2021 AAUP Updates

The AAUP joined an amicus brief with Brady: United Against Gun Violence and Team ENOUGH filed in the State of Michigan Supreme Court in support of an appeal affirming that the University of Michigan’s prohibition on firearms does not infringe on Second Amendment rights.

With the new administration and Congress come new opportunities to ensure significant, sustainable public investment in higher education.

The AAUP seeks a book review editor for Academe, its quarterly magazine. The book review editor’s primary responsibilities include identifying books for review and soliciting and editing reviews. The application deadline is March 15, 2021.

The AAUP wrote Lesley Hallick, president of Pacific University, to convey concerns about the failure to afford academic due process to Richard J. Paxton, a tenured full professor. In early October, the administration summarily removed Paxton from the classroom pending an investigation of student complaints about his classroom speech, a process that could potentially result in dismissal.

The AAUP issued a statement objecting to efforts by legislators in several states to restrict teaching about oppression, race, and gender. Such efforts thwart antiracist work at a time when the nation is confronting deep-rooted racial inequity, attempt inappropriately to transfer responsibility for curriculum from educators to legislators, and disregard the importance of understanding the past to serve the needs of the living.

The AAUP sent a letter to the president of Concordia University Chicago, Russell P. Dawn, regarding recent actions by the CUC governing board and administration to suspend key provisions in the faculty handbook, discontinue academic programs, and terminate faculty appointments. Following a "program prioritization process," the university terminated the services of fifty-one members of the faculty and staff, including long-serving faculty members with tenure.

The 1776 Report, released on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, is an attack on the socially progressive and antiracist goals that King worked toward. The report, which was issued by a commission appointed by President Trump last fall in response to the New York Times's 1619 Project and to racial justice demonstrations, is based on falsehoods but poses as history.

The AAUP is appalled by the assault on the US Capitol today. The current administration’s attacks on truth, inflammatory rhetoric, and baseless objections to the result of a free and fair election have now led to violence, highlighting the precarious state of our democracy. We look forward to working with the new administration, Senate, and House to strengthen our democracy and to strengthen our education system, a key underpinning of a functional democracy.