News

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AAUP / AFT Affiliation Agreement

Byadmin

The AAUP and AFT have drafted a new affiliation agreement that will be voted on at the June AAUP meeting. Some details: “Under the terms of this affiliation agreement, all AAUP members, by virtue of their membership in the AAUP, will also be members of the AFT/AFL-CIO… AAUP members and AAUP chapters will have access to AFT support and services, including specific AFT member benefits… This affiliation will not result in an increase in national AAUP dues and, for current AAUP members, AFT per capita will be covered as part of the AAUP dues… The national AAUP and its chapters…

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Spotlight on Speech Codes, 2022

Byadmin

Fire (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) has just released its yearly summary of the state of free speech at 481 public and private colleges and universities in the United States. FIRE defines free speech as “the overwhelming majority of speech protected by the First Amendment.” Few exceptions exist. The survey addresses a wide variety of issues with relevance to free speech, including: Free Speech Zone PoliciesPrior RestraintsSecurity Fee PoliciesPolicies Governing Speakers, Demonstrations, and RalliesPolicies on Bias and Hate SpeechInternet Usage PoliciesPolicies on Tolerance, Respect, and CivilityBullying PoliciesThreats and IntimidationHarassmentPolicies on Bias and Hate SpeechObscenityIncitement The report is both disappointing…

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Open Letter: Senate faculty support UC-AFT strike, November 17-18

Byhigbie

UC-AFT and the UC reached a tentative agreement and the strike is cancelled. Read the details here: https://ucaft.org/content/uc-aft-teaching-faculty-reach-historic-agreement. Thanks to all who signed our letter of solidarity. To the UCLA Community: We the undersigned Senate faculty stand in solidarity with our fellow faculty represented by the University Council-American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT). Lecturers across the UC system have been working without a contract for more than two years. They charge the university with bad faith bargaining, which is a violation of state law, and they plan to strike on November 17 and 18. This situation is intolerable and we call…

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UC-AFT Strike: Nov 17-18

Byhigbie

Non-tenure faculty across the University of California voted for a two-day strike this week, November 17 and 18. UC-AFT lecturers have been working without a contract for more than two years, and they charge the university with several unfair labor practices including refusal to bargain on key issues. Lecturers teach as much as a third of courses across the University of California. They have little or no job security, and are paid much less than faculty on a per class basis. These conditions undermine faculty welfare and threaten the future of public higher education. The UCLA Faculty Association/AAUP stands in…

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Update on UC-AFT negotiations: 10/21, 7-8 PM

Byhigbie

With a possible strike by our lecturer colleagues on the horizon this quarter, the UCLA Faculty Association invites you to a virtual town hall hosted by the Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) with representatives from the lecturers’ union, UC-AFT. University administrators likely have sent you their spin about UCOP’s latest proposal to UC-AFT, but what they undoubtedly have not told you is that President Drake’s representatives have thus far refused, despite three requests from UC-AFT, to schedule a bargaining session to discuss the proposal. Take-it-or-leave-it bargaining that deprives a party of the opportunity to ask questions, achieve understanding, and present a counterproposal…

New Book “Understanding Academic Freedom”

Byadmin

Hank Reichman — professor emeritus of history at California State University, East Bay; former AAUP vice-president and president of the AAUP Foundation; and from 2012-2021 Chair of AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure — has just published a new book: Understanding Academic Freedom. Hank describes the book: My purpose in writing Understanding was to provide a concise (the book is just 205 pages minus notes and index) and accessible introduction to the concept of academic freedom as practiced and preached in the U.S. (mostly by the AAUP) and an overview of both historic and contemporary challenges to it….

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Solidarity with UC Lecturers

Byhigbie

After two years working without a contract, Unit 18 lecturers have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. Non-tenure lecturers affiliated with the UC-AFT (University Council-American Federation of Teachers) teach 30% of classes on UC campuses. Often they have the same training and credentials as tenure system faculty, but they have little job security, often hiring on by the course for low salaries, and forced to re-apply each year for their jobs. Lecturers are demanding greater job security, improved salaries and benefits, and a more transparent appointment process. So far, university negotiators have not met their demands. According to UCLA lecturer…

Faculty at U of Georgia will Defy Anti Mask Rules

Byadmin

More than 50 faculty members in the life sciences at the University of Georgia have declared their intent to require masks in their classrooms, even though doing so is a violation of the University System of Georgia’s rules. More details at the Academe Blog. Ironically, it is those who most loudly and thoughtlessly lay claim to some twisted notion of individual “freedom” who would use the power of the state and university administration to constrict the academic freedom of the faculty to teach in safety. That scientists are taking the lead in standing up to this ill-advised policy is potentially…

AAUP has published volume 12 of the Journal of Academic Freedom

Byadmin

Volume 12 of the Journal of Academic Freedom is available online. The theme of the volume this year is “Practices of Academic Freedom in Times of Austerity.” Here is a portion of an introduction to the volume from its co-editors, Rachel Ida Buff and S. Ani Mukherji: Our call for papers asked potential contributors to consider the relation of academic freedom struggles to broader movements and to envision the university in the larger context of the world and its historical processes. We focused on concrete practices, gathering examples as material for reflection and encouragements for further experiments in transformative change—change…

AAUP’s Report Shows Growth of Contingent Faculty and Management

Bycucfastaff

The AAUP has conducted surveys for its Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession and is now publishing some results on their Academe Blog. Earlier we had linked to their first post from that data, which examines the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on faculty salaries and benefits for both tenure-line and non-tenure-track faculty. Their second post based on that report is now up and it explores contingency and administrative growth. “The steady rise of contingent faculty appointments and the growth of administration in higher education present a significant threat to academic freedom and shared governance.”