About the AAUP

American Association of University Professors

The AAUP is a nonprofit membership association of faculty and other academic professionals. Headquartered in Washington, DC, we have members and chapters based at colleges and universities across the country.

Since our foundation in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country's colleges and universities. We define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, advance the rights of academics, particularly as those rights pertain to academic freedom and shared governance, and promote the interests of higher education teaching and research.

The local chapter at SU is very interested in the participation of all faculty. Our Faculty Handbookis based on AAUP principles and the local chapter strongly supports preserving and strengthening the academic freedom, faculty governance and equity issues that have been the organization’s constant concerns.

Mission

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. Founded in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country's colleges and universities.

History of the AAUP

In 1900, when noted economist Edward Ross lost his job at Stanford University because Mrs. Leland Stanford didn't like his views on immigrant labor and railroad monopolies, other professors were watching. The incident stuck in the mind of Arthur O. Lovejoy, philosopher at Johns Hopkins. When he and John Dewey organized a meeting in 1915 to form an organization to ensure academic freedom for faculty members, the AAUP was born. At that time, the notion of "academic freedom" was still a novel concept.

More than a century later, the AAUP remains the leading organization primarily dedicated to protecting the academic freedom of professors. Academia has changed a lot since 1915, but there are still people who want to control what professors teach and write. Thanks to the AAUP, academic freedom is recognized as the fundamental principle of our profession. Despite this acceptance, academic freedom remains vulnerable. The attacks are more subtle in some cases, but the response must always be decisive.

Selected Additional Readings

AAUP. 1915 Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure.

Benjamin, Ernst. "How Did We Get Here?"Academe (January–February 2015): 38–45.

Gerber, Larry G. "College and University Governance."Academe (January–February 2015): 31–37.

Gray, Mary W. "The AAUP and Women."Academe (January–February 2015): 46–52.

Knight, Jonathan. “The AAUP’s Censure List.” Academe(January–February 2003): 44–49.

Metzger, Walter P. “Origins of the Association.” AAUP Bulletin (Summer 1965): 229–37.

Schrecker, Ellen. “One Historian’s Perspective on Academic Freedom and the AAUP.” Academe(January–February 2014): 30–34.