CT State Conference-AAUP

Hey UConn, protect academic freedom now! @aaup.org #adminsofragile

Opinion: Academic freedom should extend to UConn graduate assistants Graduate assistants following UConn’s values by speaking clearly, honestly, and frankly deserve the same protection as any full professor.

"At the end of the day, defending academic freedom is defending democracy. UConn must be a marketplace of ideas, not a walled garden for the ivory tower."

@uconnaaup.bsky.social

In Defense of an Independent and Representative Faculty Voice: The Case of Faculty Senates This report, prepared by a subcommittee of the AAUP’s Committee on College and University Governance, reexamines the necessity of strong faculty senates through the lens of the Statement on Government...

read the @aaup.org's recently published report, "In Defense of an Independent and Representative Faculty Voice: The Case of Faculty Senates" -- from the AAUP’s Committee on College and University Governance

In Defense of an Independent and Representative Faculty Voice: The Case of Faculty Senates BY AFSHAN JAFAR We have recently seen accelerating legislative and political attacks on faculty governing bodies at state institutions, including legislation recently enacted in Indiana, Ohio, Utah…

Curtailment of faculty authority in governing higher education institutions today will not only undermine professional freedoms--it will spoil the fruits of those freedoms: an independent, intellectually rigorous, and incorruptible education for future generations

-- Afshan Jafar (Conn AAUP)

The New AAUP-MESA Report on Our Moment’s Campus Repression BY DANIEL SEGAL It is the rare faculty member who today is unaware of the significant increase in attacks on speech rights and academic freedom protections on U.S. campuses over the past two years.…

"An important lesson we can draw from the new report is that our failure in higher education to defend, without giving any ground, pro-Palestinian speech has proven to be not just costly, but nothing less than an existential threat." Dan Segal on the AAUP-MESA Report. wp.me/p8xr4h-dit

LTTE: Support UConn Faculty’s Reasonable Contract Demands For months now, the UConn-AAUP negotiating team has made minimal progress at the bargaining table across from the UConn administration’s negotiators.

UConn professors get ZERO days of guaranteed paid family leave 🤯

UConn AAUP is negotiating for paid family leave as well as better safeguards for academic freedom and more robust protections for faculty working on contracts.

Read more about their contract demands here👇

@uconnaaup.bsky.social

In Defense of an Independent and Representative Faculty Voice: The Case of Faculty Senates BY AFSHAN JAFAR We have recently seen accelerating legislative and political attacks on faculty governing bodies at state institutions, including legislation recently enacted in Indiana, Ohio, Utah…

Faculty senates are under attack from new legislation that sidelines faculty voices and undermines academic freedom. The latest AAUP report defends independent, representative governance as essential to higher ed’s integrity. @aaup.org academeblog.org/2025/11/18/i...

The unity of students, faculty & staff powered our legal victories against the Trump admin!

Administrators & elected officials are not the ones filing the lawsuits against the Trump admin when our universities are under attack. Rather, faculty, students & staff are the ones defending higher ed.

“It’s not inconceivable to me why they haven’t been more vocal; I just challenge the idea that people haven’t paid a price. I think faculty have paid a price, and students have paid a price.” #AcademicFreedom @yaleaaup.bsky.social @aaup.org

Join us for a virtual informational session with an AFT representative to learn more about the legal benefits and professional liability insurance available to AAUP members. It provides liability… Professional Liability Insurance and Legal Resources webinar

AAUP members qualify for liability insurance and other legal resources, including protection for charges brought by students or a parent claiming an AAUP-AFT member denied their Constitutional rights or committed libel, slander, invasion of privacy, or a criminal act.

Check out our webinar👇

LTTE: Support UConn Faculty’s Reasonable Contract Demands For months now, the UConn-AAUP negotiating team has made minimal progress at the bargaining table across from the UConn administration’s negotiators.

UConn-AAUP calls for quality, humane working conditions: "It is time for President Maric’s negotiators to agree to our important contract proposals on academic freedom, paid family and caregiver leave, and job security for clinical, in-residence and extension (CIRE) faculty"

@uconnaaup.bsky.social

Professors lament federal research funding cuts at faculty panel The Yale chapter of the American Association of University Professors held a virtual panel Thursday featuring six faculty members who have been affected by President Donald Trump’s cuts.

“We wanted to address a frustrating narrative we’ve been hearing more frequently—that Yale has somehow been exempted from the funding freezes and disruptions affecting other institutions”

-- Daniel HoSang, President of Yale AAUP

@yaleaaup.bsky.social

"What we need to work on is preserving and protecting the freedom to express all ideas — that’s what makes for a good university."

-- Christel Manning, President of Sacred Heart University AAUP

www.shuspectrum.com/archives/new...

In Defense of an Independent and Representative Faculty Voice: The Case of Faculty Senates This report, prepared by a subcommittee of the AAUP’s Committee on College and University Governance, reexamines the necessity of strong faculty senates through the lens of the Statement on Government...

Just out: In Defense of an Independent and Representative Faculty Voice: The Case of Faculty Senates

You Can't Count on Legislatures or Leadership to Protect Academic Freedom What do we do when state and institutional leadership attacks freedoms?

Read the latest posts on the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom’s Substack!

Subscribe to get this newsletter straight to your inbox.

@aaup.org

WE WON!!!

The US District Court for the Northern District of California has issued a preliminary injunction in AAUP et al v. Trump et al (the wall to wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of Title VI to reshape the University of California system.

Read the order here:

"We want to make sure that everyone on campus is prepared to resist" -- Jeffers Lennox

@wesleyanaaup.bsky.social

The letter against the compact was signed by AAUP/AFT chapters at Conn College, the CSCUs, Fairfield, Mitchell College, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, Trinity, UConn, UConn Health Center, Wesleyan, and Yale.

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

CT professors call on higher ed leaders to reject Trump's compact and defend higher education The compact asks colleges and universities to align their practices and policies with the president's agenda.

"We are calling on our institutional leadership, our governor and our state officials to stand up, speak up, and have the courage to protect academic freedom and reject the federal administration so called compact for higher education" --Neena Qasba, vice president of UCHC-AAUP

Opinion: Faculty matter most. So where’s the support? Faculty “is the #1 predictor for student return, retention, and graduation, above and beyond all other factors.

"Besides risking some of its best part-time faculty to burnout and the kind of bone-deep frustration that comes with being consistently undervalued, taking advantage of contingent adjuncts has a cost" in terms of student retention -- Katy Mulvaney, member of CSU-AAUP @csuaaup.bsky.social

One year on, campus remains split on institutional voice policy Faculty and students expressed mixed opinions about the policy adopted a year ago by University President Maurie McInnis recommending that Yale leaders refrain from commenting publicly on significant ...

“If you’re willing to say it privately, say it publicly"

Daniel HoSang, President of Yale AAUP @yaleaaup.bsky.social, urging the University to take a stronger public stance in defense of higher education

Opinion: UConn's administration should consult its own experts Genuine collaboration and shared governance - not outside consultants - should guide the decisions of a major university.

"Outsourcing our flagship state university’s future to drop-in budget consultants is not the way forward" -- Jeffrey Dudas, President of UConn AAUP @uconnaaup.bsky.social

Reclaim the Narrative: A faculty and staff training webinar Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2-4pm ET

Truth is resistance. Join us for a 2-hour training to learn how to share your higher ed story through op-eds, social media, and media interviews. Together we can #ReclaimTheNarrative. Learn more www.standtogetherhighered.org#reclaim
#AcademicSky #Academia

"Conservative strategists seem to understand that their agenda on higher education, including defunding universities, intimidating international students and privatizing loans, has little public support." -Yale AAUP President Daniel HoSang on the AI-fueled propaganda campaign against higher ed

"I laughed at the AI version of myself standing in a darkened room before a fake slide with a fake headline. But the laughter stops quickly" -- Daniel HoSang (president of @yaleaaup.bsky.social)

UConn professors union calls for stronger protections for academic freedom. Why they are worried. Union officials say they are looking for stronger protections for professors to be able to “teach, research, and express ideas freely.”

“We consider these protections essential given the ongoing climate of threats to academic freedom” -- Jeffrey Dudas (President of @uconnaaup.bsky.social)

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: 1. The Right-Wing Attack on Higher Education: Palestine as Crucible. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Opening the “Mapping Anti-Palestinian Discrimination” series, this panel centers Palestine in our ongoing collective effort to understand and respond to the right-wing attack on the higher education s...

register now: The Right-Wing Attack on Higher Education: Palestine as Crucible

Monday 27 October, 5:30—7:30pm ET

featuring: Isaac Kamola
Heather Ferguson
Judith Butler
Lara Deeb
Sherene Seikaly

UConn professors union calls for stronger protections for academic freedom. Why they are worried. Union officials say they are looking for stronger protections for professors to be able to “teach, research, and express ideas freely.”

Proud of my union @uconnaaup.bsky.social hittin’ the boss where it hurts … in the press. www.courant.com/2025/10/23/u...

Everyone from across the political spectrum must unite against Trump’s loyalty oaths!

The community power we build on & across our campuses is key to protecting our freedoms.

Listen to AAUP General Counsel Veena Dubal from our recent AAUP TV update👇

@veenadubal.bsky.social

#DefendHigherEd

Building the power to #DefendHigherEd; local #union & chapter activists came away from our nat'l @afthighered.bsky.social & @aaup.org #2025SummerInstitute equipped to meet the moment: aftct.org/2025/09/23/l... #OrganizeFightWin @aft.org @aftacademics.bsky.social ‬ @higheredlabor.bsky.social