Concern over CLAS Policy Manual
Last fall, the Executive Committee of the University of Iowa chapter of The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) became concerned, and then alarmed, about the administration’s proposed changes to the Manual of Policy and Procedure (MOPP) of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS).
The Erosion of Support for Education and Tenure in Iowa
In spring 2022, the Republican majority in the legislature took a break from pummeling the professoriate and instead directed its attacks at K–12 educators. Joining the national trend seeking to promote what were represented as parents’ rights and increased curricular “transparency,” some legislators accused teachers and librarians of having a “sinister agenda” and proposed criminal penalties for including “obscene” topics and materials in classrooms and school libraries. These were bad times, to be sure, for all those who treasure academic and intellectual freedom. Nonetheless, at least for the 2022 legislative session, the subject of tenure seemed to be off the table.
However, the work of defunding and micromanaging the state universities continued during the legislative session of 2022 in ways that clearly communicate disrespect for the academic mission. The same contempt for lifelong scholarship that led legislators to consider banning tenure remained apparent in budgetary deliberations. The pride in high-quality public education that inspired Iowa to put a schoolhouse on the Iowa quarter was nowhere to be seen in 2022.
United Faculty of Florida Press Release
Today, the faculty and graduate students who make up the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) affirm our intention to stand in defense of all members of the higher education community in the face of extremist, authoritarian attacks from Florida’s executive and legislative branches. Florida’s students, families and communities deserve better than the lies and misinformation flowing unstemmed out of Tallahassee.
AAUP/AFT Affiliation
Delegates to the June 2022 Biennial Association Meeting voted to ratify the action of the Council that the American Association of University Professors affiliate with the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. This affiliation builds on our ten-plus year partnership with AFT and strengthens both organizations, while ensuring that the AAUP will maintain its independence and autonomy. Together, we represent more US higher education workers than any other union.
The AAUP’s Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2021-22
From 2020–21 to 2021–22, average salaries for full-time faculty members increased 2.0 percent, consistent with the flat wage growth observed since the Great Recession of the late 2000s.
Real wages for full-time faculty fell below Great Recession levels in 2021, with average salary falling to 2.3 percent below the 2008 average salary, after adjusting for inflation.
Real wages for full-time faculty members decreased 5.0 percent after adjusting for inflation, the largest one-year decrease on record since the AAUP began tracking this measure in 1972.
Chapter 20 Statement
Tonight AAUP and COGS sent the statement below to the UI President and her cabinet, along with selected media outlets.