AAUP Chapters Issuing an Open Letter of No Confidence

• Open Letter: UT Faculty Have No Confidence in President Hartzell, UT Austin AAUP Chapter Officers, April 25, 2024; updated April 29, 202

Faculty Senates Issuing Votes of No Confidence

• Lily Kepner, “St Ed’s president gets vote of no confidence due to shared governance, transparency concerns”,Austin American-Statesman, April 25, 2024
• Lamar University Faculty Senate Issues Censure and No-Confidence Vote, April 3, 2024
• Patrick Sloan-Turner, “Ethical concerns raised by faculty about UHV Provost Chance Glenn“, Victoria Avocate, March 2, 2024. Faculty Senate at the University of Houston-Victoria voted unanimously in favor of no confidence in their Provost (Chief Academic Officer).
• San Antonio College Faculty Senate Censures the President and Provost, December 20, 2023. President resigned March 18, 2024.
• Faculty Senate at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine votes in favor of no confidence in the Dean and Chief Business Officer of the School of Medicine, August 2023.
• Kate Mcgee, “West Texas A&M faculty condemn university President Walter Wendler after drag show cancellation“, The Texas Tribune, April 25, 2023.
• TWU Chancellor and President Carine Feyten, “Initial response to Friday’s vote of no confidence“, March 14, 2022. Provost Kapinus stepped down April 22, 2022.
• “SFA Faculty Senate votes ‘no confidence’ in President Gordon, asks regents revoke contract“, Sep. 11, 2021.
• Ralph Haurwitz, “No-confidence vote for UT Fine Arts dean is a first, of sorts“, Austin American Statesman, May 26, 2018.
• “TWU faculty senate has ‘no confidence’ in Chancellor Stuart“, Dallas Morning News, March 12, 2010.

• “The Effects of Recent Protests and Institutional Response on Academic Freedom at UT Austin“, A Report from the Committee of Counsel on Academic Freedom and Responsibility, UT Austin Faculty Council
• Open Letter: UT Faculty Have No Confidence in President Hartzell, April 25, 2024; updated April 29, 2024.
• Texas AFT, Texas AAUP-AFT Statement on UT-Austin Protests, April 26, 2024
• FIRE Letter to University of Texas at Austin, April 25, 2024
• Joint Press Release by Texas AAUP and Texas NAACP on Police Crackdown on UT Austin Teach-In, April 24, 2024
• San Antonio College Admin Violates Free Speech Rights at Palestine Event and the President ultimately resigns on March 18, 2024

UT Austin, April 24, 2024, Campus protest riot police next to “What starts here changes the world” sign. This is the motto for UT Austin.

The Texas Legislature meets for 140 days from January to May in odd years. Between sessions, many of the Texas Senate and House Committees meet to discuss Interim Charges issued by the Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House, respectively, in preparation to draft bills for the upcoming session.

Next Legislative session begins on January 14, 2025. Bills can be filed starting November 11, 2024. Here are the Interim Charges:

• 2024 Texas Senate Interim Charges, April 11, 2024, and its sequel Additional Interim Legislative Charges, Sept. 10, 2024
• 2024 Texas House Interim Charges, May 2024

Texas AAUP-AFT is expecting that the next Legislative will have deeper attacks on academic freedom and its safeguards of tenure, due process, and shared governance than the last session:

• Bills have already been filed to empower (1) Boards of Regents to appoint all department chairs directly and (2) colleges and universities to choose any accrediting organization instead of requiring the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) for all. SACS evaluates shared governance and academic freedom for accreditation.
• Bills are expected to strip faculty oversight of curriculum and restrict what faculty senates can do
• Bills are expected to censor cultural, ethnic, and gender studies across a wide variety of disciplines including Liberal Arts, Social Work, Business, and Medicine.

Texas Senate Higher Education Subcommittee 2024 Interim Hearings

• Nov. 11, 2024. Agenda. Topics: (1) regulate faculty senates; (2) increase prohibitions and punishments for diversity, equity, and inclusion; (3) improve K-12 pathways
• Sept. 24, 2024. Agenda. Minutes. Topics: (1) public junior college State finance program, (2) AI in teaching and learning, and (3) core curriculum course availability.
• May 14, 2024. Agenda. Topics: (1) Monitor the ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies; (2) combating antisemitism on Texas college campuses; and (3) campus free speech.

Texas AAUP-AFT Responses

Free inquiry, free expression, intellectual exploration, and open dissent are critical for student learning and the advancement of knowledge. AAUP members will continue to advocate for academic freedom its safeguards of tenure, due process, and shared governance.

• Higher-Ed in Review: What Happened & What’s Next, Texas AAUP-AFT, Dec. 17, 2024. Slides.
• Higher Ed Teach-in and Advocacy Training for Nov. 11th Hearings, Texas AAUP-AFT, Nov. 7, 2024
• Please join AAUP to organize and mobilize for higher ed in Texas, Texas AAUP, May 26, 2024
• AAUP Members Testify at the May 14, 2024, Hearing by the Texas Senate Higher Ed Subcommittee
• Texas AAUP Response to Gov. Abbott’s Executive Order Relating to Antisemitism, Texas AAUP, April 13, 2024
  • Widening Antisemitism Definition May Lead to Narrowing Education, AAUP, November 2022.
  • Legislative Threats to Academic Freedom: Redefinitions of Antisemitism and Racism, AAUP, March 2022
• Republican Higher Education Legislative Priorities for the 89th Texas Legislature (1/14/25 to 6/2/25), Texas AAUP, April 11, 2024
• Mass Firings of UT Austin Staff, Faculty, and Administrators, UT Austin AAUP Chapter, April 2, 2024, due to external pressure to overcomply with SB 17.

Texas Legislative Session 2023

• Analysis: Manufacturing Backlash: Right-Wing Think Tanks and Legislative Attacks on Higher Education, 2021–2023, Isaac Kamola.
• Survey: Faculty in Red States concerned by political interference
• Call to Action: Update UT campus policies concerning tenure SB 18
• Bill Analysis: Tenure SB 18 – Anti-DEI SB 17 – Censorship SB 16
• SB 17: Guidance & Syllabi Language – Research Study – Analysis
• Legislative Advocacy: Summary – Bill Tracker – Resources

Updated July 7, 2024.

I’d like to invite you to join us in AAUP to advocate for academic freedom and against legislative interference. Here’s a link to join and here are several reasons to consider joining.  Dues are on a sliding scale and membership is confidential.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) champions academic freedom, advances shared governance, and organizes all faculty to promote economic security and quality education.  AAUP members also include researchers, graduate students, academic advisors, and other professional staff who need academic freedom to do their work. In Texas, AAUP members are on 75 campus and have started 28 campus chapters.

We’ve caught glimpses of the many attacks on academic freedom and shared governance to come in the next Legislative session at the Texas Senate hearing on May 14 and from legislative priorities already released.  Like we did last Legislative session, Texas AAUP will mobilize its members to work with the Texas American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and other advocacy orgs to have a daily ground game.  We’re using this summer to organize.  Follow us on X @TexasAaup and @aaup_utAustin for daily updates.

A particularly exciting development is that Texas AAUP voted on March 30, 2024, in favor of affiliating with Texas AFT to amplify advocacy and benefits for Texas AAUP members:

• Amplified advocacy with the 66,000 members and 50 dedicated full-time staff of Texas AFT will help us be more ready for the next legislative session.  Texas AFT hosted a legislative testimony training on May 13, 2024. Many more to come.
• Amplified benefits include $8M occupational liability coverage, legal aid for civil lawsuits, legal defense for employment matters, and advocates to help faculty in administrative meetings, investigations, and grievances.  More info.

Our Texas AAUP affiliation with Texas AFT is a natural follow-up to the National AAUP affiliation with National AFT on August 1, 2022.  National AFT has 1.7M members including 300,00 faculty, staff and students, and is part of the AFL-CIO with 12M members.

For more information, please see our reasons to join AAUP. Feel free to email me with any questions or concerns.

Brian L. Evans, PhD | He/His/Him | aaup.texas@gmail.com
President, Texas AAUP-AFT Conference

Please see the Google form for the text and the signatures of the open letter:

Open Letter: UT Faculty Have No Confidence in President Hartzell

For those wanting to strengthen academic freedom at US institutions, I would like to invite you to join the American Association of University Professors.  Here’s the link to join AAUP and here are several reasons to consider joining.  AAUP welcomes adjunct, lecturer, instructional, professional, tenure-track, tenured, and retired faculty members as well as graduate students, librarians, researchers, and academic advisors and other professional staff as members.  People in these roles need academic freedom in teaching, research and/or expression to be able to do their jobs.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Texas NAACP and Texas Conference of American Association of University Professors (AAUP)

Contacts: Gary Bledsoe, President, Texas NAACP, gbledsoe@thebledsoelawfirm.com, and Brian Evans, Interim President, Texas AAUP Conference, aaup.texas@gmail.com

The Texas Conference of AAUP and the Texas State Conference of NAACP Branches would like to express alarm at what we have witnessed today at the University of Texas. After a day where students, faculty and staff were denied the right to engage in their desired protests of teach-ins, study sessions and pizza but still engaged in what were apparently peaceful protests from many eye witness accounts, the University has incredibly turned the UT Austin campus into a militarized zone. 

Though we fully respect the need for the campus to maintain security and keep individuals on the campus safe, what we saw today was far beyond that and caused fear and intimidation to many people on the University campus— most of whom were not protestors.  Many students were denied the right to walk across the campus by patrols of State police with automatic weapons and many on horseback, while faculty and staff were forced to remain in buildings that were surrounded by State police and other forces. 

The State Police troops were so intimidating in their appearance and demeanor that many persons were simply afraid to approach them or the lines they formed.  At one point they formed circles around liberal arts buildings on the campus. Instead of trying to assist individuals who were afraid, the guard members said they could not talk while they were on duty or declined to talk altogether.  

There was no University official available to inform people on the campus what they should or should not do, so this created a chaotic situation.  The environment on the campus already feels hostile to many faculty, staff and students and this contributed to that feeling.  Students, as long as they do so within proper constraints, have a Constitutional right to demonstrate. 

The protestors today were mainly students and faculty.  It seems as though a message was sent today with the intent of silencing any kind of protest in the future, letting future organizers know what is in store for you even if it is a peaceful protest that you are undertaking.

April 24, 2024, at 1:25pm, on Speedway on the UT Austin Campus, which is the main north-south thoroughfare through campus:

April 24, 2024, at 2:01pm, Looking South from UT Austin Tower plaza:

April 24, 2024, at 4:49pm, Looking North from Littlefield Fountain, police had cleared all the students, staff, and faculty from the South Mall and occupied all of the green space with more than 100 officers:

From: utsafetyalert@austin.utexas.edu <utsafetyalert@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2024 5:18 PM
Subject: UTPD Notice of Dispersal Order

THIS IS A DISPERSAL ORDER FOR OCCUPANTS OF THE SOUTH MALL:

I am Assistant Chief Ashley Griffin and I represent the University of Texas at Austin Police Department. Your conduct is in violation of Penal Code Sections 42.01 Disorderly Conduct, 42.02 Riot, 42.03 Obstructing a Highway or other passageway.

I command you in the name of the People of the State of Texas to disperse, and if you do not, you shall be arrested for Violation of Penal Code Section 42.01 Disorderly Conduct, 42.02 Riot, 42.03 Obstructing a Highway or other passageway.

From: utsafetyalert@austin.utexas.edu <utsafetyalert@austin.utexas.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2024 9:08 PM
Subject: UPDATE – Dispersal Order has ended

FINAL UPDATE – ALL CLEAR. The dispersal order at the South Mall has ended. All University rules are still in effect.

Note: The following termination letter was without warning and came as a complete shock. The letter gives no reason for the termination nor acknowledges the work the staff member had done to comply with SB 17. The letter does not acknowledge that they had been promised that they would not lose their jobs. The staff member received no due process prior to the received the letter and the notice does not describe the options for due process for the staff member such as an appeal or grievance. There is no severance package. For more information, please see “Mass Firings of UT Austin Staff, Faculty, and Administrators“.

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS
P.O. Box 7699 FAC 302 G5000 Austin, TX 78713
512-471-1133 FAX 512-471-5558 studentaffairs.utexas.edu

April 2, 2024

[address deleted]

[salutation deleted]

This letter serves as a notification of your dismissal from employment effective June 2, 2024 in accordance with Section 2 of the university’s Handbook of Operating Procedures, 1-1020, Section VII.C.2, “Officers of Administration.”

As an administrative officer, you serve without fixed term and are being dismissed as the business needs of the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs have recently changed and your position is being eliminated.

During the remainder of your appointment, you will be assigned work to you can complete from home including transitioning documents from your laptop files to the UT Box.

The University offers assistance to employees impacted by a layoff:

• Healthpoint Employee Assistance Program (EAP) counselors are available to discuss change and transition strategies with impacted employees. Appointments may be made via eap@austin.utexas.edu or call 512-471-3366.
• Affected employees are welcome to schedule individual appointments with HR Benefits HRS-LM@austin.utexas.edu to discuss benefits and leave issues.

Sincerely,

Tom Dison

Interim Vice President for Student Affairs

Revised April 18th, 2024

On April 2, 2024, UT Austin issued termination notices to 62 professional staff who once did Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work but pivoted before Jan. 1, 2024, to comply with SB 17. [Ref]  UT Austin refuses to provide the number of employees fired. [Ref]

The 62 professional staff who received termination notices on April 2, 2024, have reported their job titles and departments/units below.  Of the 62 professional staff, 12 also report holding non-tenure-track faculty titles, with 8 holding the title of Lecturer and 4 holding the title of Assistant Professor of Practice.

After the listing of the terminated staff positions is a listing of the 15 Associate Dean positions that were terminated across 15 colleges. Those positions will be eliminated May 31, 2024. [Ref] One of the Associate Deans held a non-tenure-track faculty position and received a termination notice for the faculty position.  The other 14 Associate Deans are tenured faculty members and retained their tenured faculty position after the demotion.

For more information, please see “Mass Firings of UT Austin Staff, Faculty, and Administrators“.

Administrative Support Manager	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Senior Videographer and Photographer	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Assistant Vice President for School Partnerships	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Desktop Support Specialist	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Broadening Participation Research Program Manager and Lecturer	Cockrell School of Engineering Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations
Director of BBA Student Experience, and Lecturer	Red McCombs School of Business Department of Marketing
Director Assistant Professor of Practice	Dell Med Department of Medical Education School of Social Work
Executive Director, Office of Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Administrative Associate	Cockrell School of Engineering
Outreach and Social Media Specialist	Vice President for Student Affairs
Director of Assessment and Lecturer	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Executive Director	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Executive Director IT	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Art Director	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Student Program Coordinator	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Senior Outreach Program Coordinator and Lecturer	Division of Campus and Community Engagement Center for Women’s and Gender Studies
Restorative Engagement Facilitator	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Systems Administrator IUniversity Professional (Part-Time)	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community EngagementUniversity Risk and Compliance Services
Student Engagement Coordinator	Office of the Dean of Students
Director and Lecturer	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Senior Administrative Associate	Vice President for Student Affairs
Director of Academic Projects and Lecturer	Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Executive Assistant	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Executive Director	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Director of Leadership and Dialogue	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Administrative Associate	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Assistant to the Deputy	Vice President for Student Affairs
Assistant Professor of Instruction	Kinesiology and Health Education
Director of Talent Development and Learning Strategy	Financial and Administrative Services Business Services
Director	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Student Program Coordinator	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Associate Vice President	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Senior Student Program Coordinator	Cockrell School of Engineering
Senior Outreach Program Coordinator	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Executive Director of Finance and Chief Business Officer	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Director Fearless Leadership InstituteLecturer	Division of Campus and Community EngagementHumanities Program
Assistant Vice-President, Center for Leadership and Learning and Lecturer	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement Department of Management
Vice President for Division of Campus and Community Engagement, and Assistant Professor of Practice	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Academic Program Manager	Dell Med Department of Medical Education
College to Career Program Coordinator	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Events Program Coordinator	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Office Liaison/Operations Manager	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Senior Outreach Program Coordinator	Cockrell School of Engineering
Living the Longhorn Life Coordinator	Office of the Dean of Students
Director of Educational Partnerships	Red McCombs School of Business
Student Development Specialist Global Initiatives and Programs	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Human Resource Coordinator	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Webmaster	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Senior Administrative Associate	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Program Manager, Advanced Degree Career Identity and Global Impact	Texas Career Engagement Career Services
Director Restorative Justice	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Assistant Vice-President, and Assistant Professor of Practice	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Assistant Director, Communications	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement
Assistant to the Vice-President	Vice President for Student Affairs
Student Engagement Coordinator	???
Senior Administrative Program Coordinator	Division of Campus and Community Engagement
Living the Longhorn Life Coordinator	Office of the Dean of Students
Senior Administrative Program Coordinator	Office of the Dean of Students
University Professional (Part-Time) and Editor UTES	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement University Charter School
Director of Strategic and Executive Communications	Office of the Dean of Students
Living the Longhorn Life Coordinator	Office of the Dean of Students
Senior Administrative Associate	Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement

At a university, a Dean runs a College or School, e.g. the College of Communication or the School of Nursing.  An Associate Dean runs specific aspects of the college or school. 

Associate Dean positions that were terminated effective May 31, 2024, include the following.  Please note that the terminated Associate Dean position in the School of Undergraduate Studies had been unfilled when the position was terminated. The prsonn who is in the terminated Associate Dean position for Dell Medical School is also an Assistant Professor of Practice in Educational Psychology, which is a non-tenure track faculty position, and that position was terminated.  For the other terminated Associate Dean positions, the holder was a tenured faculty member. They received a demotion from the Associate Dean position and an accompanying loss in pay and benefits, but retained their tenured faculty positions.

Cockrell School of Engineering

College of Education

College of Fine Arts

Dell Medical School

Jackson School of Geosciences

Law School

LBJ School of Public Affairs

McCombs School of Business

Moody College of Communication

Pharmacy

School of Architecture

School of Information

School of Nursing

School of Undergraduate Studies

Steve Hicks School of Social Work

by the Texas AAUP Office of Faculty Representation

On Wednesday, April 3, 2024, the Lamar University Faculty Senate decided on a no-confidence vote against the Chair of the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at Lamar University. In response to the same motion, the Senate also voted to censure the Dean of Engineering. 

Some issues contributing to this decision included allegations that the administrators have not allowed faculty to have a voice in key departmental matters such as curriculum changes and have shown disrespect to faculty. Since the first collective grievance by all departmental faculty and staff was filed on November 28, 2022, multiple additional grievances have been filed by Mechanical Engineering faculty against their Chair. The university has not responded to nor addressed the formal grievances in a timely manner. Instead, prohibited retaliation against departmental faculty for filing grievances and exercising their Academic Freedom has allegedly been committed by the Chair on more than one occasion. To date, no hearing has been set for any of the filed formal grievances. The University has not prioritized resolving any of them. 

The Texas State University System and therefore Lamar University do not require a grievance hearing date in a definitive timeline, nor does it require a committee of faculty to hear the grievances. This is in direct opposition to shared governance principles adopted by the AAUP in its 1966 Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities. This statement, which was jointly formulated with the American Council on Education and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, calls for shared responsibility among the different components of institutional government and specifies areas of primary responsibility for governing boards, administrations, and faculties. It remains the Association’s central policy document relating to academic governance. This 1966 Statement strongly suggests that the faculty has primary responsibility for such fundamental areas as curriculum, subject matter and methods of instruction, research, faculty status, and those aspects of student life which relate to the educational process. On these matters, the power of review or final decision lodged in the governing board or delegated by it to the president should be exercised adversely only in exceptional circumstances, and for reasons communicated to the faculty. It is desirable that the faculty should, following such communication, have opportunity for further consideration and further transmittal of its views to the president or board. 

Lamar University is a member of the American Council on Education (ACE). Both the Lamar University Foundation and the Texas State University System are members of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). This 1966 Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities was entered into by AAUP representing faculty, the ACE representing university and college presidents, and the AGB representing Boards of Regents.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | April 13, 2024 | Contact: Brian Evans, Texas AAUP President, aaup.texas@gmail.com | PDF Version

Endorsed by the Texas Faculty Association, an affiliate of the Texas State Teachers Association and the National Education Association

Endorsed by the Texas Association of College Teachers

The Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is deeply concerned that Governor Abbott’s recent executive order (GA44 “relating to addressing acts of antisemitism in institutions of higher education”) will unlawfully restrict  political expression at institutions of higher education.  Gov. Abbott’s executive order requires all institutions of higher education in the state to “update” their free speech policies to conform to a controversial definition of antisemitism that condemns criticism of the State of Israel as antisemitic. We unequivocally condemn antisemitism and violence against Jews; we also condemn Islamophobia and violence against Palestinians, Muslims, Arabs, and other marginalized groups. This executive order, however, curtails the First Amendment freedoms of students and faculty at Texas universities to speak without prior restraint on issues of public concern. Messages that might be disfavored by state officials are just as deserving of constitutional protection as any other expression. Efforts by the state to censor disfavored expression undermines the free exchange of ideas that is at the heart of colleges’ and universities’ educational mission.

Governor Abbott’s order includes two particularly troubling elements.  The first is that it purports to bar certain viewpoints by imposing a particular definition of antisemitism that many organizations consider overly broad (ABA, ACLU, MESA). This definition of antisemitism is certainly too expansive a definition to apply to students and faculty at institutions of higher learning that have a duty to lead probing, unfettered conversations and debates on the important issues of the day.    

Second, the order singles out particular student groups for investigation and sanction for their views. This is a clear departure from First Amendment norms, which prohibit state actors from singling out the speech of specific groups for restraint or punishment. The executive order, in requiring Texas institutions of higher education to proscribe specific political messages, provides a pretext for the suppression of faculty and student rights of expression and association that enjoy the explicit protections of the U.S. Constitution. It also violates norms of academic freedom.

The Texas Conference of the AAUP is guided by the words of the national AAUP’s October 2023 statement, Academic Freedom in Times of War, which notes:

“College and university officials are obligated to defend academic freedom; they must resist demands from politicians, trustees, donors, students and their parents, alumni, or other parties to punish faculty members for exercising that freedom. At this moment of heightened tension on college and university campuses, the AAUP calls on college and university administrations to fully protect the academic freedom of their faculties to teach, conduct research, and speak out about important issues both on and off campus.”

We call on Gov. Abbott to rescind this executive order immediately so as to protect the rights of faculty and students to speak on all topics of public or political interest without fear of intimidation, retaliation, or punishment.

###

The mission of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)  is to advance academic freedom and shared governance; to define  fundamental professional values and standards for higher education; to  promote the economic security of faculty, academic professionals,  graduate students, post‐doctoral fellows, and all those engaged in  teaching and research in higher education; to help the higher education  community organize to make our goals a reality; and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good.