From Kelly Benjamin, AAUP Media and Communications

Just a few of our recent media mentions

Below are the latest AAUP press clips highlighting the phenomenal work your fellow members have been doing to keep academic freedom, shared governance, and the economic security of the profession in the spotlight nationwide. As always, to stay up to date on all things AAUP, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Threads.

AAUP Top Clips:

• “The people who run academic institutions are often embedded in corporate, neoliberal logic. It’s more akin to a business model than one focused on faculty or students.”– Todd Wolfson, president of AAUP-AFT Local 6323 at Rutgers University, quoted in Truthout’s recent piece on high-priced anti-union consultants. Wolfson also penned this piece in The Daily Targum pushing back against Rutgers president Jonathan Holloway’s claim that the university is suffering from severe budget deficits.
• “They’re cutting back on faculty and programs but they’re not doing anything about administrative bloat.” – Tim Brakel, president of the University of Toledo’s AAUP-AFT chapter, on why faculty rallied on campus in the face of a proposed $17 million budget cut.
• A faculty survey conducted by AAUP state conferences in Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina, as well as the United Faculty of Florida, indicates that professors in these red states are increasingly concerned about political interference in higher education and that many are considering leaving their home states. Check out the Chronicle of Higher Education’s excellent coverage here.
• “It’s a really exciting moment for us. We’re sending a clear message that the faculty at ISU want a strong voice to advocate for the needs of our students, this institution, and our colleagues who are dedicated to them both.” – Xiaoying Zhao, assistant professor at Illinois State University, on the recent faculty union filing.
• AAUP-AFT members at Rider University protested the faculty and staff convocation and urged university president Gregory Dell’Omo to resign over potential faculty layoffs.
• Diverse Issues in Higher Education reported that the Gallaudet AAUP chapter conducted an audit of Gallaudet University, revealing how administrative salaries rose by 107 percent while overall spending on academics, including faculty salaries, fell by 6 percent since 2019. The chapter is calling for the university to trim administration, reduce administrative costs, decrease consultant spending, reinvest in academics and faculty salaries, and improve transparency and accountability.
• The president and vice president of the University of Pennsylvania’s AAUP chapter penned an op-ed in the Daily Pennsylvanian urging faculty to say no to Penn’s anti-union campaign.
• “There’s been a culture of fear created and there’s been very little communication from the administration to quell it.” – Karma Chávez of UT Austin’s AAUP chapter on how recent legislation over DEI, tenure, and LGBTQ issues are impacting faculty.
• The University of the Virgin Islands chapter of the AAUP raised concerns over compensation and treatment of UVI employees with the US Senate after a 50 percent faculty turnover rate over the past five years.

In Solidarity,

Kelly Benjamin
AAUP Media and Communications