The Trump administration’s proposed budget, released last week, cuts the Department of Education budget by 13.5 percent and reads like a primer on how to destroy higher education and research. The budget guts student-loan forgiveness, subsidized loans, the federal work study program, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Fulbright program, to name a few targets.
Back in March we opposed similar cuts proposed in the administration’s “skinny budget,” and we continue to stand strongly against the new budget proposal.

Sign on to an open letter opposing the cuts. We will deliver it to lawmakers on Capitol Hill on June 15, during our annual lobbying day.

Rudy Fichtenbaum
President, AAUP

A report of an AAUP investigation released May 16 concludes that the administration of Spalding University in Kentucky summarily dismissed Erlene Grise-Owens, a long-serving professor of social work, in blatant violation of her academic freedom and normative standards of academic governance and due process.

The report finds that Spalding’s president and provost abruptly terminated Professor Grise-Owens’s tenured appointment because she criticized the administration’s handling of an incident involving a student who brought a gun to a campus parking lot, showed it to a fellow student, and said, “I'm tired of these people f--king with me.” When the student who was shown the gun reported the incident to institutional authorities, the school's chair immediately alerted social work faculty about the incident—except the school’s three faculty members of color, one of whom was scheduled to have the student in class the next day. The student had a history of making racially charged comments in class.

Read the full report here.

Professor Grise-Owens and two of the three faculty members filed formal complaints about the administration’s failure to notify the faculty members of color about the incident. After the administration dismissed their complaint as groundless, they brought it in person to the faculty senate. The same day as their meeting with the senate, Professor Grise-Owens received notice of dismissal at her home by certified mail.

Following the administration’s action, the other two faculty members resigned in protest. One stated, “I cannot be part of such a system, and I will not be part of a system that continuously models disparity between principles and actions and in so doing puts my life and the lives of my students in harm’s way.” The investigating committee found that Professor Grise-Owens was dismissed for “speaking out against institutional policies and practices she deemed inadequate” and, as one faculty member put it, for “being connected to the marginalized voices” of faculty of color.

The AAUP conducts investigations in a few select cases, in which faculty members allege that severe departures from widely accepted academic standards have occurred and persist despite efforts to achieve an appropriate resolution.

Please share the report with your colleagues.

Michael DeCesare
Merrimack College
Chair of the Investigating Committee

Access to free public higher education and strong protections for faculty? That’s a bill we can get behind.

Last month the AAUP endorsed the College for All Act, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, which would make four-year public college free for families making less than $125,000 and community college free for all. Former students would be able to refinance their student loans with lower interest rates, easing the burden for those who may be struggling. The funding would come from a Wall Street speculation tax. The bill also includes provisions to increase the percentage of faculty jobs that are full-time and on the tenure track, compensate faculty on part-time appointments for work done outside the classroom, and support faculty access to professional development and shared governance.

Next month,  AAUP members will meet with members of Congress as part of Capitol Hill Day during our Annual Conference. We’ll be delivering a letter of support for the College for All Act to members of Congress.

Add your name to the letter now.
https://actionnetwork.org/forms/support-the-college-for-all-bill?link_id=1&can_id=6117e4ea23e3cb8599322a9da81ddf68&source=email-sign-on-in-support-of-college-for-all-faculty-protections&email_referrer=sign-on-in-support-of-college-for-all-faculty-protections&email_subject=sign-on-in-support-of-college-for-all-faculty-protections

The College for All Act reaffirms a commitment to quality, public higher education as a right for all Americans. It will help current and former students tackle crippling debt by refinancing loans. Crucially for faculty, it would cut down on the abuse of adjunct labor and strengthen academic freedom protections by increasing the percentage of faculty positions that are on the tenure track.

The AAUP is proud to endorse the bill. Join us and add your name.

Best regards,
Rudy Fichtenbaum
President, AAUP