———- Forwarded message ———
From: The AAUP <communications@aaup.org>
Date: Mon, Sep 1, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Subject: August 2025 Digest of AAUP Events and News

We hope you got a break this summer and are energized for what promises to be an intense fall.

We’re kicking off this month’s digest with an interview with AAUP President Todd Wolfson that lays out what we’re facing and what we need to do: “Higher Ed Alone Cannot Save Democracy.” Take a look, then read on for upcoming events, resources, news, and more.

Upcoming Events

• Monday, September 8, 5–6 p.m. ET: Virtual launch of a powerful new campaign uniting the full strength of the AAUP and AFT to protect higher education from authoritarian attacks. 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. Register here.
• Monday, September 8, 7–8 p.m. ET: Join us for an Organize Every Campus town hall. We’ll discuss our fall organizing strategy and hear from you about challenges and successes on your campus. This event is for AAUP members only. Register early to allow time for membership verification.
• Wednesday, September 10, 7–8 p.m. ET: The Student Borrower Protection Center is hosting a webinar for borrowers who are behind on their federal student loans. The webinar will explain how delinquency and default work and provide borrowers with information about how to prevent default and what to do if you are in default. Register here.
• Thursday, September 11, 7:30–8:30 pm ET: Kick off the new academic year with inspiration and momentum! Join us for a virtual session called “Massachusetts, a Model in the Fight for Higher Ed: State-Based Funding in the Face of Federal Attacks,” celebrating a major victory for public higher education—the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s successful push that led the governor to propose $400 million to backfill cuts to campuses. Register here.
• Monday, September 15, 7-8 p.m. ET: Save the date for an all-AAUP member meeting. RSVP coming next week.
• Thursday, September 18, time TBA: Members of the AAUP‘s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure will present a new report on Title VI. Following discussion, trainers from PARCEO (a community research, resource, and education center) will lead a workshop dedicated to understanding and challenging antisemitism in ways that are grounded in a deep commitment to justice and dignity for all people. Registration link to come.
• Wednesday, September 24, 7–8:30 p.m. ET: Moderated by Jeremiah Chin of the University of Washington, “Forgotten Pasts and Alternative Futures: Indigenous Nations and Higher Education” will explore how Indigenous nations can provide a source of countersovereignty for functions of educational governance historically overseen by the federal government. Cosponsored by the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Education, and the Critical Legal Corrective. Register here.

You can find all upcoming AAUP events here.

Fight for Science Funding

The AAUP is fighting to protect science research funding in the congressional budget process. Federal research investment saves lives, grows the economy, and supports students. Polling shows that most Americans agree. If you’re interested in this work, please log in to our website and take action now. Why go log in to our website to learn more? Correspondence to and from work emails can be accessed by the employer or via public records requests. Plus, some states limit the messages we can send to .edu or .gov emails, so you may be missing out on important AAUP information (learn more in the section below about updating your email).

Updates and Statements

• “AAUP Condemns Abduction and Assault of Chris Smalls.” The AAUP condemns the recent abduction and assault of union activist Chris Smalls by the Israel Defense Forces.
• “AAUP, AFT Leaders Respond to Trump’s Higher Education Admissions Directive.” Statements from AAUP and AFT leaders in response to Trump’s directive requiring colleges and universities to disclose more student data to prove race isn’t being considered in admissions.
• “George Washington AAUP Chapter Responds to Trump DOJ Threats to Academic Freedom.” Statement from GWU-AAUP rejecting the DOJ’s attempt to chill academic debate and crush academic freedom on campus.
• “AAUP Statement on Continued Detention of Tae Heung ‘Will’ Kim.” The AAUP stands with the Texas AAUP state conference in demanding the release of Tae Heung “Will” Kim from ICE detention.
• “AAUP President Denounces Planned Cuts at the University of Oregon.” The AAUP stands with the United Academics of the University of Oregon in protesting the administration’s plan to slash multiple departments and programs and fire faculty.

For Safety and Security, Update to Your Personal Email
If you receive national AAUP emails at an address ending in .edu or .gov, please log into our member portal and change your preferred email to a personal address. Correspondence to and from work emails can be accessed by the employer or via public records requests. Plus, some states limit the messages we can send to .edu or .gov emails, so you may be missing out on important AAUP information. Using a personal email address enhances digital security and helps avoid restrictions that may be associated with work email addresses. Detailed instructions are below. Please note that your username for the AAUP website is the preferred email address on your account so by updating it, you will also update your username to that address. Your password will remain the same.

How to update your email in our system:

1. Go to https://members.aaup.org/s/login/.
2. Login with your email (the email where you receive national AAUP communications) and password.
3. You can click the “Forgot your password?” link beneath the “Log in” button to reset it if necessary.
4. Once you’re logged in, scroll down to the second header “Communication Information.”
5. Click Change (in red on the right of the screen).
6. Add your personal email.
7. Select “Personal” under Preferred Email Type.
8. Add cell phone under “Mobile Phone” (if you choose)
9. Click the yellow save button at the bottom of the “Communications Information” section.
10. Please also add your discipline if you would like to by following the same process in the top section, “Contact Information”.

You can leave your institutional email on your record so we can run a report to unsubscribe it from emails from our email system, which is separate. If you do get duplicate emails (to both your personal and institutional addresses), please email communications@aaup.org and we will get it fixed.

In Case You Missed It

A full album of photos from the 2025 AAUP-AFT Summer Institute is now available on the AAUP‘s Flickr page.

AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom (CDAF) Resources and Workshops

• Faculty First Responders (FFR) is a mutual aid group focused on direct action to defend and expand academic freedom. We provide support and resources for higher education workers and students who are attacked in the right-wing media ecosystem or experiencing politically motivated harassment. FFR provides peer-to-peer counseling to targeted academic workers, webinars and workshops about academic freedom and digital security, and monitoring of the right-wing media’s coverage of higher education. FFR’s team welcomes questions, requests for support, and any other inquiries at facultyfirstresponders@gmail.com.
• Check out our Academic Freedom First Aid Kit, which offers critical guidance for quick response when under attack.
• CDAF has also created Academic Freedom Syllabus materials. These include introductory syllabus language highlighting classroom expectations on academic freedom as well as a curricular module for class discussion on the value of academic freedom and a reading list.
• In this recent Substack post, CDAF Director Isaac Kamola reflects on his experience at the Summer Institute.

Media Clips:

• “This country is best off when higher education is strong…We’re going to need to politicize this fight. [We need] a political strike around the future of the sector.” —Todd Wolfson, AAUP president, quoted in The Guardian.
• “The term ‘capitulation’ is getting thrown around a lot these days…The result of this very public and hyper-scrutinized rebranding sends a message about what are the ways that are now permissible to speak about identity or background or community affiliation on this campus.” —Kirsten Weld, Harvard AAUP president, quoted in The New York Times.
• “You’re basically knee-capping that younger generation, which undermines the intergenerational dynamism that takes place in higher education. And that trickles down into the classroom.” —Isaac Kamola, director of the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, quoted in the Hechinger Report.
• “Less words in documents like these always means such statements will be interpreted by those who have the power and toward their goals.” —Matthew Boedy, president of the Georgia AAUP state conference, quoted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
• “This order further weakens our nation’s ability to conduct and support scientific research across various fields by replacing experts with ideologically driven political stooges who have no expertise and no business making decisions on academic research.” —Todd Wolfson, AAUP president, quoted in University World News.
• “We are going to lose Ohio students to other states because they may want to go to a state where they’re at an institution that has a women’s center or multicultural center, or that doesn’t have these restrictions, or they don’t feel that their faculty can’t talk about certain things in the classroom.” —Sara Kilpatrick, executive director of the Ohio AAUP state conference, quoted in Prism Reports.