempt to suppress speech (typically pro-Palestinian speech) that Trump opposed.

A two-week trial in July was the first major trial of President Trump’s second term and included the testimony of fifteen witnesses, forcing the disclosure of a wealth of new details about the policy and its devastating effects on campuses nationwide. See a summary of the disclosures here.

This case would not have been possible without the work of courageous members of the AAUP and MESA, who came forward to testify to how the Trump administration policy created a climate of repression and fear on university campuses. We could not be more proud of our members and of the legal team who pursued this case.

In today’s ruling, Judge William G. Young found that the Trump administration targeted “non citizen pro-Palestinians for deportation primarily on account of their First Amendment protected political speech. They did so in order to strike fear into similarly situated non-citizen pro-Palestinian individuals, pro-actively (and effectively) curbing lawful pro-Palestinian speech and intentionally denying such individuals (including the plaintiffs here) the freedom of speech that is their right.”

The court also emphasized Trump’s broad campaign to suppress speech and undermine our constitution and challenged everyone to fight to save our democracy. “Perhaps we’re now afraid to stick our necks out. If the distinguished Homeland Security intelligence agency can be weaponized to squelch the free speech rights of a small, hapless group of non-citizens in our midst, so too can the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and the audit divisions of the I.R.S. and the Social Security Administration be unconstitutionally weaponized against the President’s ever growing list of “enemies” or opponents he “hates” notwithstanding that political persecution is anathema to our Constitution and everything for which America stands.”

Read today’s remarkable decision here.

The Trump administration’s attempt to deport students for their political views is an assault on the Constitution and a betrayal of American values. This trial exposed their true aim: to intimidate and silence anyone who dares oppose them. If we fail to fight back, Trump’s thought police won’t stop at pro-Palestinian voices—they will come for anyone who speaks out. Defending democracy means standing up now—loudly, visibly, and together.

In solidarity,
Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
Veena Dubal, AAUP General Counsel
Aaron Nisenson, AAUP Senior Counsel

September 4, 2025 FROM AAUP Judge Rules on Harvard Case: When We Fight, WE WIN! Last night, we got great news: We WON our lawsuit challenging the Trump’s administration’s attempt to dismantle research and critical thought at Harvard University.

A federal judge agreed with us, and with the Harvard administration, that the Trump administration violated the Constitution, the Civil Rights Act, and the Administrative Procedures Act by demanding that Harvard restrict speech and restructure core operations or else face the cancellation of billions in federal funding for the university and its affiliated hospital.

In her ruling, US District Judge Allison Burroughs found that the administration’s actions, which included freezing and canceling more than $2 billion in research grants, violated the First Amendment rights of Harvard and of Harvard’s faculty and amounted to “retaliation, unconstitutional conditions, and unconstitutional coercion.” Her ruling vacates the government’s funding freeze and permanently blocks it from using similar reasoning to deny grants to Harvard in the future.

In April, the national AAUP and our Harvard chapter, alongside the United Auto Workers, filed the lawsuit seeking to stop the Trump administration’s attack on Harvard. Pressured by our filing, the Harvard administration subsequently filed suit and the cases were linked.

Many of Judge Burroughs’s findings responded primarily to the claims of AAUP members, particularly about harms to research, First Amendment violations, and attacks on academic freedom. So this victory belongs to you!

This is a huge win not just for AAUP members at Harvard but for all of American higher education, for science, and for free and critical thought in this country. The Trump administration’s attempts to restrict speech and cripple lifesaving research are widespread, affecting every state and type of institution in the nation. As this victory shows, Trump’s war on higher education is unconstitutional. We will continue to stand up and fight back against these attempts to dismantle our universities, terrify students and faculty, and punish hospitals and scientific research for not bowing to authoritarianism. And we will win.

We could not have done it without the leadership, hard work, and testimony of AAUP members like you. Thank you for being in this fight with us!

In solidarity,

Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

September 5, 2025 FROM AAUP& AFT Join the Movement to Protect Higher Education

We’re writing to invite you to participate in the virtual launch of a powerful new campaign uniting the full strength of the AFT and American Association of University Professors to protect higher education from authoritarian attacks. Together, we represent the largest and most powerful force of higher education workers in the United States. Our members teach classes that transform students’ lives and run labs that result in lifesaving medical research. We create opportunities and strengthen communities. But this crucial work is now under siege. Devastating funding cuts are halting medical breakthroughs and slashing support for students—all as political retribution from an administration that wants to control knowledge. In this moment of profound crisis, our collective power carries a responsibility not only to defend our colleges and universities from sustained political and economic attacks, but to advance a bold, collective vision of higher education as a democratic, accessible and transformative public good. That’s why we are mobilizing a national movement—one that defends higher education both in the streets and at the ballot box, and one that paves a pathway to opportunity for all students. Please join us on Monday, Sept. 8, at 5 p.m. Eastern time, for the virtual launch of our new campaign, Higher Ed: The Economic Engine that Saves Lives and Builds Futures. On the call, we will share how we are organizing to protect our members’ vital work, defend the future of higher education and ensure that every student has the chance to thrive. RSVP for the Sept. 8 virtual launch of the new campaign. Let’s show the country what the higher education community can do when we organize together.

In unity, Randi Weingarten, AFT PresidentTodd Wolfson, AAUP President

We could not have done it without the leadership, hard work, and testimony of AAUP members like you. Thank you for being in this fight with us!

In solidarity,

Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

August 27, 2025 FROM AAUP to all members If you receive our email at an address ending in .edu or .gov, please log into our member portal and change your preferred email to a personal address. Using a personal email address enhances digital security and the privacy of AAUP emails and helps avoid restrictions that may be associated with work email addresses, which could cause you to miss out on important AAUP information.

How to update your email in our system:

Go to https://members.aaup.org/s/login/.
Login with your email (the email where you receive AAUP member communications) and password.
You can click “Forgot Password” to reset it if necessary.
Once you’re logged in, scroll down to the second header “Communication Information.”
Click Change (in red on the right of the screen).
Add your personal email.
Select “Personal” under Preferred Email Type.
Click the yellow save button at the bottom of the “Communications Information” section.

Once you’ve updated, we will run a report to unsubscribe your institutional email from our list for nonmembers, but if you receive any communications to your old email, let us know at communications@aaup.org and we will get it fixed.

August 21, 2025 FROM AAUP Upcoming Events Here’s a late-breaking addition to our upcoming lineup of virtual meetings and webinars. And as a reminder, the full schedule that we sent out on Saturday is below.

**New** University Negotiations and Settlements with the Trump Administration: What to Know

In the past months and weeks, the Trump administration has (unlawfully and cynically) used funding cuts to threaten universities and colleges into negotiations. The overarching goal has been to reshape higher education into the ideological vision of the Trump administration. To date, a number of universities have settled or announced plans to settle. This meeting is for AAUP members only and will be most useful for those who are active in a campus-based chapter. We’ll explore the contours of the public settlements and their implications for academic freedom and shared governance. We will also discuss what AAUP chapters can do to fight back on their own campuses.

Register here to join us on August 26 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. Registration will close two hours ahead of the meeting, at 5 p.m. Eastern, to allow time for membership verification.

FULL SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING AAUP AND AFFILIATE EVENTS

Big, Ugly Betrayal’s Impact on Higher Education (American Federation of Teachers)

Tuesday, August 26, 3 p.m. ET

In July 2025, Republicans in Congress passed—and President Donald Trump signed into law—new provisions that will strip critical funding from our colleges and universities to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, making a college education more unaffordable for all of us and completely unobtainable for some. The so-called Big Beautiful Bill is really a big ugly betrayal. It cuts nearly $300 billion in student aid through new caps on student and parent loans, making college less accessible for everyone. In addition to this direct attack on our work, the big, ugly betrayal cuts millions from Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, impacting our most vulnerable students. These critical cuts to the safety net will also create difficult choices for state budget makers and could imperil much-needed state investment in higher education. Join us to unpack everything we know about the effects of this significant policy shift. We want to help affiliates create plans to meet these challenges and fight back against Trump’s vicious attacks on higher education.

Artificial Intelligence Report and Discussion (AAUP)

Wednesday, August 27, 4–5 p.m. ET

Join members of the AAUP’s ad hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Academic Professions for a discussion of member-based research, recommendations, and resources for enacting more faculty power over ed-tech decisions at their institutions, including artificial intelligence.

We’ll discuss a new report issued by the committee, key concerns surfaced by a survey the committee conducted, recommendations, and resources. We also want to hear from you about what’s happening on your campus, and talk about what kind of resources we need to address these issues.

Organize Every Campus Town Hall (AAUP)

Monday, September 8, 7–8 p.m. ET

We’ll discuss fall organizing strategy and hear from you about challenges and successes on your campus.

For AAUP members only.

Forgotten Pasts and Alternative Futures: Indigenous Nations and Higher Education (Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom)

Wednesday, September 24, 7–8:30 p.m. ET

The conversation will be moderated by Jeremiah Chin, professor of law at University of Washington, and will explore how Indigenous nations can provide a source of counter-sovereignty for functions of educational governance historically overseen by the federal government. Panelists include Megan Bang, professor of learning sciences at Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy; Sandy Grande, professor of political science and Native American and Indigenous studies at the University of Connecticut; Amanda Tachine, professor of educational studies at the University of Oregon; and Bryan Brayboy, professor in the Earth Systems Science for the Anthropocene program at Arizona State University.

August 8, 2025 FROM AAUP Weekly AAUP Media Clips

June 26, 2025 FROM AAUP A Big Terrible Budget Bill: Join us at the AAUP Meeting Today There are two things you can do this week to join us in the fight to secure full and fair funding for higher education.

The first thing:Join us this evening for an AAUP member meeting at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT. RSVP here.

We will discuss the federal budget picture and Trump’s budget bill, a billThe New Republic describes as “an extinction-level event for higher education that would annihilate the country’s intellectual potential.”

Also on the agenda for today’s meeting:

What you need to know to be prepared to take action in the fall
How to connect with Faculty First Responders for help with targeted harassment
AAUP v. Rubio—the trial in our First Amendment case challenging ideological deportations begins July 7

Th second thing: Send a letter to your senators and demand that they oppose Trump’s budget bill. The reconciliation proposal recently introduced by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) and in H.R. 1—The One Big Beautiful Bill Act – will make drastic cuts to student aid if passed. This bill isn’t about streamlining government or reducing waste. This is about controlling our democratic institutions at the expense of working people.

Send a letter to your senators now urging them to oppose these harmful provisions in the reconciliation bill.

Our goals in the days, weeks and months ahead aren’t small. We won’t be satisfied with a bill that’s simply harmful to higher ed instead of totally devastating. We won’t be satisfied with just the least worst version of higher education in this country. We will continue fighting for fully funded higher ed and a system of higher education that serves everyone, that offers jobs with dignity, and enhances our democracy.

See you today at 7 p.m. ET / 4 pm PT.

In solidarity,

Mia McIver, Executive Director, AAUP

May 23, 2025 FROM AAUP Great News! Preliminary Injunction Halts Dismantling of the Department of Education We got great news yesterday: In a suit we brought with Democracy Forward, the AFT, and other allies in the labor movement, a district court in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction halting the Trump administration’s unlawful effort to dismantle the Department of Education. The massive reduction in force proposed by the administration would decimate crucial services the department provides to families across the country, severely limit access to education, and eviscerate funding for HBCUs and tribal colleges.

We can’t do this work without your support. Will you become a member or make a donation to the AAUP Foundation today?

Here’s some background on the case. In March, after having repeatedly expressed a desire to eliminate the Department of Education, the Trump administration announced a reduction in force that would cut its staff in half. Recognizing that the department was created by an act of Congress and was mandated to carry out a number of statutorily required programs, the administration claimed that it was not trying to eliminate the department but rather was seeking to improve “efficiency” and “accountability.”

The court definitively rejected this claim, saying that the “defendants’ true intention is to effectively dismantle the Department without an authorizing statute. . . . A department without enough employees to perform statutorily mandated functions is not a department at all. This court cannot be asked to cover its eyes while the Department’s employees are continuously fired and units are transferred out until the Department becomes a shell of itself.”

The court also highlighted the impact of the cuts on students, educational institutions, and unions. For example, the court found that “higher education is also likely to become more expensive for students” as the staffing cuts “will put federal funding for Pell grants, work-study programs and subsidized loans at risk, reducing the pool of students able to attend college and posing an existential threat to many state university systems such as those intended to serve first generation college students.”

The court found that the administration had violated two clauses of the US Constitution, and that its actions were beyond its authority as well as arbitrary and capricious. Therefore, the court issued a preliminary injunction requiring the department to reinstate staff and resume operations disrupted by the cuts.

Perhaps because of skepticism about the administration’s willingness to follow directives of the judiciary, the court specifically required that the administration provide notice of this order of preliminary injunction within twenty-four hours to all its officers, and that it “file a status report with this Court within 72 hours of the entry of this Order, describing all steps the Agency Defendants have taken to comply with this Order, and every week thereafter until the Department is restored to the status quo prior to January 20, 2025.”

What’s next: It is almost certain that the administration will appeal this decision and will likely seek to have the preliminary injunction stayed by the court of appeals while the case is pending.

Trump’s agenda is a clear path to setting America back in quality and fairness in education. The AAUP will continue to stand up against these attacks and fight for a higher education system that serves all Americans. We can’t do it without you.

Please join us as a member or make a donation today!

In solidarity,
Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
Veena Dubal, AAUP General Counsel

May 21, 2025 FROM AAUP Resources on Immigration and Travel Safety We are holding a pre-summer webinar for our members focused on immigration law, ideological detentions, and travel safety. Join us, the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), and immigration attorneys Marc Van Der Hout and Johnny Sinodis on Tuesday, May 27, at 3–4:30 p.m. Pacific time/6–7:30 p.m. Eastern time. We will be discussing updates in the detentions and attempted deportations of noncitizen students and scholars, best practices with respect to travel, and answers to the questions and concerns of international faculty. Register here, and please submit your questions in advance using this form.

As the Trump administration continues its onslaught on immigrants and foreign nationals, the AAUP is working with allies on several fronts:

In the Courts

With MESA and several AAUP chapters, we filed suit seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members for ideological reasons (typically because of pro-Palestinian speech). We overcame the government’s motion to dismiss and anticipate going to trial this summer.

Developing Resources

We have developed and assembled the following:

AAUP letter to college and university legal offices: Institutions Should Not Provide Student and Faculty Info to Enable Deportations
AAUP letter to college and university legal offices: Institutions Should Support Students Under Visa Threats with Legal Aid and Housing
Fact sheet on dealing with ICE on your campus (AAUP general counsel)
Fact sheet on rights and risks for workers who are in the United States on visas (AFT)
Issue brief on immigration-related campus concerns (American Council on Education)
Know Your Rights flyers (AFL-CIO)
Family Preparedness Plan template (Immigrant Legal Resource Center)
Immigration legal and digital security resources (AAUP Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom)

Skills Training

Join us at the AAUP Summer Institute in Atlanta from July 17–20 to learn how to organize, communicate, and advocate strategically in the company of other higher ed activists. This year’s offerings include a workshop on knowing your rights when it comes to immigration and how to defend international students and colleagues. Learn more about the institute and register here.

Stay tuned for a related virtual session in late summer ahead of international students’ and faculty’s return to campus.

In solidarity,

Veena Dubal, General Counsel, AAUP

May 17, 2025 FROM AAUP Upcoming Events and the Summer Institute Summer is coming up, but that doesn’t mean the work to defend higher ed slows down. The AAUP has plenty of upcoming events for members and allies—read more about our slate of offerings and register now to secure your spot.

Organize Every Campus Town Hall

Monday, May 19, 7 p.m. EST

Join us for a critical town hall with Puya Gerami, a labor educator with extensive organizing experience at SEIU 1999 New England, and KB Brower, organizing director for Bargaining for the Common Good at the Action Center on Race and the Economy.

We’ll dig into how we build real power in this moment—organizing in the streets, developing political leadership, and winning legislative and electoral fights.

Mutual Defense for Higher Ed: Organizing Across Campuses for Collective Power

Tuesday, May 20, 6–7:30 p.m. EST

Join this timely webinar to explore the what, why, and how of mutual defense pacts—how they’re formed, what they accomplish, and how they are reshaping the landscape of higher education organizing. Speakers will share lessons from campuses already engaged in this movement, offer concrete strategies for building cross-campus solidarity, and provide tools and inspiration for collective action that can’t be ignored.

Organize Every Campus Town Hall

Monday, June 9, 7 p.m. EST

Join us for a critical town hall where we’ll dig into how we build real power in this moment—organizing in the streets, developing political leadership, and winning legislative and electoral fights.

2025 AAUP/AFT Summer Institute

Thursday, July 17–Sunday, July 20

The 2025 Summer Institute presents a crucial opportunity for AFT and AAUP members to learn how to fight back while continuing to advance our shared vision for higher education that serves our students and our communities, drives our regional and national economies, and is truly affordable and accessible to all. We are bringing the Summer Institute to Morehouse College, a historically Black institution, in order to emphasize our continued commitments to racial equity, highlight the ongoing and meaningful role that HBIs play in the realization of our national democratic ideals, and recognize the organizing being done by scholars of color.

All AAUP and AFT members are welcome at the Summer Institute—no experience necessary! Together, we will organize, fight, and win.

Registration and full itineraries are available here.

You can view more about these and other AAUP events on our Events homepage. We hope to see you soon!

In solidarity,

The AAUP

May 6, 2025 FROM AAUP/Academe Magazine The Fight for Higher Education

Organizing for a Just and Democratic Future | AAUP Download

May 7, 2025 FROM AAUP Mutual Defense Pacts AND Summer Institute! As the Trump administration attacks higher education and wages a wider war on multiracial democracy, we are facing an existential threat. Plan to join us for these events aimed at building skills and power to fight back.

May 19, 7:00 p.m. Eastern: Save the Date for an Organize Every Campus Town Hall

Details and registration coming soon!

May 20, 6:00 p.m. Eastern: Webinar on Mutual Defense for Higher Ed

Faculty and university senates are forging a new path: mutual defense pacts that unify campuses in collective resistance. What began at Rutgers has grown into a nationwide movement, with many of the Big Ten senates already adopting similar compacts. These agreements are more than symbolic—they are a strategic call to action for faculty, students, and campus workers to demand accountability, protect academic freedom, and fight back against crippling administrative overreach.

Join this timely webinar to explore the what, why, and how of mutual defense pacts—how they’re formed, what they accomplish, and how they are reshaping the landscape of higher education organizing. Speakers will share lessons from campuses already engaged in this movement, offer concrete strategies for building cross-campus solidarity, and provide tools and inspiration for collective action that can’t be ignored.

July 17–20: AAUP/AFT Summer Institute in Atlanta

Join us in Atlanta, where you will learn how to organize, communicate, and advocate strategically in the company of other higher ed activists. The skills you learn in the Summer Institute’s workshops and trainings will help you defend your coworkers, students, campus, and profession. We will discuss local organizing campaigns on both individual campuses and big-picture, nationwide strategies for winning just and equitable higher education across the sector. For those who are able to arrive on Wednesday, we will be offering a one-day Skills to Win workshop on Thursday, July 17, that will introduce members to basic organizing techniques. For those who are able to stay through Sunday, July 20, we will be offering a mass mobilization and direct action training to provide us all with the tools we need to help build a movement to truly realize our vision for higher education and democracy.

All AAUP and AFT members are welcome at the Summer Institute—no experience necessary! Together, we will organize, fight, and win.

April 30, 2025 FROM AAUP RSVP to the AAUP All-Member Meeting Tomorrow AAUP All-Member Meeting Tomorrow

AAUP national continues to take the fight to defend higher ed to the streets and in the courts. Join us tomorrow, May 1, at 7 p.m. ET /4 p.m. PT for an AAUP national member meeting to discuss next steps. RSVP now. On the agenda: Congress’s intentions to use the federal budget process to continue the attacks on our campuses and communities, and our plan to fight back.

May 1: AAUP Takes Action

We’ll be standing with allies on May Day to fight the Trump administration’s war on working people. They’re defunding schools, privatizing public services, attacking unions, and targeting immigrant families with fear and violence. We encourage you to join in—find an action near you here.

AAUP members from across the country made their voices heard in mass actions on April 5, April 8, and April 17. On the April 17 Day of Action for Higher Ed, a whopping eighty-four AAUP chapters organized demonstrations, teach-ins, workshops, film screenings, and other events to share knowledge and skills and to highlight our demands for quality education, funding, and a safe and welcoming environment for all students.

New Report: Academic Freedom and Tenure: Muhlenberg College

The AAUP has released a new report, Academic Freedom and Tenure: Muhlenberg College, on the 2024 dismissal of Dr. Maura Finkelstein, a tenured associate professor and chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. An inquiry into the dismissal was conducted in a national context of proliferating faculty suspensions, disciplinary actions, and dismissals relating to campus protests. The report concludes that the administration, in dismissing Finkelstein from the faculty solely because of one anti-Zionist repost on Instagram, acted in violation of AAUP-supported principles and standards of academic freedom and due process.

The AAUP Takes on Trump in the Courts

Since the Trump administration began its assaults on our universities and on immigrants, the AAUP has filed five lawsuits in defense of our campuses and communities. We also continue to file amicus briefs supporting others who are doing the same. Most recently:

Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that our case seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members who participate in pro-Palestinian protests can go forward. The lawsuit alleges that the administration’s ideological-deportation policy violates the First Amendment by targeting constitutionally protected speech that Americans have a right to hear and engage with.
The national AAUP and our Harvard chapter filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from demanding that Harvard University restrict speech and restructure its core operations or else face the cancellation of $8.7 billion in federal funding for the university and its affiliated hospitals.
With the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, the AAUP submitted a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the law firm Perkins Coie in its battle against the Trump administration. The AAUP’s brief focuses on the harms that will be caused if lawyers are afraid to take on cases or make certain arguments for fear of retaliation by the government and discusses the dangerous position taken by the administration through its casual invocation of national security to justify all manner of actions and to push back against robust judicial review. Read the brief here.
Thirty faculty groups, including seventeen AAUP chapters, organized to join an amicus brief urging a preliminary injunction against ideological deportations of students and scholars. AAUP members from public and private institutions, from community colleges and research universities, from Texas to Minnesota, California to New Hampshire, and points in between are exercising solidarity to protect students and co-workers.

Protecting Students and Faculty

In response to news reports that the Office for Civil Rights in the US Department of Education has requested the names and nationalities of students and faculty who may have been involved in alleged Title VI violations, the AAUP wrote to college and university general counsels to clarify that they are under no legal compulsion to comply with such a request, and to strongly urge them not to comply, given the serious risks and harms of doing so. The guidance is clear that institutions should not provide student and faculty information to enable deportations. More here.
More resources relating to political attacks on immigrants are here.

Academic Freedom and Attacks on Disciplinary Knowledge

The AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure released a statement highlighting the specific dangers to academic freedom and shared governance in the Trump administration’s demand that Columbia University’s Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department be placed in receivership. Implicit in that demand is the unfounded assumption that critical scholarship on the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa produces antisemitism. The specific targeting of this department threatens a future where intellectual inquiry would be controlled by the state.
The AAUP released a statement condemning the attacks on the National Endowment for the Humanities as another step toward authoritarianism.

Win for Faculty in Nevada

Faculty at Nevada State University are celebrating after winning the right to collectively bargain for a safe workplace, for faculty voice in decision-making through shared governance, and to address low and stagnant wages. The American Arbitration Association certified that an overwhelming majority of the roughly 120 faculty voted “yes” in the in-person election that took place April 1-2, by a vote of 104 to 8. More here.

Staffing Up for the Fight

We are rebuilding our staff in order to support your organizing in more and better ways. The AAUP has welcomed three new staffers since March: Zach Kesler, membership database administrator; Brian Allen, organizer; and Lukas Moe, organizer. Max Friedfeld, organizer, and Lena Solow, lead organizer, will join the AAUP full-time in early June. All are in the Department of Organizing and Services.
We’re hiring for a number of other positions including assistant counsel and three special campaign positions. Please share the listings!

Faculty Compensation Survey Preliminary Results Are Out

Real average salaries for full-time faculty increased for the second consecutive year after adjusting for inflation, according to preliminary results from the AAUP’s 2024–25 Faculty Compensation Survey. Nominal average salaries increased 3.8 percent from fall 2023 to fall 2024, while real wages increased only 0.9 percent after adjusting for the 2.9 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers.

Preliminary FCS findings are now available here, along with institution-level appendixes.
Explore the results on the AAUP’s interactive data website at https://data.aaup.org/.
AAUP chapter leaders may order full datasets and research portal access free of charge

Save the Dates

May 6 at 3 p.m. ET: In response to the escalating threats to our international students and colleagues, AFT Higher Education is hosting a webinar for all members: Understanding and Responding to Visa Revocations and Immigration Enforcement Actions on Campus. This webinar will address recent changes in immigration policies and how to best address them; the legal rights of graduate students, faculty, and staff union members during encounters with immigration authorities; and best practices to support individuals who have had their visas terminated.
May 20, 6-7:30 p.m. ET: Over the last few weeks there has been a growing movement for faculty and university senates to pass mutual defense compacts to press their administrations to collaborate and fight for the future of higher ed. Join this timely webinar to explore the what, why, and how of mutual defense pacts—how they’re formed, what they accomplish, and how they are reshaping the landscape of higher education organizing. Speakers will share lessons from campuses already engaged in this movement, offer concrete strategies for building cross-campus solidarity, and provide tools and inspiration for collective action that can’t be ignored.
July 17-20: The 2025 Summer Institute will be held July 17–20 at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Registration coming soon.

Student Debt Alerts and Resources

With increasing removals of important information from government websites, the National Consumer Law Center is strongly recommending that borrowers and those who work with them to screenshot IDR progress trackers ASAP in case they are removed. More in a blog post here.
The Department of Education has announced that it will start forced collections against borrowers in default on May 5. See the NCLC blog post on what borrowers can do to protect themselves from forced collections.
AAUP members get free access to student debt clinics and the Summer student debt management program through the American Federation of Teachers. Register here for debt clinics. Sign up for Summer here.

Special Series of AAUP Presents: Academic Freedom on the Line

Check out episode three of the AAUP Presents special series of podcasts “Academic Freedom on the Line,” produced in conjunction with the Center for Academic Freedom (CDAF). CDAF fellow and host Vineeta Singh speaks with Clare Carter at the Freedom to Learn team at PEN America to help us understand how state legislatures have attacked the principles of academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and shared governance, and then we get to hear from the students about what this has looked like on their campus, and how they have mobilized against these attacks. All episodes of AAUP Presents can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and our website.

New Redbook is out!

The AAUP is excited to announce the publication of the twelfth edition of Policy Documents and Reports, known as the Redbook. The new Redbook comes ten years after the 2015 centennial edition, which celebrated the anniversary of the AAUP’s founding. This edition brings together new documents issued in the past decade; revised or updated materials, including new statistical information in the section on contingent appointments; and foundational documents such as the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure and the Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities.

Academe Seeks Book Review Editor

The American Association of University Professors seeks an AAUP member to serve as book review editor for Academe, its quarterly magazine. The book review editor’s primary responsibilities include identifying books for review and soliciting and editing nine to twelve book reviews each year. A stipend is available. Applications are due by June 1, 2025. More information here.

Journal of Academic Freedom Editor SearchThe AAUP invites applications for a faculty editor or faculty coeditors for the next two volumes of the Journal of Academic Freedom, an online journal that seeks to develop international discussion of academic freedom and related issues. The faculty editor, who receives a stipend, is responsible for the selection and substantive editing of the articles that will appear in the journal’s one annual issue. Applications are due by June 1, 2025. More information here.

AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom tools and events:

Check out the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom’s (CDAF) Academic Freedom Field Guide, which has been updated with new legal, digital security, and dox defense resources.
Join us for our upcoming CDAF webinar,”Policing Higher Education: The Antidemocratic Attack on Scholars and Why It Matters,” Tuesday, May 13, 6 p.m. ET. Register here for a virtual discussion on Eve Darian-Smith’s new book Policing Higher Education: The Antidemocratic Attack on Scholars and Why It Matters. Darian Smith (distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Global Studies and International Studies at the University of California, Irvine and fellow at the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom) will be joined by a number of experts.

AAUP in the News

“This has been “a real example that when you create the space for workers to gather, they can and will self-organize.” – AAUP Local 6741 Secretary-Treasurer Bill Mullen quoted in Labor Notes.

“The workers and the unions, faculty, students, staff are leading and developing the fight in how to respond to the Trump administration, and we’re sort of dragging the universities along with us, slowly.” – Todd Wolfson, the AAUP president quoted in The Guardian.

“It is high time for leading civil society institutions like Harvard to refuse and resist this federal government overreach and abuse.” – Kirsten Weld, a history professor at Harvard and president of the AAUP Harvard faculty chapter quoted in the Washington Post.

“Institutions that stood up are remembered for standing up to that power and that coercion, they’re remembered for their acts of bravery,” she said. “Institutions that capitulated are remembered for their willingness to cave to autocratic demands.” – Risa Lieberwitz, president of the Cornell chapter of the AAUP quoted in WSKG News

April 28, 2025 From AAUP We need you in the fight for higher ed, our students, and communities President Trump’s administration continues to attack education and research on many fronts. And the AAUP continues to fight back and speak out. Will you join us?

On the Streets

AAUP members from across the country made their voices heard in multiple demonstrations and days of action this month. On one day, a whopping eighty-four AAUP chapters organized demonstrations, teach-ins, workshops, film screenings, and other events to share knowledge and skills and to highlight our demands for quality education, funding, and a safe and welcoming environment for all students. Next up: We’ll be standing with allies on May Day to fight the Trump administration’s war on working people.

In the Courts

Late last week, courts handed down important wins blocking the Trump administration’s attempt to ban educational institutions—including universities—from teaching history, sociology, and other lessons that reference race and racism or to provide support to students through diversity, equity, and inclusion programming.

The AAUP continues to file legal cases to protect higher education and our communities. We can’t do it without you.

Most recently, the national AAUP and our Harvard chapter filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from demanding that Harvard University restrict speech and restructure its core operations or else face the cancellation of $8.7 billion in federal funding for the university and its affiliated hospitals. This follows on suits we have filed to protect Columbia University from similar demands and to challenge ideological deportations and executive orders seeking to ban DEI programs.

AAUP members power this organization. If you’re not already a member, please join today.

In solidarity,
Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

April 23, 2025 FROM AAUP Campus Repression, Scholasticide, and Solidarity: Voices from Gaza

Join us for the second of a series of conversations in which we learn from academic workers, administrators, students, and staff in Gaza who will give first-hand testimonies about the destruction of their own education system. The panelists will discuss how the elimination of universities, schools, libraries, and heritage sites have impacted their lives, and how they have mobilized to continue higher education under unimaginable circumstances. Come learn about the situation on the ground in Gaza and how you can support efforts to rebuild its educational infrastructure.

RSVP now to “Campus Repression, Scholasticide, and Solidarity: Voices from Gaza,” which will be held on April 30 at 4:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. PT.

Scholars and experts use the term “scholasticide” to refer to the systematic destruction of the Palestinian education system. Over the past 18 months, all of Gaza’s universities have been wiped out and an unprecedented number of students, faculty, teachers, and staff have been killed. In the West Bank, Palestinian universities have been raided, students and faculty have been detained, and many higher education institutions have shifted to remote learning.

The purpose of this panel is to open up a discussion about integrating Palestine solidarity with our broad-based efforts to fight for academic freedom and higher education in the United States. Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Yehseon Chung, Badar Suri Khan, Mohsen Mahdawi, and Ranjani Srinivasan are among the many non-citizen members of US academic communities targeted and detained for their speech defending the rights of Palestinians. As US institutions of higher education face unprecedented and unconstitutional attacks, the AAUP has been on the streets and in the courts defending our institutions and our freedoms to protest, dissent, think, and learn.

We have blocked out half the session for discussion and exchange with the audience. This event will be a unique opportunity to learn about conditions on the ground and to discuss the fate of higher education abroad and at home. You can submit your questions for the panel in advance here.

We look forward to seeing you on April 30. RSVP here.

In solidarity,
The AAUP’s Committee on Race and Solidarity

April 18, 2025 FROM AAUP Op-ed writing for AAUP members We’re pleased to share an opportunity, offered by the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, to join in a two-part workshop led by Afshan Jafar, modeled after her own training with The OpEd Project. They dates are as follows; we hope you can join this small group experience. If you are unable to participate, perhaps a colleague would be interested?

Session 1: Friday, May 23, 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST

Session 2: Monday, June 2, 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST

The first session focuses on “unlearning” academic writing and thinking about the components of a good op-ed. Participants would then have “homework” drafting an op-ed, and the second session would be spent workshopping these drafts with feedback from participants as well as Afshan.

This is the second iteration of this workshop, and from participants in the first, three op-eds have been published (see below) with more in the works. We hope you consider joining!

Feingold, Jonathan. “Harvard’s New Antisemitism Policy Hurts Jews, Helps Trump.” February 13, 2025. The Hill.

Darian-Smith, Eve. “Fighting Florida’s Floods and California’s Wildfires from the Classroom.” March 21, 2022. Tampa Bay Times.

Meyerhoff, Eli. “If Academic Freedom Trumps the Freedom to Protest, Democracy Dies.” March 7, 2025. The Chronicle, Duke University.

Contact: Monica Owens, Field Service Representative AAUP Department of Organizing and Services mowens@aaup.org

FROM New York State AAUP Conference Rally for the Right to Learn! April 17th 4pm @ Foley Square, March from Washington Square Park at 3pm (NYC)

April 12, 2025 FROM AAUP This Thursday: April 17 Day of Action for Higher Education On the heels of the great Kill the Cuts actions on April 8, in just one week, higher ed workers and our supporters will be hitting the streets on April 17 for rallies, walkouts, teach-ins, and membership drives. The day will culminate with an online teach-in at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT.

What can you do? Join us in person or online for the day of action. There is still time to organize an event on your campus. As part of our effort to fight back against the Trump attacks on higher education, the AAUP is cosponsoring the day of action with our partners at the Coalition for Action in Higher Education (CAHE), Higher Ed Labor United, and many other organizations.

If you can’t make it to a local action, there’s also a full lineup of online events for April 17. You can also follow the action on social media with the hashtag #DayofActionforHigherEd.

April 17 Online Events:

10 a.m. ET: Displacement: From Palestine to Mexico. Six panelists will explore how we in higher ed understand the massive racist displacements of “surplus populations” caused by the wars, climate disasters, and economic dislocations of a capitalist world-system in turmoil. Register here.
11 a.m. ET:. A political education and collective visioning session from the Debt Collective. Register here.
11 a.m. ET: The Antidote to Repression Is Information. Join the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom for a session on mapping the landscape of resources and allies in the fight against the sweeping repression that began years ago and has metastasized. Register here.
12 p.m. ET: Why Sanctuary Campuses Now? In this workshop, core organizers of the Sanctuary Campus Network A. Naomi Paik and Jenna Loyd will focus on the why and how of sanctuary campuses in this political moment. Register here.
1 p.m. ET: Who Rules the Academy (and How to Fight Back)? Higher education in the United States is subject to an unprecedented wave of attacks from external as well as internal sources. This panel will identify several of those sources and suggest ways to combat them. Register here.
1 p.m. ET: Doing University Debt Reveals. In this workshop, members of the Coalition Against Campus Debt and authors of the bookLend and Rule will share tools for revealing the debt on your campus, connecting institutional debt to student debt, and organizing against both. Register here.
2 p.m. ET: Universities as Political Battlegrounds: A Call for Courage. This webinar will bring together scholars, faculty, and movement leaders on the frontlines to analyze the growing repression in higher ed and discuss how we resist the assault on our campuses and in our communities. Register here.
2 p.m. ET: The Planned Scarcity of Public Student Housing at West Chester University, and the Transformative Organizing to Decommodify It. In this workshop, David Backer will narrate the story of researching university bonds amid a student housing crisis. Register here.
3 p.m. ET: Immigrants Rights Defense Workshop. Join us for a one-hour workshop with attorneys and organizers on ICE policing tactics and strategies and what to know about constitutional and other rights. Register here.
4 p.m. ET: Fighting Attacks on Higher Education in Red States. Karma R. Chavez, from the AAUP Chapter of UT Austin, will discuss local and statewide organizing in Texas from 2023–25 as Republican legislators sought to completely dismantle public higher education as we know it. Register here.
5 p.m. ET: Day of Action Palestine Webinar.Join CAHE for its Day of Action Palestine Webinar, featuring scholars and activists Rabab Abdulhadi, Andrew Ross, and Tiffany Willoughby-Herard. Register here.
6p.m. ET: Militant Education in and Beyond the University. Join Common Notions authors for a brief and lively conversation as they discuss some key strategic questions confronting us today on the terrain of public higher education. Register here.
7 p.m. ET: National Teach-In: Free Higher Ed Now! This teach-in will feature leading voices in the fightback for a free higher ed, providing analysis and thoughts on key issues taken up during the day of action. Featuring Todd Wolfson, Levin Kim, Leila Kawar, Cathy Cohen, Lara Deeb, Sean Malloy, and Heather Ferguson. Register here.

You are also invited to register for a free screening and panel discussion of The Palestine Exception on April 14 at 6:30 p.m. ET on Zoom, sponsored by CAHE, the Martin Scorsese Department of Cinema Studies at NYU, and NYU-AAUP. Zoom registration for the film will also provide access to a livestream of the panel. Watch parties at your institutions are welcomed and encouraged.

You can find a full list of events on the day of action website.

See you on April 17!

The AAUP

April 8, 2025 FROM AAUP How to urge your administration to protect international students The Trump administration has intensified its attacks on faculty and students: refusing scholars entry into the country, stripping students of their legal status and revoking visas, and seizing students in preparation for deportation. These actions, brazen attacks on the First Amendment and the right to learn rooted in vague claims by the secretary of state and enacted by hidden bureaucrats and masked agents, have proceeded without any semblance of due process. They return us to the darkest tendencies in US history. They also strike at the heart of academic freedom and the international community of scholars.

The AAUP strongly and unequivocally condemns this targeting of international students and scholars.

We call on all colleges and universities to take concrete steps to support students and scholars at risk. At a moment when the future of higher education and free speech are in peril, these institutions have obligations beyond doing no harm. If they fail to protect all students and scholars, they jeopardize the safety and academic freedom of all students and scholars.

Our AAUP chapters are playing a critical role in ensuring the safety of our university and college community members. We include below a set of immediate demands that your chapter may consider making via petition, open letter, or high participation meeting with decision-makers.

As we have already noted in a public letter to the offices of general counsels, colleges and universities should not turn over personal student information in response to Title VI investigations.
Colleges and universities should make a clear commitment to avoid voluntary cooperation or information sharing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal agencies charged with facilitating deportation or other forms of immigration enforcement.
Colleges and universities should make a clear commitment to not comply with Section 3 of the expanded Executive Order 13899, which calls for universities to “monitor for and report activities by alien students and staff relevant to those grounds and for ensuring that such reports about aliens lead, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to investigations and, if warranted, actions to remove such aliens.”
Colleges and universities should keep international students enrolled in the event of visa revocation, legal status termination, detention, and/or deportation. Some chapters have already successfully advocated to make this happen.
Colleges and universities should allow these international students and scholars to continue their studies and research remotely, if necessary.
Colleges and universities should ensure that graduate students and workers whose enrollment is contingent upon funding through graduate teaching appointments or fellowships can continue their coursework, research, and teaching appointments. This may mean that the college or university covers the increased cost of assigning additional teaching appointments to a graduate student not residing in the United States.
Colleges and universities should devote resources to communicating reliable, timely information to international students and scholars, including immediate notification of changes in their legal status.
Colleges and universities should provide and pay for legal counsel for those students and scholars whose visas have been revoked.
Colleges and universities should work swiftly and affirmatively—through lawsuits, if necessary—to stop the termination of legal status of students and scholars without any due process.

Your dedication and hard work on behalf of our students and communities will help protect them from the Trump administration’s terrifying orders.

In solidarity,

Todd Wolfson, President
Veena Dubal, General Counsel
Rana Jaleel, Committee A Chair

April 5, 2025 FROM AAUP Two Days to Fight Back: April 8 and 17 Naomi Klein describes the attacks by the Trump administration as a “shock doctrine maneuver”: when “a state of crisis [and] disorientation is harnessed to push through a pre-existing agenda that serves elites.” In our recent organizing call for theApril 8 Kill the Cuts National Day of Action the author and activist said that after decades-long attacks pushing privatization and austerity in higher ed and more broadly, “there’s not much left to cut except the beating heart…it’s the same game with more consequential results.”

It is precisely these very consequential results—coming in the form of attacks on research and higher education, the weaponization of federal funding, and the broad efforts to silence faculty, students, and staff—that we are joining together with allies across higher ed and labor for two upcoming national days of action: April 8 for the Kill the Cuts National Day of Action and on April 17 for the Day of Action for Higher Education.

April 8: Kill the Cuts Day of Action

This Tuesday, April 8, is our opportunity to fight back against the authoritarian attacks on higher ed by the Trump administration and say no to cuts that decimate lifesaving research and education. You can register, join, or create an April 8 action here.

If you missed our Kill the Cuts planning call, watch it here.

April 17: Day of Action for Higher Education

Building on our growing momentum, on April 17 there will be actions at more than fifty campuses (and counting!) across the country—including rallies, walkouts, teach-ins, and membership drives—as part of the National Day of Action for Higher Education. Can you organize an event on your campus?

On April 17 there will also be a great lineup of Day of Action workshops led by leading academic organizers, including workshops on sanctuary campuses, how to cancel student and university debt, how to protect DEI at your institution, how to challenge and abolish interfering governing boards, and how to speak up for Palestine on your campus. Check out the full set of panels and register now.

The April 17 Day of Action will culminate with a two-hour teach-in at 7 p.m. ET, featuring leaders from AAUP, Higher Ed Labor United, the Massachusetts Teacher Association, and other allies. RSVP here.

Let’s make good trouble—see you on April 8 and April 17.

In solidarity,
Rotua Lumbantobing, AAUP vice president
Danielle Aubert, AAUP secretary-treasurer

P.S. On April 14, all AAUP members are invited to register for a free screening of The Palestine Exception. NYU-AAUP is hosting an in-person screening at 6:30 p.m. ET at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Film Center with a post-screening panel moderated by Karim Mattar that will include the directors, Jan Haaken and Jennifer Ruth, as well as Katherine Franke, Sherena Razek, and Yezen Saadeh. AAUP chapters are warmly invited to host viewing parties at their institutions. Zoom registration for the film will also provide access to a livestream of the panel.

April 1, 2025 FROM AAUP Planning Call Is Tonight: Rep. Pramila Jayapal is attending A quick update: Washington Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal is joining our Kill the Cuts protest planning call tonight at 6 p.m. ET / 3 pm. PT. RSVP here.

She’ll be joining author and activist Naomi Klein and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, cochair of the Poor People’s Campaign, plus AAUP leaders and our allies at UAW and HELU, to help get us ready for the April 8 nationwide Kill the Cuts day of action.

We’re fighting back against the authoritarian forces attacking higher education. You have a real role to play. Join today’s call because together we can win this fight.

See you tonight. RSVP here.

Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

P.S. Message from 3/31 below.

Dear Peggy,

We’ve sued Trump in court, and now we are taking one very clear message to our campuses, cities, and the streets—> Kill the Cuts.

On Tuesday, April 8, higher ed workers across the country will stand up and demand NO cuts to education and life-saving research. The Kill the Cuts Day of Action is our opportunity to fight back against the authoritarian attacks on higher ed by the Trump administration.

Join our national action planning call today, April 1, at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT to help build for April 8.

We’re bringing together some of the best organizing minds in higher ed labor and beyond to help plan the Kill the Cuts actions, including author and activist Naomi Kleinand Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, cochair of the Poor People’s Campaign. We will also be joined by leaders from the United Auto Workers, Higher Ed Labor United, and the Federal Workers Alliance.

For the April 8 Kill the Cuts Day of Action, we’re working with all AAUP chapters to conduct as many actions as possible throughout the country. Organize your action or find one near you here.

See you tonight at 6 p.m. ET. Register here.

In solidarity,
Todd Wolfson, AAUP president

P.S. One more thing: Can you forward this email to a friend or colleague who’s not a member, tell them about the call, and ask them to join the AAUP? This fight is going to take all of us.

March 27, 2025 FROM AAUP Member Meeting to Kill the Cuts and Defend Higher Ed Things are moving fast and we have two very important dates on the horizon. Together with Labor for Higher Ed, we’re helping lead the Kill the Cuts Day of Action on April 8. Then on April 17, we’re joining with our allies at the Coalition for Action in Higher Education for a national day of rallies, teach-ins, and events to defend higher ed workers and to protect our rights to teach, learn, and research.

What can you do? Plan and then act.

Tonight: Join our all-AAUP member meeting tonight at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT. We will get ready for the upcoming days of action, discuss lawsuits we filed this week against the Trump administration, and hear from you about the issues, harms, challenges, and victories in your chapters. Register here.
April 1: We will be holding a National Action Call at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT to prepare for the upcoming Kill the Cuts Day of Action on April 8. Naomi Klein will join us on the call to clarify what’s at stake in this moment. Register here.
April 8: Kill the Cuts Day of Action! We’re working with all AAUP chapters to conduct as many actions as possible throughout the country. Organize your action and find out more here.
April 17: The next moment for us to stand up for higher education is the April 17 Day of Action. You can register your event and sign up to join the virtual actions here. The Coalition for Action in Higher Education next planning call is March 28 at 3 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. PT. Register here.

While AAUP members are taking action across the country, we’re also busy throwing up as many legal roadblocks as we can. On the legal front:

—We have sued the Trump administration on behalf of our members for illegally revoking $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University in an unprecedented assault on the First Amendment and academic freedom.

—Alongside the Middle East Studies Association and three AAUP chapters, AAUP national filed suit to protect free speech rights across colleges and universities from the chilling effect of the Trump administration’s immigration deportation policies.

—With the AFT, the AAUP and a coalition including educators, school districts, and unions filed a legal action against the Trump administration to stop the dismantling of the Department of Education and mass firings that will decimate the crucial services that benefit every person residing in the US.

To learn more and take action, join tonight’s all-member call here.

The moment is now – see you tonight and all throughout April.

In solidarity,
Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

March 26, 2025 FROM AFT New ‘American Educator’ on protecting our kids The new American Educator is the first since Donald Trump was inaugurated, and in his first 60-plus days he has been all the things those who voted against him feared—and he has not done the things to improve people’s lives that those who voted for him hoped.

Indeed, as the uncertainty around the economy continues—as does the full-on assault on education, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security—it appears that President Trump and his chief enabler, Elon Musk, are taking a wrecking ball to all the progress of the 21st century. And with it, they want to take down our democracy.

We are a crucial part of the fight back. Our union stands at the intersection of two pillars of democracy and opportunity—public education and the labor movement—that give Americans from all walks of life a shot at a better life.

As I describe in this issue, the federal role in education—the role that Trump wants to abolish—is one that levels up opportunity. The federal Department of Education doesn’t run schools; what it does is try to fill in the gaps, helping the 26 million kids living in poverty, 12 million career and technical education students and 7.6 million students in special education. Gutting federal support for education will break that promise; either students will lose services or states and communities will have to raise taxes to maintain those services.

Why do extremists want to destroy public education and higher education? They fear what we do—the teaching of critical thinking, of honest history, of pluralism—because their brand of greed, power and privilege cannot survive in a democracy of diverse, educated citizens.

This attack on our kids’ futures is wrong. But we’re fighting back with parents and other community members. In the courts, and the court of public opinion, we will continue to press Congress to protect our kids and strengthen—not destroy—public education.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President

Spring 2025 American Educator

Protect Our Kids
By Randi Weingarten

Union Highlights: Protecting Our Immigrant and Refugee Students

Fighting for a Better Future: Labor and Education Policy
By Randi Weingarten

The Kids Are Not OK, But Education Innovations Provide Hope
By Carol Graham

Marching to Their Own Beat: How Music Education Helps Students Find Purpose—and Joy
By Fedrick C. Ingram

The Right to Rap: How Hip Hop Helps Students Heal from Trauma
By J.C. Hall

Back to School: Supporting and Engaging Students to Reduce Chronic Absence
Q&A with Zeph Capo, Hedy N. Chang, Denise Forte, and Nat Malkus

Fighting for Safer Social Media
Q&A with Arielle Geismar, Zamaan Qureshi, and Frances Haugen

Preventing the Harms of Social Media
By Melinda Person

Legislating Safeguards
By Marisa Shea

Learning to Verify
By Mike Caulfield and Sam Wineburg

Ask the Cognitive Scientist: Understanding Disruptive Behavior in the Classroom
By R. J. R. Blair and Daniel T. Willingham

Bucking Burnout: How AFT Locals Are Meaningfully Improving Educator Well-Being
By Harriet B. Fox, Laura Andersen, Ashton Fandel, and Katie LaPointe

Betrayed No More: How Morally Centered Schools Reduce Educators’ and Students’ Distress
By Wendy Dean and Rachel Schaffer

What We’re Reading: Get the Facts on Gun Violence

Share My Lesson: Talking to Students About Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship

March 22, 2025 FROM AAUP Trump’s Immigration Actions: What to Know Please join us Thursday, March 27, at 3:00 p.m. Pacific time/6:00 p.m. Eastern, for a webinar cosponsored by the AAUP and Middle East Studies Association.

Deportation law specialist Marc Van Der Hout will share information about current immigration actions and the overall political landscape. Members will learn about the rights of legal permanent residents (green card holders), visa holders, and US citizens, and be empowered to advocate and protect both themselves and coworkers.

In solidarity,

Veena Dubal
AAUP General Counsel

March 17, 2025 FROM AAUP The Time to Protest Is Now Meet. Plan. Protest. Repeat.

In the face of cowardice and capitulation by administrators like those at Columbia University, the outrageous assault on the Department of Education, and the weaponizing of higher ed funding by the Trump administration, the moment to take action and hit the streets is now.

Join our upcoming leader and member meeting to help plan two upcoming national days of action. On April 8, we will join the “Fund Don’t Freeze” day of action to send a clear message: Trump’s cuts kill, and we’re standing together to protect our healthcare, research, and education. On April 17, we will unite with allies in teach-ins, rallies, and campus actions nationwide for a Day of Action for Higher Education—joining together to defend the freedom to teach and learn and uphold our right to dissent.

We want to work with you to organize public, visible actions on your campus or in your community. Start planning now! Bring your ideas and questions to our upcoming all-member and all-leader meetings.

RSVP to the AAUP leader meeting on March 20 at 7 p.m. ET here.

RSVP to the AAUP member meeting on March 27 at 7 p.m. ET here.

The April 8 “Fund Don’t Freeze – Trump’s Cuts Kill: Protect Our Healthcare, Research, and Education” day of action will bring together our fellow unions and higher ed organizations under the banner of Labor for Higher Education. We will say no to federal cuts that pose an existential threat to our work and will have long-lasting impacts on everyone in our country. Join the leader meeting and member meeting to learn more.

On April 17, AAUP members and our allies will rally to defend the freedom to teach and learn and send a clear message: Higher ed workers are the best advocates for shaping the present and future of higher education. The AAUP has joined the Coalition for Action in Higher Ed (CAHE) for a Day of Action for Higher Education that will feature rallies, teach-ins, walkouts, tabling, and union membership drives. Let CAHE know what you’re planning for April 17! Record your event here. You can also join a planning call for April 17 with CAHE on March 28 at 3 p.m. ET. RSVP here.

The more we prepare, strategize, and learn with fellow AAUP members, the more effective and powerful our voices will be—so our member meetings are just the start. Here’s what else is on the agenda this month:

March 20, 3 p.m. ET: An AFT-led webinar “Understanding the Trump Budget Proposal in the Higher Education Context” will examine the barrage of executive actions targeting higher education. RSVP here.
March 24, 3 p.m. ET: PEN America Digital Safety Series: What Can I Do to Help My Colleagues? How to Be an Ally Online. Register here.

You can find all of our upcoming AAUP and partner events on our website.

Through a national campaign grounded in mass participation and coordinated strategy, AAUP members and our allies have the opportunity to take the lead in asserting a progressive, worker-centered vision for our future. Let’s go!

See you at the leader and member meetings!

March 11, 2025 FROM AAUP What You Need to Know About Noncitizen Rights We are alarmed by the ICE detention of former Columbia University graduate student and legal permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil for what appears to be First Amendment-protected speech. And we forcefully condemn Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement on X that the federal government will be revoking the visas and green cards of immigrants based on their constitutionally protected speech and association.

This open threat combined with Mr. Khalil’s detention has stoked a great deal of understandable fear among our noncitizen members. Green card revocation is rare absent a criminal conviction, and we believe these actions and threats to be unprecedented and illegal. Indeed, late Monday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Mr. Khalil’s deportation.

Over the past six weeks, we have been working with you and your AAUP chapter leaders to proactively prepare for these events. Here are the resources you can find on our Political Attacks on Higher Education web page:

ICE-Flyer Download

aftmembersonvisas Download

Issue-Brief-Immigration-Related-Campus-Concerns-2025 Download

Know Your Rights materials: https://aflcio.org/about/programs/adelante-we-rise/immigration-resources/know-your-rights-materials-immigrant-workers?link_id=8&can_id=3dad4564b2d56992275e09dc2cce6f9d&source=email-what-you-need-to-know-about-noncitizen-rights&email_referrer=email_2650863&email_subject=what-you-need-to-know-about-noncitizen-rights

family_preparedness_plan Download

As these events continue to unfold, we recommend that noncitizen faculty, students, and staff who believe that they may be similarly targeted by the federal government take the following precautionary measures:

Contact an immigration attorney who has experience with deportation defense. For recommendations, you may consider contacting your local chapter or affiliate of theNational Lawyers Guild, American Civil Liberties Union, or Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Review your rights. You are under no legal obligation to open the door to immigration authorities absent a JUDICIAL WARRANT (that is, a warrant signed by a judge). Please familiarize yourself with the difference between a judicial warrant and an administrative warrant.

Finally, we call on higher education stakeholders with US citizenship to close ranks around, and demand that college and university administrators and governing boards affirmatively protect, our noncitizen colleagues and students.

We will be in touch with more information in the coming days and weeks.

In solidarity,

Veena Dubal
General Counsel, AAUP

March 6, 2025 FROM AAUP Travel Ban Alert Recent news reports suggest that the Trump Administration may implement a new travel ban (primarily targeted at Muslim-majority countries, but possibly also including Venezuela and Haiti) as early as next week.

If you are currently living or traveling in a country that might find itself on this list, we believe it is prudent for you to make plans to return to the United States as soon as possible. US citizens have the right to re-entry, but the vetting process may be extreme and chaotic. If you reside in the US but are a national of Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Palestine/Gaza, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, or Yemen, we believe you should consider not leaving the US. If travel abroad is necessary, please be in touch with an immigration attorney prior to leaving the US.

While we do not know if such a travel ban will be implemented, when it may be implemented, or what countries will be included on the list, the administration’s preference for sudden decision making compels us to send this message.

March 4, 2025 FROM AAUP In ongoing actions to respond to the restrictions being attempted through executive orders, the AAUP is asking AAUP members to report:

1) Examples of grant funding that has been paused or terminated since the executive orders were issued on January 20, 2025

2) Examples of changes to programs, teaching, research, titles, etc. linked to either the dear colleague letter or to the executive orders.

Email to anisenson@aaup.org

Additionally, there are two surveys underway to gather responses from AAUP members, in order to ascertain whether there are bases for legal action by the AAUP on behalf of its membership.

Survey on impacts of DOGE cuts: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdfq1NPvMZCfw89K7Bd9nkUFUFgB-Mei1yR7jYFgz76PIUGzA/viewform?usp=header

Survey on impacts of deportation executive order: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScHVEElq5fVSXPqvWZ827plJZaQtcleCYu2Sc67Mf9papxLmA/viewform?usp=header

Information submitted by AAUP members on both forms will be treated as confidential.

Finally, please see this memorandum DEI Programs Are Lawful Under Federal Civil Rights Laws and Supreme Court Precedent, which can be shared and used as a resource in responding to changes being proposed at all all levels.

March 1, 2025 FROM AFT March 4 Day of Action Virtual Recap We are mobilizing our AFTvotes Activists around the country in response to the recent attacks on public education. Parents, students, educators, nurses, public employees and community allies alike are all uniting to fight the Trump administration’s devastating cuts.

Can you imagine a world without student clubs, sports or other before- and after-school extracurriculars?

Can you imagine a world where our already overcrowded classrooms are doubled in size?

That’s the world Donald Trump and Elon Musk are trying to create.

But we won’t let them.

We are fighting back on March 4 to Protect Our Kids with actions across the country. From Puerto Rico to Alaska and everywhere in between, our affiliates are making sure there’s a Protect Our Kids event happening.

Can I count on you on March 4 to Protect Our Kids?

Yes, I’d like to find an event near me!

As part of the March 4 Protect Our Kids Day of Action, we are hosting a virtual get-together for our AFTvotes Activists that evening to talk about how we are staying engaged and acting locally. And for those who are interested, we’ll stay on during Trump’s remarks to Congress after our debrief.

Will you join our March 4 Day of Action Virtual Recap?

I’ll be there!

We are not going to sit idly by while public education is slashed and kids suffer, because we know we are stronger when we fight back together.

See you on March 4!

The AFTvotes Activist Team

February 22, 2025 FROM AFT Add your name: Stop the attacks on Medicaid Last week, the Senate passed a budget with huge cuts to Medicaid and other key programs, in order to fund mass deportations. And this week, the House of Representatives will be voting on even bigger cuts to Medicaid to fund tax cuts for billionaires and pay for a new federal school voucher program. This is not an exaggeration; that’s their plan.

Congressional action will take center stage in the next few weeks. Please send a letter to your members of Congress opposing any cuts to Medicaid.

Inflation is going up, consumer confidence is going down, and Americans don’t think President Trump has done enough to lower the cost of everyday essentials. Yet the president’s allies in the House and Senate are proposing budgets that will make life harder for working people. And why? To find trillions for tax cuts for billionaires.

Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, student loans and more are all under attack—and we will fight any attempts to take funding away from kids and communities who simply want a chance to live the American dream. Americans, across party lines, are becoming wary of the priorities of this administration and the GOP Congress.

Cuts to Medicaid are deeply unpopular, and many House Republicans don’t want to vote for a bill that contains Medicaid cuts. Regardless of whether you’re in a blue, red or purple district, your representatives need to hear that Medicaid cuts are not acceptable.

There are 70 million people who get their healthcare through Medicaid. These cuts to Medicaid would mean many kids at our schools will lose access to dental care, doctor visits and more. They would mean some of our active cancer patients will have to stop treatment. They would mean seniors and people with disabilities will lose long-term care services—services often provided by AFT members. In addition to the impact on our students and patients, these cuts would mean the elimination of healthcare jobs.

Regardless of whether you’re in a blue, red or purple district, your representatives need to hear that Medicaid cuts are not acceptable. Send a letter now.

Thank you.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten

AFT President

February 22, 2025 AAUP A Win for the AAUP, Higher Ed, and Our Communities AAUP members have won a crucial victory. Last night, in a case in which the AAUP was a plaintiff, the US District Court for the District of Maryland granted a preliminary nationwide injunction on key parts of a pair of executive orders issued by President Trump. The orders broadly and in vague terms seek to end diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities among federal government grantees and contractors, including virtually all colleges and universities.

Members like you played an essential role in this win by sharing your stories about how the executive orders affected you. In its decision, the court explicitly cited the evidence provided by courageous AAUP members when it found that there were “concrete actual injuries suffered by Plaintiffs and their members” as a result of the unlawful actions of the administration and that AAUP members and their institutions would “be forced to either restrict their legal activities and expression that are arguably related to DEI, or forgo federal funding altogether.”

The decision was in response to a suit filed by Democracy Forward on behalf of four organizations representing different affected groups: the AAUP (representing faculty members), the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (representing their diversity officer members), the City of Baltimore (representing a public sector grantee), and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (representing a private sector grantee). We sought this temporary restraining order to prevent the Trump administration from using federal grants and contracts as leverage to force colleges and universities to end all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, whether federally funded or not, and from terminating any “equity-related” federal grants or contracts.

As our brief explained, the orders are unconstitutional, usurping congressional power and violating First and Fifth Amendment rights. Absent preliminary relief, significant and irreparable harm would have been caused to our members, their students, and communities. Most importantly, the government could have used the threat of terminating billions of dollars of grants and contracts, as well as the threat of investigations and enforcement actions, to force faculty and universities to cease virtually all of their legally permissible work relating to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

The AAUP’s membership includes many potentially affected faculty: those whose work focuses on Black studies; Latino studies; Asian studies; gender or sexual orientation identities; diversity, equity, and inclusion specifically; environmental justice; and other subject matter targeted by the president’s anti-DEIA executive orders. We also represent a significant number of members who focus on medical and other scientific research related to whether and how race and ethnicity affect health outcomes. Beyond AAUP members, students and communities would be harmed by the termination of the higher education grants: work on female reproductive health would be curtailed; assistance to help students with disabilities and from underrepresented populations graduate and find careers would be undermined; and efforts to strengthen research capacity at historically Black colleges and universities would be set back.

The judge noted that our lawsuit is likely to succeed on the claim that enforcement actions against companies and universities would violate constitutionally protected free speech and wrote: “That is textbook viewpoint-based discrimination . . . . The government’s threat of enforcement is not just targeted towards enforcement of federal law. Rather, the provision expressly targets, and threatens, the expression of views supportive of equity, diversity and inclusion.”

This is one battle in a long fight but it’s an important win and a demonstration that when we work together, we can win.

More information:

The orders in question are titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” and “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.”

AAUP Joins Lawsuit to Block Trump’s Unlawful and Unconstitutional DEI Orders

Fact sheet on Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (AAUP Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom)

Fact sheet on Executive Order Weaponizing Civil Rights Law(AAUP Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom)

February 19, 2025 FROM AAUP March 4 Webinar and March 5 CFP Deadline We’re writing with reminders about two ways you can engage with the AAUP’s work on academic freedom.

Webinar: Exploring Faculty Perspectives on Academic Freedom and Civil Discourse
Tuesday, March 4, 2:00 p.m. Eastern time
Learn about findings from the recent report Academic Freedom and Civil Discourse in Higher Education: A National Study of Faculty Attitudes and Perceptions, based on a national survey conducted by AAC&U in partnership with the AAUP and NORC at the University of Chicago. Webinar presenters Ashley Finley, Nancy MacLean, and Elizabeth Ramsay will discuss faculty experiences and attitudes on freedom of expression, self-censorship, and civil discourse, providing actionable strategies and key recommendations for colleges and universities to deepen their commitments to academic freedom and the common good. Register here.

Call for Papers: Philanthropy and Academic Freedom
Submissions due by Wednesday, March 5
The AAUP’s Journal of Academic Freedom invites submissions for the 2025 volume of scholarly articles that address the impact of large private donations on academic freedom and the educational mission of colleges and universities. See the complete call for papers, submission information, and links to past volumes at https://www.aaup.org/CFP. Although we will consider any eligible submission relevant to the journal’s core focus on academic freedom, we will give priority to those that address any of the following topics:

Higher education as a site of struggle between private and public interests

Impacts of private donors on academic freedom in determining priorities and policies for universities, colleges, and departments

State and federal oversight of public universities and public and private funding

Antitax measures that have limited public financing of public education, undermined fiscal soundness, and increased dependence on philanthropy

How high-impact research, student protests, or manufactured controversies affect public sentiments about higher education

Political, economic, and cultural analyses of the impact of private financing on colleges and universities

The influence of philanthropy on athletic operations, advertising, and academics

Student campaigns to compel institutions (and their foundations) to disclose and divest from investments tied to human rights or environmental violations

Efforts by faculty governance bodies to compel disclosure of conflicts of interest between donations and the educational or ethical mission of the institution

Faculty and student divestment and boycott campaigns that aim to align investment, procurement, and contract policies with institutional missions

Tax policies, tax rebates, and discussions about the status of philanthropic gifts and funds contributed to public institutions

Land-grant universities, as legacies of settler colonialism, and the status of “public” lands, buildings, and monuments related to higher education

Administrators, boards of trustees, and their relations with donors

Climate denialism and fossil fuel interests

February 16, 2025 FROM AFT March 4 actions to protect kids and public schools On Tuesday, March 4, I hope you will take part in actions happening across America calling on lawmakers to protect our kids and to strengthen, not decimate, our public schools. I wanted to invite you to a webinar this coming Wednesday, Feb. 19, that describes how we are fighting back against attacks on kids and schools, and how you can help to stand up and coordinate the actions on March 4, when we’ll march forth for our public schools and to protect our kids.

Affiliates across the country will be participating in actions, rallies, and events to protect our kids and show our support for public education.

On Wednesday at 7p.m. Eastern, we’ll share resources and hear from AFT members already committed to our day of action. Please register for it here.

The stakes are high. President Trump and Elon musk are swinging a wrecking ball at public education. Our kids risk losing special education services, extra academic support for students living in poverty, mental health services, after-school programs, and nobody wants Elon Musk rifling through private personal data. That’s why we are gearing up to show the public and elected officials that we’re here to protect our kids and the public schools that provide them opportunities for a better life.

A new poll from the Associated Press came out just a few days ago that demonstrates Americans don’t want cuts to public education. What President Trump and Musk are trying to do is unpopular. So it’s up to us to show up for our kids and our schools. We need this day of action to include events nationwide, which is why we want to meet to discuss it now.

On March 4, we’ll march forth for our public schools and to protect our kids.

Please join us for our webinar on Wednesday to fight for the public schools our families need.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President

February 13, 2025 FROM AAUP Spring Trainings and Events Join us this spring for our virtual workshops! Full workshop descriptions, as well as information about dates, times, and registration, are below. Please note that all times are listed in Eastern time.

FEBRUARY

Thursday, February 27, 1–3 p.m.
How to Have an Organizing Conversation
A workshop for members of advocacy and bargaining chapters. Join us to review the principles of a structured organizing conversation, do role-plays, and practice answering hard questions.
Register here.

MARCH

Thursday, March 13, 1–2 p.m.
Observer Training: How to Support Your Colleagues in a Disciplinary Meeting
A workshop for members of advocacy chapters and bargaining chapters. Members will look at the important steps to take when accompanying a colleague to a disciplinary meeting in a union and nonunion context.
Register here.

In addition, check out our Summer Institute home page ahead of this year’s gathering. The 2025 Summer Institute will be held July 17–20 at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. The Summer Institute, offered jointly this year by the AAUP and the AFT, is the premier training program for faculty advocates and one of the best resources available for learning the practical skills needed to build and run successful chapters.

Finally, you can check out all of our upcoming events here.

In solidarity,
Monica Owens
AAUP Field Service Representative

February 12, 2025 FROM AAUP On Institutional Neutrality

Today, the AAUP released the new statement On Institutional Neutrality. As college and university communities begin to suffer the consequences of unchecked power, the statement reaffirms that institutional neutrality is neither a necessary condition for academic freedom nor categorically incompatible with it—and that respect for faculty voices and shared governance procedures is essential to sound decision-making and the protection of those who dissent.Read On Institutional Neutrality. Listen to an AAUP Presents podcast with the statement’s coauthors. See also our “FAQs on Institutional Neutrality.”Challenging the notion that institutional neutrality is “a timeless principle with a fixed meaning,” the statement explores the history of the concept and the interpretation of the University of Chicago’s 1967 Kalven Report, produced amid widespread protests over the Vietnam War on US campuses and invoked now as an authoritative source by those calling for neutrality in response to today’s most pressing political and social issues. “A commitment to neutrality,” the new statement declares, “is not some magic wand that conjures freedom. Calls for neutrality instead provide an opportunity to consider how various practices of an institution—not only its speech or silence but also its actions and policies—might promote a more robust freedom of teaching, research, and intramural and extramural speech.” Formulated by a subcommittee of Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, On Institutional Neutrality asserts that principles of academic freedom and shared governance should be chief considerations in the issuing of institutional and departmental statements and in decisions about financial investments and campus protest policies. Its conclusion notes, “A university’s decision to speak, or not; to limit its departments or other units from speaking; to divest from investments that conflict with its mission; or to limit protest in order to promote other forms of speech are all choices that might either promote or inhibit academic freedom and thus must be made with an eye to those practical results, not to some empty conception of neutrality. The defense of academic freedom has never been a neutral act.”The AAUP urges universities not to hide behind the pretense of remaining neutral in times of conflict or crisis. As the second Trump administration continues its assaults on academic freedom—and on critical research that saves lives, advances science and innovation, and benefits communities in the United States and around the world—neutrality is neither possible nor viable.What You Can Do Learn more about political attacks on higher education and resources for fighting back.Sign up for upcoming events on building organizing skills, understanding faculty perspectives on academic freedom and civil discourse, and securing your digital safety. Share the statement On Institutional Neutrality and our “FAQs on Institutional Neutrality” with your academic networks.In solidarity, Rana Jaleel
Chair, AAUP Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from American Association of University Professors, please click here.

February 11, 2025 Follow-Up to Friday’s Member Meeting Thanks for registering for Friday’s AAUP member meeting! The ongoing attacks on higher ed—among other things—are severe. We have a lot of work to do and we are getting down to it and glad to have you in the fight with us. We are mobilizing in response to the caps on indirect costs on grants across the NIH, freezes of funding for crucial research, and threats to academic workers across the country.

Here is what is coming up right away:

This Thursday, February 13 at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT / 6 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. PT: National Higher Education Strategy Call with higher ed workers from across multiple international unions to discuss an escalation strategy of distributed mass action. Register here and share info widely.
February 19: National Day of Action.Across the country higher ed workers will mobilize to say loudly, “Hands off our healthcare, our research, our jobs.” Actions are being planned in more than a dozen cities and are looking for more locations. Visit labor4highered.org to find an action
February 25: Rally and Press Conference in Washington, DC, with national union leaders and affected workers to continue to bring pressure on the federal government to cease its attacks. More to come.

We threw out a lot of information and requests during the call and promised to follow up in writing. Here it is:

Here is a fact sheet on dealing with ICE on your campus.
On immigration and academic freedom matters, we need to know what is happening on your campus so we can legally and strategically respond. Please let us know what is going on by using this intake form.
We are plaintiffs in a Democracy Forward lawsuit challenging two executive orders that chill speech. In order to pursue this and other possible defenses effectively, we need information about the specifics of what is happening on your campus with either grant restrictions or with limits on DEI work. Please let us know using this form.
More resources about defending higher education in the current crisis are here.

The long haul:

The work of building power and infrastructure to defend and advance quality higher education requires long-term organizing and skill building over years. Check out our Organize Every Campus campaign here. Sign up for other upcoming trainings here, and mark your calendar for the AAUP/AFT Summer Institute on July 17–20 at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

In solidarity,
Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
Rotua Lumbantobing, AAUP Vice President
Danielle Aubert, AAUP Secretary-Treasurer

February 5, 2025 FROM AFT Stop Elon Musk from stealing Americans’ tax & other private data why is President Trump allowing Elon Musk to muck around in people’s private financial data?

It appears Musk has hacked into millions of Americans’ personal information and now has access to their taxes, Social Security, student debt and financial aid filings. Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency was not created by Congress—it is operating with zero transparency and in clear violation of federal law.

This is outrageous, and it must be stopped. Tell Congress and the Trump administration to stop Musk from stealing our personal information.

This violation of our privacy is causing American families across the country to fear for our privacy, safety and dignity. If this goes unchecked, Musk could steal our private data to help in making cuts to vital government programs that our families depend on—and to make it easier to cut taxes for himself and other billionaires.

As I said earlier this week on MSNBC and CNN, no one elected Elon Musk and no one agreed to give him access to sensitive financial data. We must have guardrails to stop this unlawful invasion of privacy.

Click here and tell Congress: Stop Musk from mucking around in our personal data.

Thanks for all that you do.

In solidarity,Randi Weingarten
AFT President

February 4, 2025 FROM AAUP AAUP Joins Lawsuit to Block Trump’s Unlawful DEI Orders Yesterday evening, the AAUP, along with the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education and other partners filed a lawsuit to block Trump’s unlawful and unconstitutional DEI executive orders, which threaten academic freedom and access to higher education.

The lawsuit, which can be read in full here, argues that Trump’s orders exceed his legal authority, are overly vague, and fail to define such terms as “DEI,” “equity,” and “illegal DEIA.” Without any definitive criteria or information, the orders open academic institutions to the risk of lawsuits for policies that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The AAUP has long advocated for diversity in higher education, including a diverse faculty and student body. The Association’s recent statement On Eliminating Discrimination and Achieving Equality in Higher Education focuses on diversity in faculty employment within an integrated understanding of how to move toward the broader goal of inclusion and equality in higher education.

January 30, 2025 FROM AFT Funding Freeze The last two weeks have been unprecedented, with the new president essentially punishing his enemies and rewarding his friends.But the last two days have been even more chaotic and counterproductive. On Monday, the Trump administration froze all federal aid to communities. Yesterday they clarified, and today they walked back their freeze for things like school breakfast and Medicaid because of the pushback from people like us. We need to remind everyone in Congress—Democrats and Republicans—that what happened is not OK. Not only is the new president violating the law by pausing funding that Congress already passed, he’s also hurting people in every corner of the country, including in red states.

Click here to send a letter to your members of Congress and demand that they stand up to this funding freeze.Let’s be clear about the chaos and harm Trump’s freeze will do unless Congress stops him:Medicaid portals have been shut down, jeopardizing healthcare for people across the country, and they will continue to be unreliable.Kids who rely on school meals will go hungry and families who rely on SNAP will face even steeper challenges to break free from poverty.Students and adults with disabilities could lose critical funding. Essential services like public safety, disaster relief and food inspections are at risk.Programs like Head Start, K-12 and higher education supports, and child nutrition are also on the chopping block.National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health grants to universities and medical schools fund important research on curing cancer, fighting diabetes and reducing opioid addiction. This research benefits all Americans.The new president and his party rode to power promising to lower the cost of living for Americans, but by cutting off vital services, they are doing the exact opposite. Families will suffer, communities will struggle, and our kids will pay the price.Democrats and Republicans in Congress know that this will hurt Americans, and they all need to hear from YOU to reinforce that message.

Send a letter to Congress demanding it takes immediate action to stop this funding freeze. Click here to send a message.Together, we can protect kids, families and the essential services our communities rely on. We must stand up for what’s right and make sure Congress knows where we stand.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten, AFT President

January 28, 2025 FROM AAUP AAUP Member Meeting: Join Us to Defend Higher Ed The attacks have come. The Trump administration has taken aim at federal research funding that fuels the academy, withholding all federal grants and loans, and firing the National Labor Relations Board officials who adjudicate our rights as academic workers.

As we develop our plans to defend higher education, we want to hear from you. We will be holding member meetings on Friday, January 31, and Friday, February 7, both at 3 p.m. ET/ 12 p.m. PT. In each call, we will review the week’s developments and plan for what’s ahead. Please join us for one or both of the meetings!

RSVP to the January 31, 3 p.m. ET, meeting here.

RSVP to the February 7, 3 p.m. ET, meeting here.

These meetings will be ongoing through the winter and spring as we work to strengthen our chapters, our work as the AAUP, and higher ed.

In solidarity,
Todd Wolfson, AAUP president
Rotua Lumbantobing, AAUP vice president
Danielle Aubert, AAUP secretary-treasurer

P.S. If you’ve been impacted by the freeze on work done and funded by the National Institutes of Health, please take this survey by our allies at Higher Ed Labor United so we can learn more and prepare a response.

January 28, 2025 FROM AFT Urgent Town Hall: We Protect Kids in an Era of Escalating Immigration Enforcement In the last few days, the new president has tested his authority in unprecedented ways. First, it was rescinding any number of longstanding policies, including one that protected certain areas—such as schools, hospitals and churches—from immigration enforcement. Now, he is putting a stop on all federal funding for core services to Americans, including funding for education (IDEA, Title I, meals), policing and other core services. This will hurt our members and students and, as Sen. Chuck Schumer has said, is illegal. Congress passed all these appropriations.

We are working right now on a plan to push back to make sure these essential public services are funded. I want to invite you to an urgent town hall we’re having this week on yet another issue.

On Thursday, Jan. 30, at 7pm ET, we’re having a town hall for our members and community on the threat of ICE in schools and hospitals. Click here to RSVP.

As you know, President Trump changed federal rules and is now allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers into sensitive locations, including schools, healthcare facilities and social services sites. Last week, I sent a letter to Trump asking him to rescind this rule.

At this town hall, we will examine the impact of the new president’s mass deportation agenda and the harmful consequences of changing the sensitive locations rule. We will try to answer questions about what to do when federal agents show up at schools and hospitals, and we will discuss the AFT’s campaign to protect our kids. Schools and hospitals need to be safe and welcoming for all our kids and families; we seek to keep these spaces free from the fear and trauma of immigration enforcement that disrupts education, endangers health outcomes and traumatizes families.

We have an obligation to protect all of our young people. Right now, so many educators, parents and families—immigrant and nonimmigrant alike—are wondering whether our schools will be safe places for our kids. The fear is palpable.

That’s why we are having this town hall. Please register here.

We are committed to protecting our kids. Trump’s changes have already created a climate of fear. We need to make sure our community knows what the AFT is doing, and give people a chance to get answers.

Please register and submit questions here.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President

November 7, 2024 – AAUP President Todd Wolfson issued the following statement today

Thursday, November 7, 2024 AAUP President Todd Wolfson issued the following statement today.

For the past 110 years, the American Association of University Professors has defended the principles of academic freedom and shared governance in order to ensure higher education’s contribution to the public good. While the results of this presidential election are disappointing, we remain steadfast in our commitment to our principles and ensuring that future generations of Americans are afforded the opportunity that higher education provides.

We are deeply concerned that the ongoing crisis in higher education of declining public funding, ballooning student debt, and attacks on academic freedom, will only be intensified under the incoming administration. Without a thriving, inclusive higher education system that serves the public good, the majority of Americans will be excluded from meaningful participation in our democracy and this country will move backwards.

The AAUP is committed to defending our campuses and the mission of higher education through organizing our communities to face the challenges that lie ahead. Our collective power is needed now more than ever. To that end, we will do everything in our power to protect our institutions, faculty, staff, and students and stand up against those seeking to violate academic freedom and the core principle of higher education conducted for the common good. .