Here's the deal: the VA legislature is working on a collective bargaining bill that includes higher education workers like faculty, grad students, staff, and wage workers. Come to our collective bargaining town hall to learn more. Feb. 28 at 2pm. Ornery Beer Co., Fairfax City. RSVP: bit.ly/3OsNL0O

Reinstate the Fired Six at VSU! Six tenured & tenure track faculty members were abruptly fired at Virginia State University without cause or due process. Sign this petition to demand their reinstatement & a public commitment from VSU to honor shared governance & end to arbitrary dismissals.

Collective bargaining rights keep campuses functioning. They also improve student experiences and help them succeed at universities and colleges. During moments of crisis, the answer is to come together and to find ways to exercise our collective power.

The University of Texas system has voted to limit 'controversial topics' in class. Where's the academic freedom? "A faculty member is not going to be able do talk about current events without risking being fired. What kind of education is this?" —Brian Evans, President of @texasaaup.bsky.social

From AAUP NC President Belle Boggs's blog, an explanation of the importance of academic freedom and a call to sign our petition to the UNC BOG not to pass the proposed Code revisions frogtroubletimes.substack.com/p/academic-f...

This was a great listen, highly recommend! 🤓

Congratulations to Dr. Rümeysa Öztürk for earning her PhD despite being unlawfully targeted by ICE for protected political speech. Our victory in AAUP v. Rubio will enshrine rights for non-citizen students and faculty like Dr. Öztürk. Everyone deserves to learn and speak freely on our campuses.

DOCTOR Rümeysa Öztürk has earned her PhD!!

"By pressuring colleges and universities to adopt these policies, state leaders are sacrificing the rigorous education our students deserve," Brian Evans, Texas AAUP-AFT President, said in a statement. www.chron.com/news/houston...

This huge AAUP legal win would not have been possible without the unity and effort of UCLA faculty, staff, and students. Let’s keep it up and reclaim higher education for the common good.

Brian Evans, pres. of the Texas AAUP, says if students ask about current topics, instructors will have to decide whether to engage or not, since everything discussed in class will have to be pre-cleared. “What kind of education is this?” 🤬 www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/edu...

Give @uam-umd.bsky.social a follow and voice your support as they continue this important legislative fight to gain collective bargaining rights for faculty.

"Let's be clear, the strain on higher education is not a failure of our students or our faculty and staff. It is a result of policy choices. Connecticut has the resources to do better." #thectdifference #FundOurFutureCT #FundOurFuture @aft.org @afthighered.bsky.social @aaup.org

The devolution of Texas higher ed institutions continues. College is precisely where students SHOULD be learning about controversial subjects, not denied the opportunity to critically engage with them. @texastribune.org @texasaaup.bsky.social @texasaft.org

Apollo divestiture in State Pensions over Epstein looking imminent as AFT and AAUP send letter to SEC commonsense401kproject.com/2026/02/05/t...

Dr. Ravi Prakash: “This is an attempt by some people to basically subvert the will of the Texas Legislature and bypass the democratic process to insert something for which they could not gather majority support in the Texas Legislature.” 💯 www.kxan.com/news/educati...

Lots of mentions of the @aaup.org, as well as references to our survey and chapter president, Dr. Indigo Koslicki! www.indystar.com/story/news/e...

Apollo’s inability to be forthcoming on the extent to which Epstein was a personal & professional associate of the firm & its partners is troubling. As the Epstein files reveal, Apollo partners Rowan & Harris appear to have consulted w/ Epstein numerous times. The AAUP & AFT demand investigation.

⭐️⭐️”Instead of calling for faculty to have their teaching judged by experts…the regents are imposing a highly restrictive set of broad political bans on how professors teach. Making professors scared to say what they really think is an explicit goal of these TX censors.” 🥶

This Manhattan Institute proposal isn’t reform — it’s a power grab. It strips faculty governance, weakens academic freedom, & puts political control over teaching, hiring, and curriculum. As @aaup.org president, we will fight this every step of the way! manhattan.institute/article/mode...

ICE unlawfully arrested & detained Rümeysa Öztürk after she co-wrote a pro-Palestinian op-ed as a PhD student. Her recent op-ed reveals the trauma she faced. Cases like this led the AAUP to sue the Trump admin in AAUP v. Rubio. We won the lawsuit & protections for non-citizen students & faculty.

Winning strong contracts through collective bargaining is a key way that faculty are empowered to defend academic freedom. George Mason University AAUP is fighting to ensure that higher ed workers in Virginia can do so. Be sure to follow @aaupmason.bsky.social to support their ongoing efforts.

💥💥💥 Congrats to Columbia AAUP on successfully standing up against ICE recruitment on campus. Let's keep organizing and go all out to get ICE off our campuses. @swcolumbia.bsky.social @aaupcu.bsky.social

“When UT consolidates Gender + Ethnic studies, it sends a message to students of color: fold your wings + blend in…To my fellow students of color: your wings will never be a liability…Keep celebrating your culture, your history, your identity.” ✊ www.statesman.com/opinion/colu...

New #Union numbers were released this morning by BLS, showing that in 2025, 16.5 million workers in the United States were represented by a union, an increase of 463,000 from 2024 and the highest number of unionized workers in the U.S. in 16 years. 1/

I loved doing this pod with @citationspod.bsky.social and @chenjerai.bsky.social !!

Union membership is on the rise — and our ranks in AAUP are growing as part of this trend. Organizers across sectors and in higher ed are building the infrastructure to accomplish major wins in the future. See below for more on 2025 as a banner year for membership growth in the AAUP:

NEW: AAUP President Todd Wolfson & council member Chenjerai Kumanyika sat down with the hosts of the excellent Citations Needed podcast to discuss the acceleration of Trump's assaults on American higher education & how the AAUP is fighting back. Check it out here:

Yale AAUP launches campaign to enshrine academic freedom protections in their faculty handbook. “There is a commitment to academic freedom here, but it needs to be made more meaningful at a time when there’s so much real risk around it.” @yaleaaup.bsky.social

"Those who support the current attacks on academic freedom often do so out of an actively propagated misunderstanding about who academic freedom protects: mistaking it for coddling of entitled professors, when in fact it serves the common good." —Priya Satia, @stanfordaaup.bsky.social

The AAUP achieved a major victory against the Trump administration. Our legal win in AAUP v. Trump ensured that the administration "cannot use civil rights laws or federal funding as a cudgel to remake the UC in its ideological image."

When the higher education sector is organized, we have the power to stop the Trump administration's campaigns against American universities We are proud of our members and allies at UCLA who successfully blocked Trump from extracting $1.2 billion from UCLA over alleged civil rights violations.

Never felt happier to pay @aaup.org dues.

The Epstein files revealed new details of multiple meetings over several years between convicted pedophile Epstein, Apollo CEO Marc Rowan and his Apollo co-founder and former CEO Leon Black. The AAUP & AFT are demanding that the Securities & Exchange Commission open an investigation. @aft.org

"The people who seek to muzzle faculty from entering into uncomfortable topics in the classroom are doing a disservice to our students. Discussing difficult topics is how we teach students to think critically, to form & support their own arguments, and to engage in thoughtful and respectful debate."

The steps in the process: go after tenure, fire professors, eliminate departments, dictate course content. Watch for the template to be attempted in other state systems. @higheredlabor.bsky.social @aaup.org

Let’s go @aft.org + @aaup.org! Let’s fight for inclusion and better working conditions for VA’s higher ed workers. At @aaupmason.bsky.social, under attack by Trump-Youngkin and a rogue board, we fought for President Washington’s job—and won! All workers at Mason deserve that level of fight!

New Epstein files reveal multiple meetings over several years between Jeffery Epstein and leaders at Apollo Global Management. That’s why we are demanding accountability and a full SEC investigation into the firm’s disclosures. www.axios.com/2026/02/17/e...

The PSC mourns the loss of Rev. Jesse Jackson, two-time presidential candidate, faith leader, and champion of organized labor... Jackson was one of the nation’s most effective advocates for civil rights and social justice. psc-cuny.org/news-events/...

Who is leading the fight against the Trump admin attack on universities & our communities throughout this country? Unions are! @senbillferg.bsky.social @mddems.bsky.social & @mdhousedems.bsky.social, help us help defend democracy & MD universities by passing our collective bargaining bill!

Happening now: @uconnaaup.bsky.social, #BackusNurses leaders urge lawmakers on #CTGeneralAssembly’s #HigherEd cmte to stopgap x’d federal Grad PLUS loans, empower RNs & #HospitalStaff to seek advanced careers. #TheCTDifference @aft.org @afthighered.bsky.social @afthealthcare.bsky.social @aaup.org

National AAUP statement on the attack of a journalist by a Chase Center affiliate at OSU. This isn’t just any professor being violent. This is the product of shared governance being dismantled.

🚨 AAUP has received reports that, in at least one UH college, a dean has already implemented a course review process “to ensure alignment with SB37” and “academic integrity” and has directed faculty to remove or modify syllabi content on race, LGBTQ+ and other issues. aaup-texas.org/blog/f/uh-pr...

Deeply disturbing confessions from Heritage. Creating new accreditors like CPHE is simply part of their Plan B. Plan A is to eliminate federal funding and oversight, and turn higher ed into a cesspool of unaccountable charter schools and state patronage schemes. 👎 www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

“We urge OSU to stop criminalizing free expression and to create an intellectual civic space that befits a university. We call on university leaders to explicitly commit to defending our community against lawless intimidation by ICE, CBP, and related agencies.”

The AAUP condemns the attack of a journalist at OSU. This incident is a predictable consequence of the dismantling of widely accepted practices of academic shared governance. How? The assailant is an employee of the Chase “intellectual diversity” center which has limited accountability to OSU.

The proposed policy on "Teaching Controversial Topics" is vague, leaves key terms undefined, and would have a chilling effect on what is taught. This, in turn, would curtail the freedom of our students to learn and Texas' ability to recruit world-class faculty working on pressing issues.

"In recent months, Texas universities have inflicted some of the worst repression of academic freedom we’ve ever witnessed at American colleges, with gag orders, speaker bans and arbitrary firings of dissenting faculty."

The AAUP condemns the attack of a journalist at OSU. This incident is a predictable consequence of the dismantling of widely accepted practices of academic shared governance. How? The assailant is an employee of the Chase “intellectual diversity” center which has limited accountability to OSU.

NEW: Today, AFT and @aaup.org are demanding that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigates Apollo Global Management and their ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Read more 👇