Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) – Association of University Professors (AAUP)

What We Do

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is a nonprofit membership association of faculty and other academic professionals. 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 universities and colleges.

The AAUP operates on both national and campus levels, sustained by the more than 45,000 members whose dues, commitment, and collective work ensure faculty will have a strong voice. Headquartered in Washington, DC, it has members and chapters based at universities and colleges across the country. 

For over 100 years, the American Association of University Professors has been a central organizing force in American higher education. The AAUP works to

• Advance and defend academic freedom
• Promote shared governance and the importance of faculty governance
• Define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education
• Advocate for rights, working conditions, and economic security of all faculty
• Organize and advocate for higher education as a public good
• Combat threats to these principles by legislatures and university administrations

Over the years, the AAUP has established standards recognized by most higher education institutions, such as the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, the 1966 Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities, and the 2003 Academic Freedom and National Security in a Time of Crisis. The AAUP urges universities to bring their practices into compliance with these standards. And when violations are flagrant and the issues warrant, an offending institution can be subject to AAUP censure.

The AAUP is a communication center and data resource for higher education. Among other things, the national office publishes the bi-monthly magazine Academe and the Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession that policy makers, faculty and administrators rely on each year. It provides a host of resources, such as:

• Guidebooks on navigating faculty appointments, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and faculty handbooks as enforceable contracts
• Toolkits for organizing for local chapters, fighting educational gag orders, government relations, etc.
• Resources for racial justice and for improving conditions for faculty on contingent appointments
• Information on and strategies for combatting political interference in higher ed

The AAUP national office also

• Offers experienced assistance to individuals, chapters, and state conferences on topics ranging from communications, finance, government relations, law, and research, to academic freedom, tenure, and governance
• Provides training for activists to make local change
• Conducts research on topics such as faculty compensation and the academic workforce, tenure practices, contingent faculty, and much more
• Works to shape the law, influence legislation, and analyze key legal developments
• Promotes and defends faculty collective bargaining

The national AAUP office coordinates activities on many fronts. When Congress considers higher education bills, the AAUP is there to advise and lobby. When state legislatures write their budgets, the AAUP is there. When journalists look for data and information, the AAUP is where they turn. When faculty members are involved in employment disputes, they call the AAUP, which helps resolve more than 1,000 cases each year. Most importantly, when university and college administrations do things that threaten academic freedom, undercut shared governance, or violate faculty codes, they know the AAUP will be there, ready to defend practices the organization helped invent.

Why Join

For over 100 years, the American Association of University Professors has been a central organizing force in American higher education that has worked to promote academic freedom, principles of shared governance, and the importance of faculty governance; to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education; to advocate for rights, working conditions, and economic security of all faculty; and to combat threats to these principles by legislatures and university administrations. The national AAUP also provides valuable support, advice, and resources to its many state conferences and local chapters throughout the country.

The local IUB-AAUP chapter promotes these fundamental AAUP principles:

• We monitor changes to university policies regarding academic freedom, tenure and promotion, and due process.
• Our local Committee A on Academic Freedom advises and vigorously advocates for ALL IUB faculty colleagues, graduate students, and other members of the university community who believe that their academic freedom has been violated.
• We organize events–including events to raise awareness of pressing issues at IUB, in Indiana, and beyond—that bring us together as colleagues.
• We collaborate with the Bloomington Faculty Council, as well as many other local and state organizations and AAUP chapters, to foster academic values and defend faculty rights.

Who can join: Anyone whose professional appointment involves teaching and/or research, including contingent faculty, tenured and tenure-track faculty, graduate-student employees, academic specialists, postdoctoral fellows who are primarily teachers or researchers, librarians, archivists, curators, and technicians who participate substantially in the process of teaching or research.

Annual membership dues for the AAUP national organization are on a sliding scale based on self-reported income; they can be paid monthly. Our local IUB chapter currently does not charge additional chapter membership dues.

Member benefits include:

• A subscription to Academe.
• Access to members-only resources on the AAUP website, including: AAUP reports, toolkits, and guidebooks for organizing on campus, for strengthening our faculty handbook, and for navigating faculty appointment issues.
• Timely news to keep you informed of challenges to and upcoming threats to American higher education and our rights, as well strategies used by other local AAUP chapters and members fighting on the front lines to preserve academic freedom, shared governance, and quality in higher education.
• Automatic membership in the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and access to benefits available to AFT members. For more information on benefits, see Member Benefits.

Perhaps the most important benefits, however, are less tangible. They include the types of support that only a large, national association can provide in the collective effort to fight for academic values at a time when they are under attack. AAUP membership is about meeting our own needs and upholding professional and academic principles for ourselves and the next generation. Your dues also support the profession and faculty across the country who benefit from academic freedom, tenure, and other core issues that the AAUP has fought to establish and defend for decades.

When you join the AAUP, you become a part of higher education’s most influential voice.
Together, we defend academic freedom. We affirm the importance of faculty governance. We pursue economic security for all faculty. As the face of the academic workforce changes, we continue to organize to make our standards a reality.

Join us in the AAUP to preserve due process and free speech in the classroom, to preserve a strong faculty role in university governance, and to protect this generation of scholars and those to come. Each new member strengthens our faculty voice on campus and across the state and nation.