American Association of University Professors: Championing Academic Freedom and Shared Governance
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) stands as a beacon for educators and researchers in the United States, advocating for their rights and promoting the values of higher education. Founded in 1915, the AAUP has a rich history of defending academic freedom, championing shared governance, and ensuring the economic security of faculty and academic professionals. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the organization plays a vital role in shaping the landscape of higher education in America.
Mission and Core Principles
The AAUP's mission is multifaceted, encompassing several key objectives:
- Advancing Academic Freedom and Shared Governance: This is a cornerstone of the AAUP's work, ensuring that faculty members can freely pursue research, express their views, and participate in institutional decision-making.
- Defining Professional Values and Standards: The AAUP establishes and promotes fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, ensuring quality and integrity in teaching and research.
- Promoting Economic Security: The organization works to improve the economic security of faculty, academic professionals, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and all those engaged in teaching and research.
- Organizing for Collective Action: The AAUP helps the higher education community organize to achieve its goals, providing a platform for collective action and advocacy.
- Ensuring Higher Education's Contribution to the Common Good: The AAUP recognizes the vital role of higher education in society and works to ensure its contribution to the common good.
Historical Context and Formation
The AAUP's formation was spurred by a series of events in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that threatened academic freedom. Instances of faculty dismissals due to controversial views or external pressures highlighted the need for an organization to protect academic independence.
Several incidents served as catalysts for the AAUP's creation:
- Richard Ely at the University of Wisconsin (1894): An attempt to dismiss Ely, an economist, was unsuccessful, but it raised concerns about academic freedom.
- Edward Bemis at the University of Chicago (1895): Bemis was dismissed from his post, further fueling the debate over academic freedom.
- Edward Alsworth Ross at Stanford University (1900): The dismissal of Ross, an economics professor, was perhaps the most prominent of these incidents. Ross's criticism of the Southern Pacific Railroad's employment practices, which conflicted with the interests of Leland Stanford's widow, Jane Stanford, led to his dismissal despite objections from the university president and faculty. This incident, in particular, galvanized faculty members to seek greater protection for their academic freedom. Arthur O. Lovejoy was among the faculty colleagues who resigned in protest.
- University of Utah (1915): The dismissal of two professors and two instructors by President Joseph T. Kingsbury, followed by the resignation of 14 faculty members in protest, prompted the AAUP's first institutional academic freedom investigation.
In 1913, Arthur O. Lovejoy, then teaching at Johns Hopkins University, initiated the effort to establish an association of professors. He persuaded 17 other full professors to join him in sending a letter of invitation to other professors of equal rank in nine leading universities to discuss the formation of such an association. In 1915, the AAUP was officially founded in New York City, with John Dewey as its first president and Lovejoy as its first secretary.
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The 1915 Declaration of Principles and Academic Freedom
The AAUP's "Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure" is a landmark document that articulates the core principles of academic freedom and its importance in higher education. The AAUP maintains that there "are still people who want to control what professors teach and write," underscoring the continued relevance of these principles.
The original principles, along with the 1940 interpretations and a 1970 interpretation, form the basis of the AAUP's stance on academic freedom. The 1970 interpretation emphasizes that the statement is not a "static code but a fundamental document to set a framework of norms to guide adaptations to changing times and circumstances."
The statement rests on three fundamental principles:
- Freedom in Research and Publication: Teachers are entitled to "full freedom in research and in publication of the results," with financial gains from research dependent on the relationship with the institution.
- Freedom in the Classroom: Teachers should have the same freedom in the classroom to discuss their subject matter.
- Responsibilities of Faculty Members: While professors have the rights of citizens, they "should remember that the public may judge their profession and their institution by their utterances" and should make every effort "to indicate they are not speaking for the institution."
The Supreme Court of the United States recognized the importance of academic freedom in Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957), acknowledging its essential role as a protected right under the First Amendment. This case set a precedent that significantly influenced university policies nationwide, affirming the importance of academic discourse and inquiry without governmental interference.
Shared Governance and the 1920 Statement
In 1920, the AAUP published its first "Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities," emphasizing the importance of faculty involvement in personnel decisions, selection of administrators, preparation of the budget, and determination of educational policies. The statement, jointly formulated by the AAUP, the American Council on Education (ACE), and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), clarifies the respective roles of governing boards, faculties, and administrations. It establishes a shared vision for the internal governance of institutions, though it does not address student involvement in detail. The purpose of the statement was not to provide principles for relations with industry and government, though it establishes direction on "the correction of existing weaknesses."
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Censure and Collective Bargaining
The AAUP's censure list, officially created in 1938, serves as a tool to publicly identify institutions that have violated the AAUP's principles of academic freedom and shared governance. The list is a means of holding institutions accountable and encouraging them to address the issues that led to censure.
In 1980, the United States Supreme Court's decision in National Labor Relations Board v. Yeshiva University created "major roadblocks to unionization" among faculty members at private colleges and universities. Despite this, the AAUP has collective bargaining affiliates at a number of private colleges and universities, mainly where the chapter had already existed before 1980. AAUP collective bargaining chapters represent full-time faculty at private institutions including those at Adelphi University, Bard College, Curry College, D'Youville University, Edward Waters University, Fairfield University, Hofstra University, LeMoyne-Owen College, Long Island University Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy, New York Institute of Technology, Niagara University, Oakland University, Rider University, St. John's University, the University of Scranton and Utica University. Among private institutions, the AAUP represents part-time faculty at Emerson College, Manhattanville University and Suffolk University, among others.
Focus on Contingent Faculty
The AAUP has also focused on the challenges faced by contingent faculty, who hold part-time or non-tenure-track positions. The organization has released a number of reports on contingent faculty, including a 2008 report on accreditors' guidelines pertaining to part-time faculty and a report of an investigation involving alleged violations of the academic freedom and due process rights of a full-time contingent faculty member, and in 2006, an index providing data on the number of contingent faculty at various colleges. Also in 2006, the AAUP adopted a new policy dealing with the job protections that should be afforded to part-time faculty members. In 2003, it had released its major policy statement Contingent Appointments and the Academic Profession.
Organizational Structure and Activities
The AAUP is organized and operated as a nonprofit charitable educational organization. Its governing structure consists of a president, a first vice president, a second vice president, a secretary-treasurer, and a council. The council, which meets at least twice each year, is the elected body charged with executing the AAUPâs functions and acts on its behalf as defined in the associationâs constitution. From the council membership comes the executive committee, which exercises powers delegated to it and acts on behalf of the association between meetings of the council. The executive committee also meets at least two times per year.
The AAUP has a strong committee structure that reflects its purposes and the issues facing its membership. Among the several standing committees are those on academic freedom and tenure; academic professionals; accreditation; college and university governance; economic status of the profession; government relations; graduate and professional students; historically black institutions and scholars of colour; professional ethics; sexual diversity and gender identity; teaching, research, and publication; and women in the academic profession. The AAUPâs advisory committees include those related to its two publications, the magazine Academe and the Bulletin of the AAUP, and the Litigation Committee, which provides expert advice on amicus curiae briefs that the association may consider submitting incident to litigation. Several other committees deal with business and investment, elections, grievances, membership, and other matters.
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In 2009, AAUP began its reorganization among its think tank, its non-organized advocacy chapters, and its support for collective bargaining chapters.
In 2008 the AAUP approved the restructuring of the organization into three entities: the AAUP, the AAUP Collective Bargaining Congress (AAUP-CBC), and the AAUP Foundation. The AAUP-CBC develops and disseminates information and resources in support of collective bargaining, among other activities. The AAUP Foundation is a nonprofit entity whose purpose is to accept donations to the AAUP of money, property, or any other item of value.
Contemporary Challenges and Advocacy
The AAUP remains vigilant in addressing contemporary challenges to academic freedom and shared governance. Legislation aimed at influencing curriculum content and external pressures on faculty research continue to pose threats to academic independence.
The AAUP actively monitors and responds to such challenges, advocating for policies and practices that protect academic freedom and promote shared governance. The organization's Committee A investigates charges of violations of academic freedom, tenure, and academic due process.
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