Professor Claire Wendland said of signing the AAUP open letter to the creators of the professor watchlist, “I wanted to sign on in active solidarity with the people being put on the list ... I think the watchlist is clearly an attempt to intimidate free speech and open research. It’s important to be able to research and talk about things that are not necessarily pleasing to legislators in power or corporations who control the purse strings.”
2016 AAUP & CBC In the News
12.21.2016 |
Wisconsin Public Radio
Wisconsin state Sen. Steve Nass spoke out against a university course in an email to his Republican colleagues and encouraged them to consider the course when deciding whether to approve the UW system’s request for more funding in the next state budget. The AAUP's Joerg Tiede said curricular decisions should be made by the faculty, not by state legislators.
12.19.2016 |
Labor Notes
"Newly armed with the right to collective bargaining, teaching assistants, graduate assistants, and research assistants at private universities are organizing to join the ranks of the unionized." That includes those organizing with the AAUP at the University of Chicago and elsewhere. After the election, many prepare for new attacks on collective bargaining, but for now, the window is open.
12.19.2016 |
Inside Higher Ed
University of North Carolina faculty members joined others in raising strong objections to Republican legislative efforts to pass legislation stripping the power to appoint some local state university campus trustees from North Carolina’s governor and giving it to the state’s most powerful lawmakers. The AAUP's Joerg Tiede said, “What’s happening right here suggests that the process is being politicized. That’s certainly an unwelcome development.”
12.18.2016 |
Washington Post
Professor Michael E. Mann, who serves on the AAUP's Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, writes, "I’ve faced hostile investigations by politicians, demands for me to be fired from my job, threats against my life and even threats against my family." His opinion piece tells his story of being a climate scientist and highlights present concerns about academic freedom and tenure.
12.12.2016 |
Inside Higher Ed
The video recording of an Orange Coast College instructor's anti-Trump comments by a student who posted them on Facebook heightens concerns about targeting of faculty for their political views. Placing this incident in the context of the Professor Watchlist, the AAUP's Hans-Joerg Tiede said, "There is reason to be concerned that this kind of activity will be increasing in the current environment."
12.11.2016 |
The Columbus Dispatch
Petitions have been circulating to make several colleges and universities in Ohio sanctuary campuses. Commenting on the AAUP's advocacy for sanctuary campuses, AAUP President and Wright State University professor emeritus Rudy Fichtenbaum said, "We’re not going to sit silently by as people are being scapegoated."
12.10.2016 |
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Students at the University of Nevadam Las Vegas and the University of Nevada, Reno delivered petitions to their universities' presidents requesting their support for undocumented students at risk of deportation. Commenting on the campus sanctuary movement, Rutgers University AAUP-AFT union chapter president David Hughes said, "We’re not looking for universities to break the law, but to exercise the maximum latitude they can in dragging their feet to complying with the executive branch."
Pages
