AAUP@UT

We champion academic freedom, advance shared governance, and organize faculty and staff to promote economic security and quality education.

Contact: Chapter President Karma Chavez aaup.utaustin@gmail.com

AAUP at UT Austin Expresses Concerns about UT’s “Statement on Academic Integrity”, Nov. 11, 2025

AAUP at UT Austin Stands in Solidarity with Faculty in the Texas A&M System, Nov. 11, 2025

AAUP Chapter at UT Austin Responses to the Trump Compact

• AAUP Chapter at UT Austin Statement on the Trump Administration “Compact”, Oct. 14, 2025
• AAUP Chapter at UT Austin Resolution on the Trump Administration “Compact”, Oct. 14, 2025
• Trump Administration, Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, Oct. 1, 2025

National Petitions Against the Trump Compacts

• University Administrations: Reject Trump’s “Loyalty Oath” Compacts, by Student, Staff, and Faculty organizations including Higher Ed Labor United.  Anyone can sign.
• To: University Presidents and Trustees: STAND WITH YOUR SCHOOL: Federal government attacks 9 universities. Sign the alumni petition now.  Anyone can sign.

Texas AAUP-AFT Response to Degree Audits and New State Laws

• Faculty Rights: Standing Against Censorship, Sept. 25, 2025. Here’s more info about your faculty rights in the UT System
• Upholding Faculty Rights to Academic Freedom and Due Process, an open letter to college and university administrators, Sept. 22, 2025
• Higher Ed Laws from the 2025 Texas Legislature, Aug. 4, 2025

AAUP Chapter at UT Austin 2025

• Advocacy: AAUP at UT Austin Expresses Concerns about UT’s “Statement on Academic Integrity”, Nov. 3, 2025
• Teach-In: Learn about Trump’s Proposed Compact with UT and What We Can All Do About It, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, 4-6pm, University Methodist Church, 2409 Guadalupe, Austin, TX. Flier.
• Advocacy: “Authoritarian Shift at UT Austin: AAUP Chapter Condemns Faculty Governance Overhaul“, Sept. 27, 2025
• Advocacy: “AAUP Executive Committee Letter to UT Austin Interim President Jim Davis,” concerning lack of a consultative committee for a national search for the new Provost hire, June 2, 2025.
• Advocacy: “Letter from AAUP Chapter at UT Austin: Revocation of International Student Visas“, March 9, 2025.
• Advocacy: “Statement on President Jay Hartzell’s Resignation“, Jan. 7, 2025.
• AAUP Principles in UT Policies: Curriculum – Academic freedom
• Meetings: Fall 24 – Fall 23 – Spr 23 – Fall 22 – Spr 22 – Fall 21
• Officers: 2025-27 and By-Laws

AAUP Chapter at UT Austin 2024 Highlights

• Chapter Meeting: Agenda, slides & highlights, Dec. 11, 2024.
• Testified at Texas Senate hearing on faculty senates and curriculum, Nov. 11, 2024.
• Join the AAUP Chapter at UT Austin Handout, Oct. 13, 2024
• Message to President Jay Hartzell About Not Following Due Process in Non-Renewal of Dean Stevens, Oct. 11, 2024
• Testified at Texas Senate hearing on implementation of anti-DEI SB 17 and Governor’s Order on antisemitism & free speech, May 14, 2024.
• UT Faculty have No Confidence in President Hartzell due to mass firings and militarized response to campus protests, Apr. 25, 2024.
• Response to mass firings of staff, faculty, administrators, Apr. 2, 2024.
• Academic freedom presentation to Dean’s Council, Mar. 2, 2024.

Slides & Fliers

All AAUP members affiliated with UT Austin are automatically members of AAUP@UT. If you are affiliated with UT Austin and would like to join the AAUP@UT mailing list, please email Brian Evans.

Our advocacy is amplified by teaming with Texas AAUP, AAUP, Texas AFT, AFT, Texas Council of Faculty Senates, Texas Faculty Association, Texas State Employees Union, Black Brown Dialogues on Policy, Texas Students for DEI, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Pen America, Texas NAACP, Every Texan, ACLU Texas, and other orgs. AAUP is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, and Texas AAUP is affiliated with Texas AFT.

Texas AAUP and National AAUP successfully advocated for tenured Associate Professor Mickie Mwanzia Koster to receive full due process from The University of Texas at Tyler. Without advocacy from AAUP, Professor Koster would have been dismissed on Nov. 1, 2023 after receiving a 15-day termination notice on Oct. 16th. Prof. Koster remains employed at UT Tyler.

On Oct. 16, 2023, Dr. Mickie Mwanzia Koster, a tenured Associate Professor of History of Africa and the African Diaspora at UT Tyler, received a 15-day notice of termination of tenure without due process.  She contacted us at Texas AAUP on Monday, Oct. 23rd, and we sprang into action:

• Texas AAUP alerts AAUP National on 10/23/2023
• AAUP National letter to the UT Tyler President on 10/25/2023 AM
• Texas AAUP letter to the UT Tyler President on 10/25/2023 PM
• Texas AAUP advocates on social media and through news outlets on 10/26/2023 and 10/27/2023
• UT Tyler President decides to give due process per email to UT Tyler faculty, Texas AAUP and AAUP National on 10/28/2023 PM
• Dr. Mickie Mwanzia Koster’s response on 10/28/2023 PM
• UT Tyler rescinds the termination date of Oct. 31, 2023, and will provide due process under UT System policies including a faculty grievance hearing per email sent on 10/30/2023 PM

Dr. Koster has asked the Texas AAUP Conference to serve as her faculty advocate and spokesperson for her case, and we are.

About AAUP.  We champion academic freedom, advance shared governance, and organize all faculty to promote economic security and quality education.  Founded in 1915, AAUP jointly developed principles on academic freedom, tenure and shared governance with college and university administrations that have been widely adopted by US colleges and universities. Join AAUP.

An AAUP advocacy chapter provides a welcoming and vibrant community of teachers and researchers who are devoted to preserving and strengthening each member’s academic freedom:

• Helps faculty connect with other faculty across campus
• Gives training on AAUP principles of academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance jointly formulated with college and university administrations and widely adopted in US colleges and universities
• Gives training on departmental, college, and university governance on campus and how to get your individual and collective voices heard
• Works with the Faculty Senate to influence changes to campus policies
• Encourages members to participate in shared governance at all levels of the institution, including run for Faculty Senate
• Provides mentoring and professional development for a network of scholars, including giving advice for preparing a promotion case
• Helps faculty navigate policies, investigations, and grievances, and connect faculty with resources from Texas AAUP-AFT and AAUP
• Hosts seminars and panels on academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance for faculty, staff, administrators and future faculty
• Gives training in Legislative advocacy and advocates at the State Legislature

Forming a chapter.  AAUP has step-by-step instructions to form an AAUP Chapter on your campus. At least seven AAUP members and three elected officers among the AAUP members are required. The process starts by identifying an AAUP member to serve as the Convener. The Convener is not obligated to stand for election for an officer position. It can be helpful to hold an information meeting before the following steps take place. Ccontact the Texas AAUP President at aaup.texas@gmail.com for assistance.

Here are the steps:

1. The Convener invites all AAUP members on campus to a meeting.
   • Contact the Texas AAUP President at aaup.texas@gmail.com to obtain a roster for the AAUP members on your campus and discuss ideas about how to implement these three steps.
   • About a week before the meeting, the Convener sends a draft of the by-laws to all AAUP members for comment. Here are the by-laws for the UT Arlington AAUP Chapter in Word.
2. At the meeting, and 90 minutes would likely be enough time,
   • Invite all AAUP members to attend.
   • Adopt by-laws
     • By-laws for the UT Arlington AAUP Chapter in Word.  
     • By-laws have a quorum rule of 20% of AAUP members.
   • Hold officer elections
     • Only AAUP members can nominate candidates, stand for election, vote, and hold office.
     • Campuses with 7-15 AAUP members could hold nominations and elections in the 90-minute meeting if a quorum is present
     • Campuses with more than 15 AAUP members should consider holding the nomination and election processes electronically with enough time in each step (e.g. a week)
     • A minimum of three officers must be elected — President, Vice President, and Treasurer-Secretary. It is okay if the other officer positions in the by-laws (if any) are not filled.
     • Officers must keep their AAUP memberships up to date during their elected terms
     • AAUP officer positions should be independent of the Central Administration. We would recommend that the current President-Elect, President, and Immediate Past President of the Faculty Senate not be an AAUP Chapter Officer.  
3. Send the list of officers and by-laws to the National AAUP Office at organizing@aaup.org

AAUP Chapter Funding. AAUP Chapters may apply for funding from AAUP Advocacy Chapter Mobilization Fund for grants up to $7500. In addition, a new AAUP chapter can apply for $300 of funding from the Texas AAUP conference for an event for its members, including the reception for the President and Provost.  This opportunity is also available for AAUP chapters who have not previously used this funding.

AAUP Membership is open to all current and retired faculty members, graduate students and post-doctoral researchers, and academic advisors. Administrators, e.g. Deans, Provost, and President, can become non-voting Associate Members but not Members.  When joining AAUP, one would automatically become members of Texas AAUP and American Federation of Teachers at no extra charge.  AFT is a national K-12 and higher ed union with 1.7M members including 148,000 professors.  If there is an AAUP Chapter on your campus, then AAUP Members would automatically join the AAUP Chapter as well. Here are the local chapters in Texas.

From Aug. 14 to Sep. 1, 2023, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas AAUP as well as Texas Faculty Association conducted a survey of faculty in their states. Survey found that an overwhelming majority of faculty who responded are deeply dissatisfied with the current state of higher education:

• About 2/3 do not recommend their state to colleagues as desirable to work
• About 1/3 are actively seeking academic jobs elsewhere
• About 1/5 have already interviewed for jobs in other states since 2021

In Texas, the primary reason for leaving was political climate followed by salary.

• Press Releases: Regional – Florida – Georgia – North Carolina – Texas
• News articles: Chronicle of Higher Ed – Texas Tribune – Houston Chronicle – Dallas Morning News – Reform Austin – Kera News – The Daily Texan (UT Austin)
• Slides: “Texas AAUP / TFA Survey”, Sept. 30, 2023
• Handouts: Texas Demographic Shifts – Tenured and tenure-track faculty fuel college and university research funding and stature – Tenure is vital for being competitive for Federal research grants – Higher Education DEI Funding for STEM Workforce Development
• Related stories: Kennedy Sessions, “Rice University president says TX politics pushing away new staff hires“, Houston Chronicle, Oct. 3, 2023.

Academic freedom is the freedom from censorship by the institution or the government.  In the US, safeguards for academic freedom for professors include due process, shared governance, and tenure.  In Texas, all 38 four-year public universities and about one-third of the ~50 community college districts offer tenured and tenure-track faculty positions.

Tenure.  “A tenured appointment is an indefinite appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency and program discontinuation”. [AAUP] Tenure is a vital protection for professors in developing, discussing, and disseminating knowledge from all viewpoints, including conservative, moderate, liberal, and apolitical. Tenure allows the full freedom to foster critical thinking and intellectual exploration by students. Tenured professors take on long-term curriculum development, research projects, and leadership positions vital to students. Tenure-track professors are rigorously evaluated in teaching, research, and service over a six-year period by internal and external experts, and those who do not earn tenure are dismissed. About 50% of the faculty at UT Austin and 70% at Texas A&M University are either tenured or on the tenure track, as is common for Tier-1 Research Universities.

Sept. 30, 2023, 9am-1pm CT, on Zoom (link sent separately)
Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @TexasAaup
Takeaways – Join AAUP

American Association of University Professors (AAUP). We champion academic freedom, advance shared governance, and organize all faculty to promote economic security and quality education. AAUP, which has 45,000 members, is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which has 1.7M members including 148,000 professors. AFT is affiliated with AFL-CIO, which has 12M members.

Texas AAUP is an association of all the AAUP members in Texas. Texas AAUP has members on 75 campuses and chapters on 18 campuses. Our advocacy is amplified by teaming with Texas AAUP, AAUP, Texas AFT, AFT, Texas Association of College Teachers, Texas Council of Faculty Senates, Texas Faculty Association, Texas Faculty Coalition, Texas State Employees Union, Black Brown Dialogues on Policy, Texas Students for DEI, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and other orgs.  Join AAUP.

Fall 2023 Meeting. The Zoom meeting is open to AAUP members and other academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance enthusiasts. We invite members of the Texas Council of Faculty Senates (TCFS) to join us. At the TCFS Fall Meeting, AAUP members and guests presented panels on academic freedom and tenure as well as DEI. Texas AAUP encourages all members to participate in shared governance on their campuses, esp. running for Faculty Senate and attending Faculty Senate meetings.

Disclaimer. All presenters are speaking for themselves as private individuals. They are not speaking on behalf of any institution of higher education.

Agenda

9:00am-9:05am  Welcome

9:05am-9:15am Legislative Advocacy, Brian Evans, Interim President, Texas AAUP

9:15am-10:00am Panel on Academic Freedom & Tenure

• Moderator: Brian Evans, Past President, UT Austin AAUP Chapter, and Interim President, Texas AAUP; he/him. New Tenure Law slides.
• Antonio Ingram, Asst. Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund; he/him
• Teresa Klein, Assoc. Professor of Psychology and AAUP Chapter President, Del Mar College; VP South Texas, Texas AAUP; she/her
• Lynn Tatum, Senior Lecturer, Honors College, Baylor University, and Chair Academic Freedom Committee & Treasurer, Texas AAUP; he/him

10:00am-10:05am Break

10:05am-10:50am  Panel on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• Moderator: Teresa Klein, Assoc. Prof. of Psychology and AAUP Chapter President, Del Mar College; VP South Texas, Texas AAUP; she/her
• Antonio Ingram, Asst. Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund;  he/him
• Polly Strong, Professor, Anthropology, and AAUP Chapter President, UT Austin

10:50am-11:00am AAUP Survey of Faculty in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas, Brian Evans, Interim President, Texas AAUP. Slides.

11:00am-11:05am  Break.

11:05am-12:15pm  Campus Reports. Informal updates by AAUP members about what’s happening on their campuses.

12:15pm-12:20pm  Break

12:20pm-12:30pm  Organizing – Shawn Fields, AAUP Western Organizer.

12:30pm-12:40pm  Organizing – Eli Melendrez, Texas AFT. Slides.

12:40pm-12:50pm Deepening Connections with Texas AFT – Brian Evans, Interim President, Texas AAUP

12:50pm Approval of minutes from the Spring 2023 meeting.

12:50pm-1:00pm Planning for Spring 2024 Elections. Contact the Nominations Committee if interested in running for an officer position.  All 12 officer positions will be up for election, and each position has a two-year term beginning June 1st. Nominations Committee members:

• Jim Klein (chair), jeklein20@gmail.com
• Ann McGlashan, annmcGlashan56@gmail.com
• Tony Villanueva, tvmc98@yahoo.com

^{September 7, 2023, NAACP Legal Defense Fund debrief in Austin, Texas. Obi Afriyie (front row; farthest right), Antonio Ingram (back row; fifth from left), Hamida Labi (farthest left), and Allen Liu (back row; third from right) from NAACP LDF; Karma Chavez (back row; third from left), Brian Evans (back row; farthest right), and Sergey Fomel (back row; second from right) from UT Austin AAUP Chapter; Anne Lewis (front row; fourth from left) Texas State Employees Union; Pat Heintzelman (front row; fourth from right) Texas Faculty Association.}

Thank you to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund for leading Thursday’s recap of the regular Texas Legislative session, sharing how campuses are implementing anti-DEI SB 17 and tenure SB 18, and brainstorming ways to better advocate and organize for the next legislative attack on higher education.

We had a safe and inviting space for us to fellowship, process, and further collaborate in our fight towards educational equity in the state of Texas.

Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, 9am-11am CT, on Zoom

Officers:  Karma Chavez, Jen Ebbeler, Brian Evans, Bill Fagelson, Andrea Gore, and Polly Strong 
Communications Director: Lauren Gutterman

About AAUP

We champion academic freedom, advance shared governance, and organize all faculty to promote economic security and quality education.  If you’re not already a member, please join AAUP – here are several reasons. Please follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @aaup_utAustin and @TexasAaup.

Tenatitive Agenda

9:00-9:05am  Welcome AAUP members and enthusiasts, Brian Evans.
9:05-9:15am  AAUP Principles on Academic Freedom, Andrea Gore. Slides.
9:15-9:25am  Texas Senate Bill 18 on Tenure, Lauren Gutterman. Slides.
9:25-9:50am Academic Freedom and Tenure Q&A, Karma Chavez and Polly Strong.
9:50-10:00am  Texas AAUP Survey of Texas Faculty, Brian Evans. Slides.

• Press Releases: Regional – Florida – Georgia – North Carolina – Texas
• News articles: Chronicle of Higher Ed – Texas Tribune – Houston Chronicle – Dallas Morning News – Reform Austin – Kera News

10:00-10:05am  Break
10:05-10:15am Process for Chapter Elections, Brian Evans. Blog Post.
10:15-10:25am  Lessons from AAUP Advocacy in Texas, Karma Chavez. Article.
10:25-10:35am  Texas Senate Bill 17 on DEI, Brian Evans. Slides.
10:35-11:00am Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Panel

• Panel Moderator: Polly Strong
• Panelists: Karma Chavez (UT Austin AAUP), Bella de la Garza (Texas Students for DEI), and Crystal Tran (Texas Students for DEI)

Announcements

• The Texas AAUP Conference Fall Meeting will be Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, 9am to 1pm on Zoom.

We’re inviting AAUP members and AAUP enthusiasts at UT Austin as well as other AAUP members from the Austin area (Austin Community College, Concordia University, Huston-Tillotson University, Southwestern University, and St. Edward’s University).   We’re also inviting AAUP members from Texas State University and Sam Houston State University who are in the process of forming AAUP chapters on their campuses.

Takeaways

Suggestions for the next faculty survey

• Add political affiliation or affinity (left, middle, right)
• Academic discipline

Self-censorship is voluntarily giving up power to our opponents

Intersection of SB 17 and SB 18

• Are connected
• Particularly harsh on non-tenure-track faculty

Organizing for next political attack 

• Alumni groups
• Business associations
• Stronger connections between faculty and students
• Importance of being “on the ground” for the next Legislative session
• Provide training in advocacy
• Emphasize these are nonpartisan issues (e.g. conservatives want tenure too)

Faculty outreach

• Shape rhetorical strategies to faculty
  • Talk about control/authority over the curriculum. 
  • Mention it is in UT Regents Rules (see Andrea Gore’s slides above)
  • Faculty should control the curriculum. 
  • Faculty can connect well with this topic instead of the more abstract phrase “academic freedom”
• Work with Faculty Council
• Invite UT Austin Government Relations to meet with the UT Austin AAUP Chapter

Campus DEI policy formulation

• Concerns over interpreting “State funding” as any funding touched by the institution
• Rep. Kuempel (co-author of SB 17) floor clarified on the House floor that State funds are only those allocated by the State Legislature

SB 17

• SB 17 is vague and confusing
• Add in the recent Supreme Court rulings banning the use of race in college admissions
• NAACP LDF flier for SB 17 didn’t mention the exception for procedures and practices to enhance academic achievement and success without regard to race, ethnicity, or ….

Updated Sept. 28, 2023.

Congratulations to our New and Continuing Officers!

AAUP members affiliated with UT Austin elected a President, Secretary, and At-Large Member #1, each for a 2023-2025 term, and a Treasurer to fill out the remainder of a 2022-2024 term. In addition, the President for 2022-2023 now becomes Past President. The newly elected officers began their terms on Sep. 27, 2023, at 5pm.

President	2023-2025 term	Polly Strong
Vice President	2022-2024 term	Andrea Gore
Secretary	2023-2025 term	Lauren Gutterman
Treasurer	2022-2024 term (last year of term)	Steven Seegel
At-Large Member #1	2023-2025 term	Julia Mickenberg
At-Large Member #2	2022-2024 term	Karma Chavez
Past President		Brian Evans

Polly Strong can be reached a strongpolly@gmail.com.

We want to express our most sincere gratitude to Jen Ebbeler (Treasurer 2022-2023) and Bill Fagelson (Secretary 2022-2023). They were incredibly active during our inaugural year as an officially recognized AAUP chapter in both on-campus and off-campus matters. We will miss Bill and Jen on the Executive Team and look forward to continue working together on AAUP initiatives.

Process for UT Austin AAUP Officer Elections

The UT Austin AAUP Chapter By-Laws specify six officer positions elected for staggered two-year terms plus a seventh officer (Past President).

The UT Austin AAUP Chapter held its first officer elections in November 2022 and the following officers ran unopposed and were unanimously elected.  Three of the positions were for one-year terms and three were for two-year terms

President	2022-2023 term	Brian Evans
Vice President	2022-2024 term	Andrea Gore
Secretary	2022-2023 term	Bill Fagelson
Treasurer	2022-2024 term	Jen Ebbeler
At-Large Member #1	2022-2023 term	Polly Strong
At-Large Member #2	2022-2024 term	Karma Chavez

Brian Evans is not seeking re-election due to the time commitment to becoming the Interim President for the Texas AAUP Conference on July 1, 2023.  He will become the Past President for the UT Austin AAUP Chapter.

Jen Ebbeler has decided not to continue for the second year of the two-year term as Treasurer.

Polly Strong will not be seeking re-election as At-Large Member #1 so as to run for President.

Here are the positions up for election:

President	2023-2025 term
Secretary	2023-2025 term
Treasurer	remainder of 2022-2024 term
At-Large Member #1	2023-2025 term

We will conduct elections on Qualtrics or equivalent platform in two steps

• Nominations (one week) – nominee must agree to stand for election and serve if elected
• Elections (one week)

Based on nominations received for the four officer positions, each of the four positions has one and only one nominee:

• President – Polly Strong – 2023-2025 term
• Secretary – Lauren Gutterman – 2023-2025 term
• Treasurer – Steven Seegel – remainder of 2022-2024 term
• At-Large Member #1 – Julia Mickenberg – 2023-2025 term

The names of the above candidates will be circulated on a no-protest basis, and no protests were received.

Per UT Austin AAUP Chapter By-Laws, only AAUP members can nominate AAUP members, only AAUP members can stand for elections, and only AAUP members can vote in elections

Updated Sept. 21, 2023.

The UT Austin AAUP Chapter is very concerned about the level of employment protections currently afforded to tenured faculty at the 14 UT institutions.

Texas Senate Bill 18, which was signed into law on June 14, 2023, and took effect Sept. 1, 2023, defines tenure, changes post-tenure review policies, defines 10 reasons to dismiss a tenured faculty member, and adds the option for adoption of summary (immediate) dismissal of tenured faculty members. Of the ten reasons to dismiss a tenured faculty member, seven are vague and open to wide interpretation and abuse. The summary dismissal assumes the faculty member is guilty until proven innocent. Please see the Texas AAUP analysis of SB 18 for more information.

The UT Board of Regents adopted SB 18 with minor clarifications, and these updated Regents Rules now govern the dismissal of tenured faculty at all 14 UT institutions.  This is because none of the UT institutions had enough time to update their campus policies to comply with SB 18 by the Sept 1 deadline because the UT Board of Regents (BoR) had not adopted their changes until August 24.

The changes to the UT Regents Rules are essentially copied and pasted from SB 18.  Here’s a summary of the changes.  Red lines indicate changes released by the BoR on July 27th.  Yellow highlights indicate the mostly minor changes after the BoR received feedback from faculty and administrators.  Very few of the UT Austin AAUP Chapter’s suggestions were implemented.

In short, tenure dismissal policies at the 14 UT institutions are not in compliance with either SB 18 or the UT Regents Rules adopted to comply with SB 18.  At UT Austin, a committee of administrators and faculty senate leaders are developing campus policies for tenure dismissal.  

Every UT component institution will have a lot of work to do this Fall 2023 semester to create their own campus policies to provide strong protections for academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance per AAUP principles:

• The Faculty Senates for the UT component institutions could coordinate efforts through the UT System Faculty Advisory Council of the Faculty Senate Presidents and President-Elects
• AAUP Members and AAUP Chapters at UT component institutions could also contribute. Texas AAUP Conference Interim President Brian Evans is available to help (halftoning@juno.com) — he’s a former Faculty Senate President at UT Austin.
• The Faculty Senate at Texas Tech developed a model policy for implementing SB 18. That effort was led by J. Lewis Held (jerry.held@ttu.edu) who has offered to help other faculty members develop institutional policies.

Take the survey – Completion time 10 minutes

The Georgia, North Carolina and Texas Conferences of the American Association of University Professors [AAUP],  the United Faculty of Florida, and Texas Faculty Association have been at the forefront of fighting attacks on tenure and academic freedom. To assist us in that fight, we would like to know your opinion as a faculty member in those states.

We’re inviting faculty from community colleges, public universities, private universities, and health-related institutions to complete the survey.  We’re trying to assess the impact of State Laws on public and private institutions.

The survey will accept responses until Friday Sep. 1, 2023, at 5pm Eastern. From there the survey organizers will release its results through media and other platforms. 

Leaders of the AAUP, UFF, and TFA will maintain control of the results database. We may share overall results with administrations, faculty, and the media. No information about your personal identity is being collected. All questions are optional, but please answer as many as you feel comfortable with.

Please forward this message to other colleagues and post on social media.  Consider joining AAUP — here are several reasons.

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