Shortly after our Texas AAUP voted to affiliate with Texas AFT in March, Texas AFT hired two new full-time organizers for Texas AAUP, Alvaro Chavez (Lead Organizer) and Amanda Garcia (Organizer), who started July 1st and are pictured below outside the Texas AFT Headquarters in Austin. Alvaro is based in the Rio Grande Valley and Amanda is based in Austin. In addition, Alejandro Pena is helping Texas AAUP members with Government Relations and Policy Analysis. We in Texas AAUP also have access to the 40 full-time staff at Texas AFT, including lawyers, media specialists, and lobbyists. This will be critical to help us organize in the fall and spring to advocate on our campuses and at the Texas Legislature.
Planning Fall Outreach on Your Campus
For the fall, I’d like to ask AAUP members on each campus to plan a fall outreach event. It could be presenting AAUP principles at faculty orientation; hosting a speaker/panel on academic freedom, shared governance, or the upcoming Legislative session; or forming an AAUP chapter if you don’t have one. Please contactYour AAUP chapter president to see how you could help, or contact me on how to start an AAUP chapter. Here’s a list of the AAUP chapters in Texas.Texas AAUP VP for your region (North, East, West, South, Central). Here are names and contact info for our Texas AAUP Officers. Texas AFT Organizers for Texas AAUP, Alvaro Chavez (achavez@texasaft.org) and Amanda Garcia (agarcia@texasaft.org). AAUP chapter presidents, Texas AAUP VPs, Texas AFT organizers, and I have been brainstorming about fall outreach during our meetings held every three weeks.
Next Texas Legislature Convenes January 16, 2025
Next Texas Legislature will be from Jan. 16 to June 2, 2025, and Legislators can start filing bills as soon as they have been certified as elected in the November election. Legislative priorities include stifling free speech, suppressing academic freedom, restricting shared governance, and silencing faculty. Bills will severely limit faculty senates or eliminate them altogether. We also anticipate bills to expand the bans on DEI student services and other DEI activities, and weaken tenure and other faculty employment protections.
Project 2025 Higher Ed Priorities
Project 2025, organized by the Heritage Foundation in consultation with “more than 100 conservative organizations” including the Texas Public Policy Foundation, contains national Higher Education Priorities includingprivatizing student loansdefunding area studieseliminating federal oversight of institutional accreditation bodies, teaching American exceptionalism, banning “gender ideology and critical race theory”, disbanding the US Dept. of Education altogether. Institutional accreditation bodies currently require an institution to have safeguards for academic freedom and an implementation of shared governance. For context, please see Isaac Kamola, Manufacturing Backlash: Right-Wing Think Tanks and Legislative Attacks on Higher Education, 2021–2023, AAUP Center for Academic Freedom.
Upcoming Events
Please consider participating (and inviting colleagues to participate) in the following opportunities for training in academic freedom, shared governance, and organizing to help us advocate on our campus and at the Legislature:
July 27, 9am-1pm, Texas Faculty Association Training on Faculty Rights and Grievances, Attorney Frank Hill, Zoom link. Here’s a faculty lawsuit vs. Dallas College being argued by Frank Hill. Hosted by Pat Heintzelman (TFA President). Aug. 1-4, National AAUP Summer Institute, Wayne State University, in Detroit, Michigan. In person only. Aug. 6: AFT Winning Issue Campaigns. RSVP. 3-5pm ET. Zoom. Training is complimentary for union and non-union members alike. Sep. 14, 9am-5pm, Higher Education Summit, Beaumont, Texas. RSVP Pat Heintzelman (TFA President) at tfa.president@texasfacultyassociation.org. Sep. 28, 9am-1pm, Texas AAUP-AFT Fall Meeting, San Marcos, Texas, in person and on Zoom. RSVP Brian Evans (Texas AAUP President) at aaup.texas@gmail.com
AAUP@UT 
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