FAQ

We can help! Contact us by email: pa.conference.aaup@gmail.com  In addition, there are many AAUP resources, including our willing to meet and discuss your efforts. This link provides access to important documents, tip sheets, and contact information:

Start a Chapter

According to the AAUP’s 1966 Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities,

the “variety and complexity of the tasks performed by institutions of higher education produce an inescapable interdependence among governing board, administration, faculty, students, and others. The relationship calls for adequate communication among these components, and full opportunity for appropriate joint planning and effort.” In other words, for a college or university to function effectively the primary stakeholders must communicate and plan with each other. For faculty, their responsibilities lie within curriculum, subject-matter and mode of instruction, research, faculty status, and areas of student life related to the educational process. Although the president and/or governing board has the power of the final decision, reasons around decisions on these areas should be communicated to faculty and faculty should be given the opportunity to comment on those decisions, with faculty voices being considered in the decision-making.

For more resources, see shared governance resources on the AAUP website.

The AAUP defines academic freedom in the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic

Freedom and Tenure as “essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and

research. Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth. Academic freedom in its teaching aspect is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student to freedom in learning. It carries with it duties correlative with rights.” This relates to full freedom in research and the publication of its results, freedom in teaching in the classroom as long as the topic has relation to the content of the course, and freedom of respectful and accurate extramural utterances when speaking as a private citizen, not as a representative of their institution. The AAUP views tenure as a critical process in advancing academic freedom.

Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure promotes academic freedom, tenure, and due process in higher education.

Faculty rights covered a wide range of issues from academic freedom and tenure,

workplace issues and intellectual property, and protection from harassment based on gender and sexuality or race. Tenured faculty are not the only faculty protected by the AAUP; contingent faculty have rights within higher education too.

First, make sure you document all conversations and save all written communications around the issue.

Second, if you have a campus AAUP chapter, contact their leadership. If you do not have a campus chapter or have more questions, you can contact the PA-AAUP state conference at: pa.conference.aaup@gmail.com  .

The declaration of financial exigency is a serious action by a higher education institution. It is rare. If this is being planned (or announced) faculty members may contact the AAUP.

Among the many aspects involved in the declaration of financial exigency, the AAUP notes in Financial Exigency, Academic Governance, and Related … that it must be, “A severe financial crisis that fundamentally compromises the academic integrity of the institution as a whole and that cannot be alleviated by less drastic means” than terminating appointments.” Regulation 4c of the Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure (RIR) contains the AAUP’s recommended policies on financial exigency. Practical guidelines for implementing these policies can be found in On Institutional Problems Resulting from Financial Exigency: Some Operating Guidelines  .

Yes, but there are considerable requirements. While budgetary considerations may factor into elimination decisions, academic reasons must be the primary ones for driving such changes. It must not serve as a cover for shedding faculty positions due to a budget crisis. It is important to note that the AAUP has long held that the process must occur through the established principles of shared governance. At the center of this process is the notion that, in academic matters the institution, the Faculty “has primary responsibility for such fundamental areas as curriculum, subject matter and methods of instruction, research, faculty status, and those aspects of student life which relate to the educational process.”  While the authority in these matters, as in all matters at the College, rest with the Board of Trustees (or delegated by it to the President), a policy or decision contrary to that of the Faculty’s in academic matters, “should be exercised adversely only in exceptional circumstances, and for reasons communicated to the faculty.” (Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities)

There are important safeguards for tenured faculty in cases of department and program discontinuance that are described in Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic … , (esp. section 4d).

This is a serious matter. The AAUP maintains in On Institutional Social Media Policies  that “academic freedom includes the freedom to address the larger community with regard to any matter of social, political, economic, or other interest, without institutional discipline or restraint, save in response to fundamental violations of professional ethics or statements that suggest disciplinary incompetence.” Social media “can be used to address matters of public concern and thus that their use by faculty members speaking as citizens is subject to Association-supported principles of academic freedom.” Faculty and academic staff who believe that they have been censured through their sue of social media should consult Academic Freedom and Electronic Communications