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"When manufactured budget cuts result in the elimination of gender and ethnic studies, academia dies. ... When professors are forced to overcomply with state regulations and university policies in fear of being prosecuted, academia dies. But we will not let it die quietly". #AcademicFreedom

The attack on Black studies Given its scale, this assault is not ours alone to fight: Everyone committed to democracy, intellectual freedom, and the rule of law should be alarmed at what is happening—and prepared to act. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

On the one-year anniversary of EMPIRE OF AI, I am so, so excited to announce The AI Resist List, a new project that documents examples of resistance to the AI empires around the world 😍 airesistlist.org

I really love this piece by @profjulies.bsky.social published in @msmagazine.com about the right-wing attack on the teaching about gender. @aaup.org Authoritarians are scared of GWSS because it "teaches students they deserve to live their true, autonomous selves." msmagazine.com/2026/04/03/t...

"Shared governance is not a slogan or a problem to be solved. It is the mechanism by which universities protect academic freedom and intellectual integrity.. Faculty authority over curriculum, standards & scholarly judgment is not optional; it is foundational." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...

"The proliferation of references to fake articles threatens to undermine the legitimacy of institutional research across the board" -- by Miles Klee www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult... open access link: archive.ph/qt59c 1/🧵

Just two superb owls flying in an #earlymodern print. #superbOwl

A hot take that shouldn’t be a hot take: Top-tier PIs encourage brain breaks, creativity, and enrichment in the lab 🐛🪲 🧩 @cotesia.bsky.social

The Trump administration will not rest until every elite institution has purged itself of black people. ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...

Your time will come. 🗃️🎓

We always hear that the left part of this diagram is because of Bloomington’s low cost of living, but we’re still waiting to hear a rational explanation for the other side.

Laid off faculty and staff at the recently closed Hampshire College were not offered severance or employee benefits. Grassroots organizations and the community are rallying to support them with emergency relief fundraisers.

the thing about tenure line professors forming Pennsylvania’s largest public sector union in 50 years is unions are for everybody!! profs are public servants! and we're doing all the big publics! we're doing Urbana we're doing Michigan we're doing California! www.statecollege.com/articles/psu...

NEW: ArXiv, the open-access repository of preprint academic research, will ban authors of papers for a year if they submit obviously AI-generated work. www.404media.co/new-arxiv-ru...

Judge orders Dr. Idris Robinson reinstated at Texas State University. “Professors do not give up their constitutional rights when they accept a job at a Texas public university,” said Dr. Aimee Villarreal, President of the Texas State University chapter of Texas AAUP-AFT. 👏👏

The May Indiana AAUP newsletter is now available, and it is filled with evidence that faculty across Indiana are not only concerned about the future of higher education, but also about the current state of affairs. We are organizing! inaaupnews.org/may-2026-gen...

English department faculties are shrinking all over, but the amount work to run such departments - and the infrastructures of the field at large - has only increased. Our # of majors at BU has actually stopped declining entirely in recent years, even as the faculty shrinks.

New in #Academe: "What Does AI Do?" by @uam-umd.bsky.social Vice President Daniel Greene www.aaup.org/issue/spring...

Last week, Professor Kate Clancy spoke at our chapter's annual meeting about how "the weaponization of Title VI...is one of many ways faculty academic freedom is under threat." You can read a version of her remarks here.

We proposed this before the Canvas outage, but we’d like to thank the Canvas hackers for driving home the need for this language: "Provided instructors are meeting accessibility and pedagogical needs, faculty shall NOT be required to use ed-technologu." Full proposal here: https://loom.ly/rBZQFeA

“The message, very clearly, they’re sending is, do not speak out on behalf of Chinese postdocs. If you do, you’re going to pay a penalty...It seems pretty obvious that this is an attempt by the current administration to silence people that question their activities." — Roger Innes, IU AAUP member

New banner image for PREGNANCY INTERRUPTED just dropped! AND The paperback edition of PERIOD is 50% off right now:

The kids are alright pen.org/texas-tech-a...

🚨: UA faculty leaders are opposing a change to their university email policy, which they say was decided without faculty input. Their concerns include increased surveillance, threats to academic freedom, and the creation of a “police state” at the UA. Read my exclusive: tucson.com/news/local/s...

Wishing our chapter members and faculty everywhere a good end to the spring semester!

Historical research does not need to be done faster or in greater volume for any social or intellectual purpose whatever; if anything, it needs to be done more slowly and deliberately than at present, by people allowed the training, time, space, and resources to do it that way.

ICYMI: A recap of our joint NEH lawsuit, the judge's decision, and the importance of getting DOGE's actions on the record from @theatlantic.com. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

New in #Academe: "Intellectual Property and Brainpower Versus AI in Academic Publishing by @aaup.org Writer-Editor Kelly Hand www.aaup.org/issue/spring...

I distinctly remember, now ~decade ago, a campus-level “online learning” committee meeting where we (those with most OL experience) voted that each instructor could decide what learning mgmt system to use. (1/3)

William Noyes, Isabel Bevier, Herbert Windsor Mumford, Eugene Davenport: you might recognize these names as those of former Illinois faculty and sources of the names of some our campus buildings. But did you know they were also charter members of the @aaup.org in 1915?

🦬Illinois history professor Rosalyn LaPier is an advisor for the Smithsonian's new exhibit "Bison: Standing Strong," which commemorates the 250th anniversary of the nation and the 10th anniversary of the naming of the bison as our national mammal. Read more here: news.illinois.edu/history-prof...

🧵 While Canvas is down, it's a good time to learn more about its parent company Instructure. #AcademicSky #Academia

It's not too late to sign up for today's discussion! See the link below for the Zoom registration. We hope to see you there!

The state of academic freedom in Texas is dire: Texas Tech is now banning "future graduate student theses, dissertations and other degree-culminating research or projects from centering on sexual orientation or gender identity."

It's not too late to sign up for today's discussion! See the link below for the Zoom registration. We hope to see you there!

“Faculty members do not surrender their rights to speak as scholars and citizens when they participate in university forums—whether in classrooms, public venues, or ceremonial settings. On the contrary, such occasions are among the most visible expressions of the university’s core commitments . . .

Instructure is the parent company of Canvas.

Check out the valuable and urgent spring 2026 issue of #Academe, live now!

Did you know that UIUC faculty can join our campus AAUP chapter for free for up to 3 years? So, if you aren't a chapter member, what's stopping you?! Learn more at aaup-ui.org/chapter-dues/

Topics are being restricted. Political pressure is rising. And fear is doing the rest. Fear of losing jobs. Fear of stalled careers. Fear of retaliation. These fears are real—but silence has consequences too. Professors let's push back! youtube.com/shorts/ckhkG...

"Professor Peterson’s comments—measured, principled, and clearly situated within a broader call to recognize those who work to advance justice—fall squarely within the protected sphere of faculty speech." We urge you to do the reading and read/watch Dr. Peterson's entire speech

Since we are doing “what is the point of college” discourse again, one can easily find and read things like the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862, the foundation of state schools, “to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.”

Join us online, May 7, 2-3p, for the discussion, "Antidiscrimination Legislation & The Chilling of Academic Freedom," followed by our chapter's annual meeting. More info and link to Zoom registration: aaup-ui.org/wp-content/u...

NEW: Less than 72 hours before Weber State University in Utah was scheduled to host a conference on censorship, presenters were told not to discuss identity politics, or be removed from the official program agenda. www.404media.co/how-a-univer...

Protesters at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign gathered outside the administration building as they demanded administrators provide greater support for immigrant students and workers.

Democracy only works if we keep showing up, speaking out, and holding systems accountable. In higher education, that means protecting academic freedom, defending shared governance, and ensuring that decisions about our institutions are made with those who sustain them. #motivationmonday #vote

“Protest is part of the effort to strengthen shared governance on this campus & to build more of a culture of participation in governance of the University, which we view as having fallen too far under the influence of wealthy donors & political pressure from wealth.” — Gabe Winant, UChicago AAUP

Join us online, May 7, 2-3p, for the discussion, "Antidiscrimination Legislation & The Chilling of Academic Freedom," followed by our chapter's annual meeting. More info and link to Zoom registration: aaup-ui.org/wp-content/u...