Please consider signing this petition calling for Professor Dixon’s reinstatement. www.change.org/p/reinstate-... @aaup.org #academicfreedom

Again and again over the past six months, the AAUP has shown that the key to fighting back against injustice and executive overreach is ... fighting back! There has never been a better time to join AAUP and help protect free speech at all US Universities. When we unite and fight, we win.

Today I am especially happy to be an @aaup.org member.

In thus series, then AAUP members share their stories of repression and resilience in the face of partisan interference and violations of academic freedom. Learn more about the project at the link below👇 #academicsky #academicfreedom #defendhighered #highered #socialjustice #academia

Introducing “Faculty on the Frontlines,” a new series from the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom that documents the stories of AAUP members! Over the next 2 weeks, we will spotlight the stories of 10 AAUP members fighting to defend academic freedom. Check out our teaser 🔥

All across the country, as faculty rights and freedoms are under attack, @aaup.org is really stepping into the breach. If you teach in higher ed and aren't a member, please consider joining.

Call the Chancellor, defend Constitutional rights and academic freedom

Heartened to see colleagues across North Carolina standing up against UNC compliance with rightwing attacks on antifascism! Image of statement reposted with alt text.

UNC CH Chapter & NC AAUP statement re Prof. Dwayne Dixon: @aaup.org AAUP NC and UNC-Chapel Hill AAUP condemn the egregious violation of Professor Dwayne Dixon's First Amendment rights to free speech and free association, his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process, and his academic freedom. 1/

I joined AAUP because I saw they were one of the few organizations taking a stand. They also organized the lobbying trip I took to DC a couple of weeks ago. If you’re an academic, supporting them is good use of our money.

BREAKING: WE WON!!! 💥 💥 💥 Federal Judge William G. Young ruled today in our lawsuit against the Trump administration that the policy of arresting, detaining, & deporting noncitizen students & faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the 1st Amendment. Full ruling here:

WE WON: "This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall w/in..this district court squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in US..have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally “yes, they do.”"

BREAKING: Judge William Young, a Reagan appointee, delivers the most scathing legal rebuke of the Trump era, ruling that Trump and his cabinet illegally targeted pro-Palestinian students for deportation to "strike fear" into First Amendment protesters. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

“McCarthyism targeted individuals because of their past political activities. They were never asked about their teaching and research. Today, the attack is on the university, on the academic community; not just individuals, but on the higher education community as a whole.” — Ellen Schrecker

Academic freedom will not survive by encouraging professors to censor themselves more. “Too much of the response to the Trump admin’s repression has been driven by fear & cowardice. We need to fiercely support #academicfreedom as a fundamental right for all.” — @johnkwilson.bsky.social

The firing of a Ball State employee was not just a university decision; it was actively driven by the state. Rokita used his office to publicly condemn her private speech, celebrated her termination, and leveraged a state-run website to publicly target educators.

What First Amendment?

A lot of people think that every international student admitted means one fewer spot for domestic students, when the opposite is more likely true - the tuition revenue international students bring allows public universities to provide substantial discounts to domestic students, improving access.

Oct 6 7pm ET discuss implications of dropping independent accred for the state controlled Commission for Public Higher Education (CPHE). Although its planning document includes seemingly harmless language, CPHE is dominated by powerful conservative politicians like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis...

An AAUP webinar exploring the importance of independent accreditation systems for maintaining professional standards and examining threats a politicized accreditation system poses to academic freedom. October 6 at 7pm www.aaup.org/event/politi...

We have to keep saying it: There is "nothing* that Texas college faculty are prohibited by law from teaching. Do not believe politicians who demand restrictions they never passed. Do not obey unconstitutional college policy. Do not self-censor. Do not comply.

"There is no way to bend the knee and ever stand up straight again." -- NC AAUP President Belle Boggs. #highered @aaup.org www.theassemblync.com/education/hi...

A network of right wing “pink slime” faux news sites is targeting “anti-American” classes at colleges & universities nationwide. #DefendHigherEd

📢 Our open letter reminds public higher ed leaders + administrators that their actions must follow the law, not political rhetoric. The First Amendment protects the teaching of controversial topics. Executive orders and legislation to the contrary cannot override this constitutional protection.

Some Republican lawmakers have threatened to pull funding or enact other consequences if the colleges don't fire employees who criticized Charlie Kirk after his death. Here's a list of who's been fired, suspended, expelled, or disciplined so far.

Lesson for academic workers: If we mobilize alumni, parents, and students who care about the value of higher ed, we can beat back at least some of the attacks we're encountering

Looks like the UNC BOT's illegal efforts to break tenure and the public meetings law were too much for their hand-picked provost. And surprise, surprise (not): SCILL Dean Jed Atkins abetted this effort and the purge of Clemens. www.theassemblync.com/education/hi... #highered @aaup.org 1/2

🚨🚨🚨 NEW AAUP Report Analyzes Trump Admin Weaponization of Title VI to Undermine Civil Rights Protections. #Academicfreedom #AcademicSky #DefendHigherEd

Take action here: actionnetwork.org/letters/titl...

NC is one of the states hardest hit by Trump administration cuts to science research funding; CD 4 stands to lose the most research funding of any congressional district in the country. Take action to win it back. frogtroubletimes.substack.com/p/lets-win-b... @aaup.org

She'd have gotten a better grade if she hadn't asked "A1" to write the speech. www.chronicle.com/article/a-cr...

Bondi’s rhetoric is a particularly “alarming threat” given her status overseeing American law enforcement, said Veena Dubal, general counsel of the AAUP. It is also “a signal that not only does this administration not care about the first amendment, they don’t seem to really understand it.”

Dr. Leonard Bright, VP of @texasaaup.bsky.social on the resignation of Texas A&M president Mark Welsh. (Watch to the end for a report on how politicians are being appointed to lead university systems in Texas.) #DefendHigherEd #AcademicFreedom #AcademicSky

“We should all be able to teach our subject matters with freedom and without censorship. And, of course, every student should have the right to learn without censorship and with freedom.” Solidarity. ✊🏽

LFG!!!!

**looks around** It's an important time to join your AAUP and join the fight for academic freedom, shared governance, and better working conditions for all in higher ed -- because, honestly -- no one can advocate for us in this moment like us. Join us! www.aaup-sc.org/join 5/5

Authoritarianism is scary and dangerous but so very far from invincible. And if you let yourself be convinced too much of their power, then they've won. Authoritarianism is built on fragile illusions of control and competence. It's hard but brittle and shatters readily under even a little pushback.

News from #Emory. The campus @aaup.org chapter has a BSky account. @emoryaaup.bsky.social Lots going on at Emory & in the wider academic world. Give them a follow. #academicsky #edusky #skystorians #stemsky @wearehighered.bsky.social @matthewboedy.bsky.social

“We will not allow authoritarians to dismantle higher education. We will not allow billionaires to profit while communities suffer. And we will not allow fear to silence students and workers who speak out.” — Todd Wolfson, AAUP President #DefendHigherEd #HigherEdBenefitsEveryone @aft.org

We just filed a lawsuit on behalf of faculty, staff, students, and unions to protect free speech within the University of California system. The Trump-Vance admin's use of financial threats against academic institutions in an attempt to stifle views it opposes is both unconstitutional and illegal.

We are live now from San Francisco announcing our lawsuit bringing together a broad coalition of labor unions to stop the Trump administration’s attempt to unlawfully stifle free speech within the University System of California. @aft.org @uaw.org @calnurses.bsky.social #DefendHigherEd

BREAKING: A historic coalition of national & California labor unions led by the AAUP filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the illegal & coercive use of civil rights laws to attack the University of California system & the rights of their members.

NC folks: Sign up for this to phone bank to help sustain Governor Stein's vetoes of anti-DEI bills that, if enacted, would severely chill free speech and academic freedom and diminish the quality of public K-12 @aaup.org and higher education and public services in NC. www.mobilize.us/indivisibleg...

Faculty, advocacy groups fear Texas A&M firing threatens academic freedom. “It’s one of the most chilling stories I’ve seen in recent years,” said PEN America's @jonfreadom.bsky.social. www.texastribune.org/2025/09/15/t...

At a moment when higher education is threatened by forces that seek to destroy it and its role in a democratic society, the anticipatory obedience shown by this rush to judgment must be avoided. Link to statement here: 4/4

A must-read essay from Joan Scott: “We are again confronting a massive attack on the very foundations of democratic education and, this time around, the stakes feel even higher. In the 1950s, the targets were individual teachers…and their left-wing unions. Now the target is the system itself.” ⬇️

What's happening at Clemson shows how the edifice of academic freedom has crumbled. The board is aligned with a right wing legislature and the legislature explicitly threatens the funding and so the institutional leadership throws their principles away. www.chronicle.com/article/clem...

It’s a good time to discuss (or revisit) academic freedom with your students. Great classroom-ready resources linked below. #TeachTheTruth #DefendHighetEd