University of Tampa AAUP

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Mark your calendars! Please join UTampa AAUP for February’s Third Thursday (next week) on 2/19. We’ll be meeting at Four Green Fields Riverwalk. Stop by between 4-6pm for a beverage and some camaraderie!

Schools: Drop ICE Mass Call · AFT We will cut off ICE’s corporate enablers — starting on our campuses. ICE isn’t invincible. Donald Trump’s deportation machine doesn’t run on willpower—it runs on contracts. ICE depends on private cor...

@aaup.org , @aft.org and others are sponsoring a mass call on Sunday about strategies to pressure our schools to stop investing in partners that fund ICE and the DHS. Join the call this Sunday at 7 PM. Register using the link:
www.mobilize.us/aft/event/89...

"We do not accept a system in which personnel decisions affecting people’s careers and livelihoods are made at the direction of online vigilantes and so-called journalists, whose methods would not be taught in our university or allowed at our university publications."

UNC-Chapel Hill Sets New Policy on Recording Professors UNC-Chapel Hill aims to clarify guidelines after a secret recording controversy involving Larry Chavis and growing fear of surveillance.

“I don’t know of any faculty member at UNC that has any faith that the provost, human resources officer, or especially the university lawyers have the faculty interests anywhere in mind when they’re making these decisions.”

—Michael Palm, @unc-ch-aaup.bsky.social President

Governing at gunpoint: ICE in Minneapolis Minneapolis is reeling as masked, heavily armed ICE agents flood immigrant neighborhoods, pulling people from cars, entering homes, and clashing with protesters and observers.

In this piece, UTampa faculty discuss how the challenges we are facing in higher ed today, we have faced before…

www.ocregister.com/2026/01/25/g...

“Plato does not agree with the narrative that there are two biological sexes and that everyone should be heterosexual. So it is controversial. But that's the whole point of including him in the syllabus.”

— Martin Peterson, Texas A&M

@texasaaup.bsky.social
@texasaft.org
@tamu-aaup.bsky.social

Defend OU Instructors and Academic Freedom Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community members, The University of Oklahoma made national headlines this month after a routine grading dispute erupted into public controversy, leading OU to ...

A petition is circulating to defend OU graduate instructor Mel Curth. You can read the letter to OU’s President and sign the petition here:

actionnetwork.org/forms/defend...

Faculty Want Answers on Oklahoma’s Suspension Policies After a graduate teaching assistant was put on administrative leave following a grading dispute with a student that went viral, faculty at the University of Oklahoma are asking leaders to better prote...

“OU’s decision to place an instructor on administrative leave following a routine grading dispute—& subsequent failure to defend her from harassment & discrimination…raises serious concerns about the University’s commitment to educational standards, academic freedom, & instructor safety.”

Artificial Intelligence and Academic Professions Educational technology, or ed-tech, including artificial intelligence (AI), continues to become more integrated into teaching and research in higher education, with minimal oversight. The AAUP’s ad ho...

This is one of the most important documents produced this year.

At a time when many of our professional organizations are punting, @aaup.org has been leading on EdTech, AI, academic freedom & faculty governance.

I'm humbled to be joining the team that authored this report.

The AAUP chapter at Oklahoma University released a statement demanding that the President and Board of Regents defend Mel Curth, the instructor put on administrative leave after the viral fallout for failing Samantha Fulnecke’s essay, from death threats and targeted harassment.

🚨The “American Higher Education Restoration Act” would carve out a special pathway to tenure for faculty who teach “American Constitutionalism + Western Civilization,” increase the teaching loads for faculty who work in non-STEM disciplines…+ impose new governing board control over hiring. 👇

Commentary: Block the governor’s plan to dumb down Florida universities Ron DeSantis says he wants to “pull the plug” on H1-B visas, which allow immigrants with specialized knowledge to enter the country. This would do major harm to university faculty&#8217…

“The key to America’s economic growth is research and development. Removing or barring top researchers from the country would transfer that talent (and the research and development) to other countries.“

Thanks to our UTampa colleagues, Drs. Coon and Hall!

www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/12/01/c...

UT Must Not Trade Academic Freedom For Political Favor A guest column from UT faculty member John Hoberman

Subscribe to "Academic Freedom on the Line," the Substack of the AAUP's Center for the Defense of Freedom, to receive newsletters and and regular analysis from experts on academic freedom!

The most recent newsletter covers the University of Texas system's fight against the compact👇

AAUP Protests Against Trump Admin’s Higher Ed Compact Fordham faculty and students attend a protest against Marc Rowan and the Compact for Excellence in Higher Education.

“Higher education is a public good. It’s good for democracy, it’s good for the economy. And so it’s worse for all of us if it gets controlled one way or the other from the outside”

🔥 WashU in STL rejects Trump’s loyalty oath compact! 🔥

The resistance cannot be stopped!

AAUP chapters and organized higher ed workers across the nation are unified in spearheading this fight—let’s keep it up!

Tampa No Kings

Trump on a toilet a giant phone with the words “Nobel prize was rigged just like everything under Crook Joe and the radical left lunatics! I won in a landslide. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Lady wearing a shirt that reads “I AM AUNT TIFA”

Tampa No Kings

Scenes from Tampa, Florida today.

#nokings
@utaaup.bsky.social

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: National Teach-In on Loyalty Oaths. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. The Trump administration has imposed unprecedented and highly politicized regulations on institutions of higher education, pressured them with coercive funding threats, extorted promises to fall in li...

Join AAUP's National Teach-In on Trump's Loyalty Oaths!

Tomorrow, Oct 17pm at 2pmET on Zoom. Be there!

Register at link below👇

#AcademicSky #DefendHigherEd

Reject the ongoing censorship of student media on our campuses!

“Administrative efforts to subordinate campus journalism to public relations are inconsistent with the mission of higher education to provide a space of intellectual exploration and debate”

—Hank Reichman, in a new Academe Blog post

MIT President Sally Kornbluth next to a shot of the campus and text of an open letter to the government on the education compact proposed by President Donald Trump. In black text the kicker Governance, the headline MIT Rejects Proposed Federal Compact, and the sub-headline MIT is the first institution to reject a proposal by the Trump administration that would trade preferential treatment on federal funding for far-reaching changes. Photo illustration by Justin Morrison/Inside Higher Ed | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | Nate Hovee/iStock/Getty Images | MIT

The quote “In our view, America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.” — Sally Kornbluth, MIT president, in a letter to the campus community Friday.

ICYMI | MIT has rejected the Trump administration’s proposal to sign on to the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which would mandate sweeping changes across campus in exchange for preferential treatment on federal funding.

https://bit.ly/3KO0g5l

A Compact for Control (opinion) No self-respecting institution of higher education should accept the Trump administration’s unconstitutional terms, Robert Post and Tom Ginsburg write.

Great piece @insidehighered.com by Robert Post and Tom Ginsburg about the considerable threats posed by Trump's (extortion) "compact" with 9 universities. @aaup.org

www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

A student looking at a cellphone with a bunch of fists flying out of it.

With Doxing On the Rise, Here Are 7 Tips to Stay Safe Online

Experts offer solutions to prevent doxing and advice about how to respond and keep yourself safe if it happens to you. https://bit.ly/47KLTrY

#AcaemicSky #EDUSky #HigherEd

Just a little #throwback, thinking about our joint #solidarity event on Monday!

Here’s a 🧵 on key points in Judge Burroughs’ order in the AAUP/Harvard AAUP’s lawsuit against Trump’s DOJ for ideological funding cuts at Harvard:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

We Out Here!

AAUP & @aft.org members from coast to coast are out in the streets this #LaborDay standing on business & raising the voices of higher ed workers as we continue to resist an unprecedented wave of attacks.
Join Us!
#DefendHigherEd
✊🏼✊🏾✊🏻✊🏿✊🏽

Unite and rise! #solidarity #LaborDay

Image of a crowd of people sitting on a beach in blue shirts.

Image taken from a drone overhead, showing people lined up on the beach, spelling out the words, unite and rise

Just a few images from our #solidarity event this #LaborDay!

St. Petersburg, FL #WorkersOverBillionaires Labor Day · AFT On Labor Day, September 1st, we will continue the movement we launched together on May 1st, standing in solidarity with all our communities under attack and fighting for real wins for all our people. ...

We are getting our community together this #LaborDay. Today, join us in St. Pete at 10 a.m. You can find more information at the link below. #WorkersOverBillionaires

www.mobilize.us/aft/event/82...

GIF shows a collection of hands in multiple colors coming together, surrounded by the words teamwork makes the dream work

Let’s make this #LaborDay a day of action and #solidarity! Learn more at maydaystrong.org #StrongerTogether #WorkersOverBillionaires

St. Petersburg, FL #WorkersOverBillionaires Labor Day · AFT On Labor Day, September 1st, we will continue the movement we launched together on May 1st, standing in solidarity with all our communities under attack and fighting for real wins for all our people. ...

Welcome back to school, UTampa #AAUP members! To start the semester off strong, please consider joining us at the #AFT Labor Day event on Sept. 1 in St. Pete. You can find more info and register at the linked site! www.mobilize.us/aft/event/82...