American Association of University Professors

American Association of University Professors

Formation	1915
Type	Nonprofit charitable organization
Headquarters	Washington D.C.
Location	United States
Membership	Professors and professional university staff
Official language	English
Executive Director	Nancy Long (interim)
Key people	Todd Wolfson, President
Website	www.aaup.org

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership includes over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations.^[1]

The AAUP's stated mission is to advance academic freedom and shared governance, to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, and to ensure higher education's contribution to the common good. Founded in 1915 by Arthur O. Lovejoy and John Dewey, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in the country's colleges and universities.

In the 1890s and early 1900s, there were a number of attempts to dismiss college faculty members from their academic posts, including a failed attempt to dismiss Richard Ely at the University of Wisconsin in 1894. The following year Edward Bemis was dismissed from a post at the University of Chicago and George D. Herron from one at Grinnell College in 1899.

Perhaps most prominent of these incidents was the 1900 dismissal of eugenicist, economics professor, and sociologist Edward Alsworth Ross from Stanford University. Ross's work criticizing the employment of Chinese laborers by the Southern Pacific Railroad, run by Stanford's founder Leland Stanford, led Leland's widow, Jane Stanford, to intervene and, over the objections of the president and the faculty, to succeed in getting Ross eventually dismissed.^[2] A number of faculty colleagues resigned in protest, including Arthur O. Lovejoy.^[3]

Fifteen years later, In January 1915, the AAUP formed as the "Association of University Professors" after a series of meetings held at the Chemists' Club in New York City.^[4] John Dewey would serve as President of the organization, with Lovejoy, who had by then moved on to Johns Hopkins, serving as Secretary.

In February 1915, the dismissals of two professors and two instructors at the University of Utah by President Joseph T. Kingsbury—and the subsequent resignations of 14 faculty members in protest—launched the AAUP's first institutional academic freedom inquest. An earlier 1911 controversy at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, had involved some of these same professors.

The AAUP published, in December 1915, its inaugural volume of the Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors, including the document now known as the 1915 Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure—the AAUP's foundational statement on the rights and corresponding obligations of members of the academic profession.

Since 2010 the AAUP has published the Journal of Academic Freedom, an online-only open-access annual journal.^[5][6]

In June 2022, the AAUP affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers.^[7]

In 2024, AAUP president Todd Wolfson referred to United States Senator JD Vance as a “fascist.” The remark was in relation to Vance’s conduct during that year's presidential election, during which Vance was the vice presidential nominee.^[8]

As the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) details the history of their policy on academic freedom and tenure, the association maintains that there "are still people who want to control what professors teach and write."^[9] The AAUP's "Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure"^[10][11] is the definitive articulation of the principles and practices and is widely accepted throughout the academic community. The association's procedures ensuring academic due process remain the model for professional employment practices on campuses throughout the country.

The association suggests that "The principles of Academic Freedom and Tenure" date back to a 1925 conference.^[12] R. M. O'Neil's history suggests that the formal origins of the statement of academic freedom in the United States begins with an earlier 1915 "declaration of principles," when the "fledgling" AAUP first convened.^[13]

While it seems common sense that academic freedom aligns with the values of democratic rights and free speech, O'Neil also notes the ideas of academic freedom at the time were not entirely well received, and even the New York Times criticized the declaration, but that today the statement remains "almost as nearly inviolate as the U.S. Constitution."^[13] The AAUP notes that following a series of conferences beginning in 1934, the association officially adopted the "1925 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure," which started to become institutionalized in universities only in the 1940s.

The AAUP offers the original principles, including the 1940 interpretations of the statement and a 1970 interpretation, which codified evaluation of the principles since the time they were adopted. The statement is straightforward, based on three principles of academic freedom. Briefly summarized, the first principle states that teachers are entitled to "full freedom in research and in publication of the results" and that the issue of financial gains from research depends on the relationship with the institution. The second principle of academic freedom is that teachers should have the same freedom in the classroom. The third asserts that college and university professors are citizens and should be free to speak and write as citizens "free from institutional censorship."^[14]

The 1970 interpretation believes 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 commentary iterates key points of the 1940 interpretations. The statement does not discourage controversy but emphasizes professionalism, believing that professors should be careful "not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject."

Based upon five principles, the statement on academic tenure is equally simple and to the point. The first principle maintains that the terms of appointment are to be stated in writing. The second details the conditions and length of time professors are given to attain tenure. The third notes that during the probationary period before attaining tenure, the teacher "should have all the academic freedom that all other members of the faculty have." Detailing terms for appeal of the decision to deny tenure, the fourth point notes that both faculty and the institution's governing board should judge whether tenure is to be granted or denied. The final point suggests that if the faculty member is not granted tenure appointment for reasons of financial restraint upon the university, the "financial exigency should be demonstrably bona fide."

The interpretive statement also maintains that while professors have the rights of citizens, both scholars and educational officers "should remember that the public may judge their profession and their institution by their utterances," noting that every effort should be made "to indicate they are not speaking for the institution." The comments provide for further insights into the evaluation for tenure appointment and direct to the "1968 Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure," which recommends policy based upon the 1940 statement and a later documents on standards for faculty dismissal.

In Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957), the Supreme Court of the United States acknowledged the essential role of academic freedom as a protected right under the First Amendment. This case set a precedent that significantly influenced university policies across the United States, affirming the importance of academic discourse and inquiry without governmental interference. However, "at the time of the Sweezy decision, the AAUP was deeply ambivalent about the constitutionalization of academic freedom, because some members feared the long-term consequences of having judges rather than professors elaborate and apply the protective rules of academic life."^[15]

In Keyishian v. Board of Regents (1967), the constitutionality and legal basis for AAUP's principles of academic freedom were established.

The American Association of University Professors published its first "Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities" in 1920, "emphasizing the importance of faculty involvement in personnel decisions, selection of administrators, preparation of the budget, and determination of educational policies. Refinements to the statement were introduced in subsequent years, culminating in the 1966 "Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities."^[16]

The statement was jointly formulated by the American Association of University Professors, the American Council on Education (ACE), and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). The statement clarifies the respective roles of governing boards, faculties, and administrations. The document does not provide for a "blueprint" to the governance of higher education.

Also, the purpose of the statement was not to provide principles for relations with industry and government although it establishes direction on "the correction of existing weaknesses." Rather, the statement aimed to establish a shared vision for the internal governance of institutions. Student involvement is not addressed in detail. The statement concerns general education policy and internal operations with an overview of the formal roles for governing structures in the organization and management of higher education.

The AAUP has censured numerous religious institutions, including The Catholic University of America in 1990 and Brigham Young University in 1998.^[17] Some have criticized the AAUP's stance regarding academic freedom in religious institutions as contradicting its 1940 statement on academic freedom, which permits religious institutions to place limits on academic freedom if those limitations are clearly stated.^[18][19] In 1970, the AAUP criticized its 1940 statement, positing that most religious institutions "no longer need or desire" to place limits on academic freedom.^[20]

In 1988, the AAUP offered up another interpretation, stating that the "1970 de-endorsement clause" requires a religious institution to forfeit its "right to represent itself as an 'authentic seat of higher learning.'"^[20] But the AAUP's Committee A did not endorse it, thus the issue on whether a religious institution can place limits on academic freedom if those limitations are clearly stated appears to be unresolved.^[20]

The AAUP has released a number of reports on contingent faculty: in 2008, a 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. The statement makes new recommendations in two areas: increasing the proportion of faculty appointments that are on the tenure line as well as improving job security and due process protections for those with contingent appointments.

In 2009, AAUP began its reorganization amongst its thinktank, its non-organized advocacy chapters and its support for collective bargaining chapters. AAUP currently represents approximately 70 affiliates across the United States in such institutions as University of Connecticut, Portland State University, University of Alaska, the California State University system, Rutgers, University of Oregon, Eastern Michigan University, University of Illinois Chicago, University of Rhode Island, State University of New York, and many others in both the public and private sector.

Unlike the American Federation of Teachers and other more traditional labor unions, AAUP is not a servicing parent organization. All of its affiliates (at least those that are not affiliated with any other labor union) are independent organizations that completely provide for all their own services, such as staff, attorneys, consultants and organizers. Also, the AAUP does not have the power of receivership in its constitution and so it can not take over any of its affiliates, supplant any of its elected leaders, or dictate policy or bargaining proposals or agenda upon them.

Several university chapters have been involved in labor strikes, including at Boston University in 1979, Wright State University and Oregon Tech in 2021, and Rutgers University in 2023.

The AAUP censures institutions that violated standards of academic freedom and tenure^[21] and sanctions institutions that have infringed university governance standards through "serious departures by the administration and/or governing board from generally accepted standards of college and university government".

In 1930, the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University and Mississippi University for Women, were placed on a list of "non-recommended" institutions, after Mississippi Governor Theodore Bilbo and member of the Ku Klux Klan fired the presidents of all three institutions as well as 179 faculty members.

The censure list was officially created in 1938. Between that year and 2002, 183 colleges and universities were placed on the list at various times.^[22] As of 2024, there are 59 institutions on AAUP's censure list.^[23]

Fourteen colleges in the United States are currently on AAUP's list of sanctioned institutions for violations of shared governance.^[24]

Apart from the elected leadership, the AAUP has been led in its day to day operations by what has been at various times called a secretary, later a general secretary, and most recently an executive director, and includes the following individuals:^[40]

• National Conference of University Professors (UK)
• Professors in the United States
• University organizations (annotated list)

• Official website