No to SB 1782! Read Alyssa’s excellent piece - we need to protect (and expand) due process protections for all of Oklahoma’s public university and community college faculty.

“Removing tenure protection does not make universities more accountable to students or taxpayers. It makes faculty more vulnerable to political interference. For anyone who has watched what politically motivated meddling does to institutions, that should not be a selling point.” #AcademicSky

“There’s kind of a defeatism, this idea that there’s no stopping technology & that resistance is futile, everything will be crushed in its path. That needs to change … We can decide that we want to be human.” #AcademicSky

nondoc.com/2026/03/09/e... Weeks later, the OU President weighed in on the political and academic freedom attack on Mel Curth. He *claims* noninvolvement: “That’s not my role in these,” Harroz said. “As you see, there’s an appeal process going on right now that’s taking place."

The far right's new politicized higher ed accreditor is illegitimate. "Rather than protecting educational quality, the CPHE appears designed to give partisan political actors a powerful new tool to pressure universities to conform to a narrow ideological agenda" — Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

www.oudaily.com/news/oklahom... “It also sends a strong message that top-tier academics seeking employment at Oklahoma universities should look elsewhere immediately,” Givel wrote. “Why pursue a job here, including at OU, under such a repressive climate?”

“Abolishing tenure cripples scientific & creative research... This sends a strong message that top-tier academics seeking employment at Oklahoma universities should look elsewhere immediately. Why pursue a job here under such a repressive climate?” — Michael Givel, OU AAUP President

The goal is to destroy knowledge.... #LetUsTeach #LetStudentsLearn

Please sign and share this petition!

What is being labeled “controversial” today is the very knowledge Texas will need to survive tomorrow. The question is no longer whether higher education can be saved as it is. The question is whether we are ready to imagine—and build—what comes next. Important op-ed in the @texasobserver.org.

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

www.oudaily.com/news/ou-facu... Faculty Senate’s resolution insists “OU Faculty Senate Executive Committee and Faculty Senate were neither solicited for input nor endorsed the decision of the administration on this matter.” Despite the OU Administration claiming they did.

cz.boell.org/en/2023/05/1... Where else were professors stripped of tenure? That would be in right-wing authoritarian Hungary. Make no mistake Gov. Stitt's removal of tenure at Oklahoma regional & community colleges & universities is an authoritarian attack on ideas presented in college classrooms.

www.theeduledger.com/leadership-p... "The AAUP president framed the executive order within what he described as a pattern of "democratic backsliding," arguing that weakening independent academic institutions threatens democratic norms."

www.oudaily.com/news/america... Given this development, now is a really good time for OU to resume DEI efforts on campus.

AAUP President Todd Wolfson issued the following statement in response to Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt's Executive Order issued today immediately eliminating academic tenure at the state’s public regional universities and community colleges.

"Targeting regional universities and community colleges reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of tenure—as if it were a privilege reserved for a select few rather than an essential working condition for all faculty responsible for teaching and research." @proftwolf.bsky.social @aaup.org

“Contrary to claims of being ‘1 University’ & supporting shared governance, OU has not yet deigned to respond to GSS & OU AAUP statements addressing the campus issues of transparency in the grade appeals process, including with Mel Curth, support of academic freedom & to counter political attacks."

www.oudaily.com/news/graduat... The University of Oklahoma (OU) Graduate Student Senate (GSS) is demanding answers now from OU regarding the political attack on Mel Curth, the undisclosed process in firing Mel Curth, and OU's substandard academic reputation due to firing Mel Curth. OU-AAUP agrees.

Education is a public good for all. When politicians censor classroom teaching in order to narrow the field of topics that students can engage in, they rob them of a stellar world class education. This is what is happening at Texas A&M & other institutions in the state. 🧵

If Texas A&M truly believes in the values of leadership, integrity, & service, it must defend academic freedom & protect student learning. Please sign & share this petition to TAMU leadership demanding an end to all censorship of instruction & retaliation against faculty who refuse to censor.

www.insidehighered.com/news/governm... One of the claims about "Illegal DEIA" just disappeared. Time for a new OU Provost Office secret memo reversing the August 2025 secret memo about supposed "illegal DEIA" being essentially verboten at OU?

“University administrators and state lawmakers are saying, in effect, that academic freedom won’t protect you if you teach ideas they don’t like. Never mind that decades ago, the Supreme Court described classrooms as the very embodiment of the “marketplace of ideas” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/o...

www.kosu.org/2025-06-18/o... A recap of a key July 2025 court victory in which the Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld academic freedom for public colleges and universities in Oklahoma. OU-AAUP has been one of the plaintiffs.

“We urge OU to publicly and unequivocally affirm the right of OU faculty and instructors to conduct teaching, grading, and research without political interference, unlawful mandates, or external pressures that hinder academic freedom.” — Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

Read AAUP President Todd Wolfson's full statement here👇

“The suspension of Mel Curth, a graduate instructor at the University of Oklahoma (OU), stemming from a grading dispute with a student, is an egregious violation of widely accepted principles of academic freedom and due process.” — Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

“The educational credibility of OU is called into question when media coverage and external threats lead OU to appear to capitulate in a grading dispute, with the appearance that the standard appeal process is not being followed." — AAUP University of Oklahoma

What is happening at the University of Oklahoma is an outrageous violation of due process. "They hide behind vague statements & assertions of ‘trust us.’ At this point, they need to show us and not tell us." — OU AAUP