Reports from the 2026 Summit Conference/Biennial Meeting
Each year the PA-AAUP is able to provide funding support for our members to attend national AAUP gatherings. Here are reports from some of the this year’s participants in the AAUP Summit Conference/Biennial Meeting from June 10-13th in Chicago:
I have attended many academic conferences, but this is the first time I have attended a conference focused on organizing in higher education that truly transcended disciplinary boundaries. While the current national (and global) sense of instability and urgency certainly pervaded the 2026 Higher Ed Summit and Biennial, I was buoyed by the shared dedication to organizing and the power of collective solidarity.
One session in particular that particularly impacted me was the listening session for non-tenure-track and contingent faculty. The session was organized around a proposed resolution to intensify the AAUP’s focus on the issue of increasing precarity in higher education. The session was well-attended and the resolution hotly debated. While there was open disagreement on the specifics of the resolution and on the AAUP’s general framing of the issue it was obvious that everyone in the room had a deeply personal stake in the issue. We did not come to any consensus, but the very fact that so many people came together to advocate on behalf of contingent faculty (of which I am one) was incredibly hopeful.
While a resolution might feel like a mostly symbolic action by the AAUP, seeing all of the people physically present at that session in Chicago, each doing critical work on their own campuses, made me feel for the first time in a while that real, positive change was possible.
Justin Mullikin
Critical Writing Program
University of Pennsylvania
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I deeply appreciate the support from PA-AAUP to attend the 2026 AAUP Higher Ed. Summit in Chicago. I attended a number of useful sessions with a personal focus on academic freedom and shared governance. I found the sessions on the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom (CDAF) particularly valuable. The Center was established in 2024 and has already made available a number of academic freedom resources including the Academic Freedom Field Guide, First Aid Kit, and Syllabus. The Center also produces a newsletter and podcast.
My most meaningful experience was attending a special screening of the documentary, First They Came for My College. The film explores Governor Ron DeSantis’s takeover of New College of Florida through appointment of a number of new, conservative board members and the resulting significant changes to the institution over the next two years. New College of Florida is Florida’s public honors college. One of the most powerful aspects of First They Came for My College was the extensive use of student-shot footage which represents approximately one-third of the film. The screening was followed by a panel discussion which featured one of the producers, Harry Hanbury, a New College alumnus; Patricia Okker, the New College president fired immediately after the new board was seated; and Brian Cody, a leader of the new alumni organization (Novo Collegian Alliance) that was formed to defend the institution. The filmmakers are currently planning a series of campus screenings for the 2026-27 academic year and seeking campus partners. In 2024, the AAUP sanctioned New College as a result of this ideological takeover and the abandonment of any effort at shared governance.
John Wesley Lowery, Ph.D.
Department of Student Affairs, Student Success, and Disability Access
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
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During the 2026 American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Higher Ed Summitt and Biennial Meeting, the session that I found to be most important was “Shared Governance at HBCUs.” At the session, the speakers representing several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) discussed in-depth that at this current time many HBCUs have leadership instability because of constant shifting. Money at HBCUs is not trickling down to faculty, staff, and students and is being stuck at the top with the hiring of too many administration positions such as vice presidents. It was noted by one of the speakers that there are trends in shared governance nationwide that will impact HBCUs such as faculty senates being dissolved; administration control over appointments and removal of faculty members from faculty bodies; elimination of faculty input in general governance issues like budget and strategic planning; diminishment of faculty authority in academic areas of governance like greater control over general education, curriculum, and syllabi; undermining and or elimination of faculty roles in dismissal or sanction decisions pertaining to faculty; and greater external interference from state government officials.
I found this information to be important because what affects one institution can and will affect all institutions, especially HBCUs which tend to have less resources than Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). The most crucial point made during the session was emphasizing the power in membership within an AAUP Chapter because there are more faculty than administrators. If the chapter at my institution understands this more soon, then there will be better participation and membership to build a stronger chapter.
Jordan Denson
Pan Africana Studies
Lincoln University
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The AAUP Biennial and Summer Summit was an informative and inspirational week. Here are a few highlights:
Advocacy and collective bargaining chapter members alike benefitted from the sessions on bargaining for the common good by faculty who discussed how they got mental health resources into their contracts. They also discussed their current work establishing their campus as sanctuary. This is done by working with grad students, undergrads, community members and creating solidarity coalitions across groups. This works looks promising and as a good model for you to organize for items not legally mandated. The takeaway was if you can make a persuasive argument, with support of as many people and groups as possible, and how the issue impacts your workplace, you can include included in your bargaining agreement or memorandum of understanding.
The focus on coalitions was prominent in sessions featuring representatives of Higher Ed Labor United (HELU) and Coalition for Action in Higher Education (CAHE). We heard from speakers on the status of campaigns. (HELU & CAHE have websites, resources, and email updates. HELU’s next online open house is June 17 see their website to sign up to learn more.)
We also heard of the importance to “Know your Board” in order to understand the composition and work of governing boards. This information helps to build strength for shared governance through transparency in terms of budgets, institutions’ credit and investment records, academic freedom, and workplace policies. A student member of Debt Collective who showed how important this work is and how inspiring it is for Faculty and Students to be working together.
A particularly useful session discussed how ATIXA, a consultancy group, is now writing a lot of our diversity and inclusion policies, connected to the weaponization of Title VI and Title IX against faculty (and completely against principles of academic freedom and shared governance). Writing stronger language in your faculty handbooks or contracts or MOUs is one way to counter this. Session leaders recommended that AAUP chapters establish a Faculty review committee should Faculty be brought up on charges where Title VI and IX are weaponized against them.
Michelle Rodino-Colocino
Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications (Media Studies)
Penn State University
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Attending the AAUP Biennial Meeting was an outstanding learning opportunity. I gained insight into the current pulse of issues facing higher education. The focus on academic freedom, advocacy, and collective bargaining emerged clearly throughout each of the sessions.
I was very impressed with the wide variety of presentations shared during the concurrent sessions of the event. Presenters were well versed in their areas of expertise. I learned a great deal of valuable information that I plan to share with colleagues at my university.
I highly recommend this event to others.
Lynn Hummel
Department of Technology, Business, and Marketing
Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania
