Just want to let you know that my tenure as president of the Texas AAUP Conference ended on Friday, June 30, 2023. Brian Evans, our VP, assumed the duties of President on July 1, 2023, and will finish out the remainder of this 2-year term. As you probably know, Brian has been leading our efforts in advocating for academic freedom, tenure, and DEI with the Texas legislature. This past spring Brian spent many hours at the Capital, working alongside our AFT partners and other organizations to protect higher education and faculty rights. We owe him much gratitude for his continuing efforts.

Please know that I will still be active in AAUP, and will be glad to help educate your faculty about shared governance and academic freedom, or to advise in any other way. I recently became Interim Dean of the College of Business at UHV, and am having to devote much time to turning things around; hence the decision to step aside at this time.

Finally, with Brian becoming Interim President, we will need someone to take over as Interim Vice-President. As we have seen over the course of this year, academic freedom is not free, and now, more than ever, we need everyone to be actively involved. If you are interested in taking on a leadership role, and want to learn more about what is involved, please reach out to Brian, Jim or Theresa Klein, Lynn Tatum, Ann McGlashan, or myself. The most important attribute for someone in this office, quite simply, is a commitment to the ideals that historically have made higher education in the U.S. the best in the world.

In solidarity,

Jeff

Jeff Blodgett, PhD

jeffblodgett@aaup-texas.org
phone: (281) 910-7858