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Report examining the costs to academic freedom incurred by the current trend toward overreliance on part- and full-time non-tenure-track faculty. The report recommends that for the good of institutions, of the educational experiences of students, and of the quality of education, the proportion of tenured and tenure-track faculty should be increased.

This statement sets forth applicable principles and procedural standards for online education, addressing concerns related to academic freedom and shared governance, learning management systems and virtual classrooms, and intellectual property.

This statement reasserts the AAUP’s fundamental and enduring commitment to eliminating discrimination and addressing the persistent inequalities created by both past and present discriminatory practices in higher education. 

This report details the findings of the special committee appointed by the AAUP to investigate the state of academic freedom and political interference in Florida, focusing on the threats to higher education and the foundational principles of shared governance that have intensified under the DeSantis regime. Following a preliminary report released in May 2023, this final report reaffirms the "chilling effect on academic freedom" outlined in the preliminary report and expands on how AAUP-supported principles and standards are implicated.

This year’s Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession examines the economic conditions of the academy in a year that has seen both the World Health Organization and the US government declare an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report documents the economic status of both full- and part-time faculty members in a year when the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 6.5 percent from December 2021 to December 2022, following a 7.0 percent increase the previous year, which was the largest percentage increase since 1981. Furthermore, this report revisits the findings of the 2020–21 annual report, which documented institutional responses to COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic, including salary freezes or reductions, elimination or reduction of fringe benefits, and terminations or nonrenewals of faculty appointments.

This report concerns the nonrenewal of the part-time appointment of Professor Erika López Prater at Hamline University after a student complained of having been offended by Professor López Prater's presentation of two images of the Prophet Muhammad during an online session of her art history class, as well as two related cases at Hamline and a controversy over an art exhibit at nearby Macalester College. The committee found that Professor López Prater's decision to show the images was protected by her academic freedom, and her nonrenewal lacked a rationale that would be supported by AAUP standards. The committee recommends that "the AAUP closely monitor developments at Hamline University" and hopes for a renewed offer of teaching to Professor López Prater.

This report concerns actions taken by the administration of Collin College to terminate the services of Professors Lora Burnett, Suzanne Jones, and Michael Phillips. The investigating committee found that the administration’s actions involved “egregious violations” of all three faculty members’ academic freedom to speak as citizens and to criticize institutional policies, and, in the case of Phillips, of academic freedom in teaching. The committee determined that the administration dismissed Jones and Phillips from their appointments without a pretermination hearing before an elected faculty body in which the burden of demonstrating adequate cause for dismissal rests with the administration. The committee also found that the administration failed to afford Burnett the opportunity to petition an elected faculty committee to review her allegation that the nonrenewal decision violated her academic freedom. The report concludes that the conditions for shared governance and academic freedom at Collin College are “grossly inadequate.”

This year’s Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession documents the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in a year when the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 7.0 percent, the largest December-to-December percentage increase since 1981. The report documents the economic status for not only full-time faculty members but also part-time adjunct faculty members paid on a per-course-section basis—and faculty members on contingent appointments in general. It also includes special sections on the academic labor force and key gender equity indicators, with an eye toward documenting changes that have occurred since the 2019–20 academic year, when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

This report details an investigation of governance, academic free­dom, and institutional racism in the University of North Carolina system. The report considers the influence of the gerrymandered North Carolina state legislature on the systemwide board of governors and campus boards of trustees and how political pressure has obstructed meaningful faculty participation in the governance of the UNC system. It also assesses how the environment for academic freedom in the UNC system has been weakened by the politiciza­tion and increased centralization of system governance and by mounting political interference in university policy. Finally, the report focuses on key issues of institutional racism within UNC: the racial climate, institutional inequities, and retention of faculty of color. It demonstrates how the areas of governance, institutional racism, and academic freedom overlap significantly.