CT State Conference-AAUP

Opinion: No rest for the part-time at CSCU All workers -- including part-timers at CSCU --deserve paid sick days and job security while recovering from illness or a catastrophic personal event.

Every worker deserves paid sick days and guaranteed job security while recovering from illness or a catastrophic personal event. But 58% of @csuaaup.bsky.social courses are taught by part-time workers, who have none of that.

-- Tim Parrish on expanding paid leave benefits to part-time faculty

On Feb 23, @aaup.org hosts a conversation about activism and academic freedom, inspired by legacy of Chandler Davis (fired after upholding his 1A rights). Featuring Isaac Kamola, Henry Reichman, Marjorie Heins + Melanie Tanielian

#academicfreedom @isaackamola.bsky.social @hankreichman.bsky.social

Union membership is on the rise — and our ranks in AAUP are growing as part of this trend.

Organizers across sectors and in higher ed are building the infrastructure to accomplish major wins in the future.

See below for more on 2025 as a banner year for membership growth in the AAUP:

Citations Needed: News Brief: As Trump Crushes Academia, the NYT and Atlantic Still Fight 'Woke' Wars from 5 Years Ago In this News Brief, we are joined by Chenjerai Kumanyika and Todd Wolfson of the American Association of University Professors to discuss Trump's gutting of higher education, its expansion on previous...

NEW: AAUP President Todd Wolfson & council member Chenjerai Kumanyika sat down with the hosts of the excellent Citations Needed podcast to discuss the acceleration of Trump's assaults on American higher education & how the AAUP is fighting back.

Check it out here:

UConn and CSCU advocates condemn state funding 'disaster,' demand more for public higher education Professors, union leaders and students from public colleges statewide are warning that layoffs, inflated class sizes, program cuts and shrinking services will only get worse without the state's...

"Let's be clear, the strain on higher education is not a failure of our students or our faculty and staff. It is a result of policy choices." "Connecticut has the resources to do better. What we need is the political will."

-- Valerie Duffy, president of @uconnaaup.bsky.social

Coalition concerned about CT antisemitism working group; Jewish, Muslim leaders say discrimination is rampant Many organizations “recognize that antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism are interconnected and must be addressed through a human rights framework,” she said.

"given...the Trump administration’s efforts to use allegations of antisemitism to discipline, defund, and attack academic institutions, we should assume that the proposed task force could only serve as a welcome mat to MAGA politicians to target Connecticut schools"

-- Isaac Kamola, @aaup.org

"Our newly launched academic freedom campaign will create opportunities for faculty from every rank and every corner of the university to share their experiences of why academic freedom matters"

-- Daniel HoSang @yaleaaup.bsky.social

The Wesleyan Argus reports on a Middletown ICE protest and rally organized by a coalition of student advocacy groups called “ICE Out" alongside other Middletown, student, and faculty groups including Wesleyan University's AAUP chapter @wesleyanaaup.bsky.social

Dr. Hank Reichman, former chair of AAUP's Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure, emphasizes that the struggle to protect academic freedom and the rights of faculty is part of a larger struggle to defend the rights for everybody in a democratic society.

The Technology That's Taking Your Freedom It's more than AI. A Q&A with Matt Seybold.

@biblioracle.bsky.social has a great interview with @mattseybold.bsky.social on techno-feudalism, mass surveillance, Ed Tech, and what this means for academic freedom, and higher ED more generally. A chilling read. @aaup.org

academicfreedomontheline.substack.com/p/the-techno...

CT governor’s budget proposal ‘underfunding’ UConn, senator says “I was disappointed to learn this morning that the governor’s budget is probably still underfunding the University of Connecticut and higher education overall by tens of millions of dol…

www.courant.com/2026/02/05/c...

Our new #Academe issue highlights articles on organizing efforts in academic labor, artificial intelligence, and contingency and graduate student labor, as well as several book reviews and a profile of the AAUP’s University of Scranton Faculty Affiars Council.

Check out the issue below⬇️

It is up to academic labor to ensure that higher education is neither complicit nor silent Gary Rhoades, "How Academic Workers Have Reenergized the Labor Movement"

New in Academe: "How Academic Workers Have Reenergized the Labor Movement" by Gary Rhoades: www.aaup.org/issue/winter...

Faculty form chapter of national union The Williams chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) held its inaugural meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 4. The group hopes to advocate for faculty concerns and greater faculty d...

Congratulations to the newly formed AAUP chapter at Williams College!

“An overwhelming number of faculty decided that it would behoove us to have more independent organization & to try to stand up for faculty governance, for having our voice heard in the governance of this institution."

Struggling with #HigherEd costs? Affiliated #union members and families have access to exclusive nat'l & state #scholarship grants: aftct.org/scholarships #StrengthInUnity @aft.org @aftteach.bsky.social @afthighered.bsky.social @psrp-aft.bsky.social @afthealthcare.bsky.social @aaup.org

"In a moment of intensifying attacks on higher education...we all want to believe that Yale’s historical commitments are sufficient... They are not."

David P. Watts & Tarren Andrews on strengthening academic freedom and faculty governance in the Faculty Handbook.

@yaleaaup.bsky.social

We’re educating Connecticut’s workforce, we’re educating Connecticut’s leaders and we want to make sure that education is affordable.”

@csuaaup.bsky.social's Jessica Schofield on AAUP priorities for the new CT legislation session

2026-28 CT State Conference Elections CALL FOR NOMINATIONS February, 2026 The 2026-2028 CSC–AAUP Nominating Committee—comprising Chair David Stoloff (CSC–AAUP Immediate Past President, Education Department, ESCU), Member Diana Rios (UC…

want to get involved in state-level AAUP work? RUN FOR OFFICER of the CT State Conference AAUP!

nominations & self-noms due March 14

more info: ctsc-aaup.org/2026-28-ct-s...

@aftct.bsky.social @csuaaup.bsky.social @uconnaaup.bsky.social @wesleyanaaup.bsky.social @yaleaaup.bsky.social

Excited about the launch of the @alliancehighered.bsky.social to defend higher education as a sector. To protect academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and a higher education that is inclusive of all. @aaup.org @michaelhgavin.bsky.social

Thanks to @isaackamola.bsky.social for this generous endorsement of In the Spirit of H. Chandler Davis.

Released today!

Available everywhere. To order > disobediencepress.com

flyer for Academic Freedom meeting on WED, FEB 4, 2026 5PM via Zoom Hear from experts on: • What Academic Freedom is • Why Academic Freedom is so important • Academic Freedom bills in other states • The Connecticut Academic Freedom Bill • Action steps For more information contact Teri Merisotis at tmerisotis@aftct.org Register here: https://aftct-org.zoom.us/meeting/ register/1OyuqRgFQYCYbrenlhFfXQ

Care about Academic Freedom in Connecticut? Join us!

We will hear from experts from Connecticut on what academic freedom is, why it is so important, and how we can take action in Connecticut.

Register here: aftct-org.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

@aaup.org @aftct.bsky.social

Excellent explanation of why you should care about the effort to undermine independent accreditation, from our colleagues at @higheredlabor.bsky.social
higheredlaborunited.org/2026/01/26/a...

This is a huge win for higher ed! Unfortunately, many institutions complied in advance and already folded many of their DEI efforts. This is an example of why it’s so important to resist until there is no other option. Most of the programs that were terminated won’t be resurrected. What a loss.

Education is a public good for all.

When politicians censor classroom teaching in order to narrow the field of topics that students can engage in, they rob them of a stellar world class education.

This is what is happening at Texas A&M & other institutions in the state.

🧵

Texas A&M Ends Women’s Studies and Overhauls Classes Over Race and Gender

“There is a deep sense of sadness that this university is going down this path…Whether the regents understand this or not, it’s going to have a devastating effect.”

Texas A&M Ends Women’s Studies and Overhauls Classes Over Race and Gender www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/u...

A CT university decided to admit fewer grad students. Here’s why despite a $44.1B endowment. The university is expected to pay $300 million per year due to the increase in the federal tax, the university administration said in a recent memo.

"Yale has more resources than 99% of institutions in higher education"

Daniel Martinez HoSang of @yaleaaup.bsky.social on how cuts to Yale's Ph.D. programs threaten critical university research

EXCLUSIVE - ‘They’re living in a fantasy world’ - UConn professors sound the alarm on looming budget cuts The university is ordering some departments to cut their temporary labor budget by 30%, which professors say could lead to changes in the classroom.

"if the university is asking instructors and professors to teach the same way in the classroom with fewer resources and with less support, they're living in a fantasy world."

Jeremy Pressman, UConn-AAUP @uconnaaup.bsky.social

“finding ways to outsource teaching to machines" -- at Old Dominion University, faculty say they are being told to use AI to compress 16-week courses into eight-week online courses for the 2026 fall semester. Where is academic freedom?