Establishment of our chapter
Announcing the Formation of a Harvard Chapter of the American Association of University Professors
Introducing AAUP–Harvard Faculty Chapter
On April 23, 2024, a group of faculty at Harvard University voted to form a Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which was formally recognized by AAUP National Council on June 17. Founded in 1915, the AAUP is a national membership organization and affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. Its members include faculty, graduate students, lecturers, staff, researchers, and other academic professionals. We are proud to join them in fighting for the academic freedom to research, write, and teach without fear; for the right of students to learn, associate, and demonstrate freely on university campuses; for the economic security of all academic workers, including students, teachers, and researchers on short-term contracts; and for the shared, democratic governance of our university. We pursue all of these goals to keep justice and the priorities of students and faculty at the center of our academic institutions.
Why We Are Forming an AAUP Chapter
We are organizing an AAUP advocacy chapter now because these core principles are under assault. Donors, politicians, and provocateurs are maligning our academic community and threatening our educational mission. As the events of the past year have dramatically revealed, these attacks aim to undermine intellectual and associational life at our institution. Moreover, they are part of a coordinated national offensive against academic freedom, which has included the passage of laws that restrict the teaching of controversial subjects; campaigns to ban books from public schools and libraries; disingenuous meddling by Congressional subcommittees; and arguments for the reformation of faculties and curricula according to standards set by outside groups and politicians with little or no knowledge of the subjects they criticize. If it was once possible to imagine Harvard as being relatively insulated from such dynamics, it is no longer.
We have been sorely disappointed to see so many university leaders fail to robustly defend university autonomy in the face of these attacks. Instead, they have ceded terrain to the bad-faith arguments of hostile actors, and, worse, they have too often capitulated to the demand that their students and educators be condemned, disavowed, or punished. And any commitment to shared governance has been mostly abandoned, with members of the Harvard Corporation substituting their judgment for that of the faculty on core academic issues.
Our concerns transcend the current political moment. The centralization of decision-making authority within universities is a trend that long predates the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The economic security of all workers on campus, meanwhile, will require the university to recognize and negotiate in good faith with unions of non-tenure-track workers, clinical workers, and other academic professionals who lack the protection of tenure or a collective bargaining agreement. We stand in solidarity with all members of our community who believe the wealthiest university in the world can afford to treat all its workers with dignity.
At the heart of the matter is the absence of democratic governance through which the tens of thousands of faculty, students, and other academic workers at Harvard can participate in university decision-making. We form this chapter in the wake of a protest encampment on campus that illustrated the lengths to which students and academic workers must go to have their voices heard on basic questions of university policy. Even though Harvard’s public statements, investment decisions, and use of discipline affects all of us, only the wealthiest among us can meaningfully influence these decisions through the threat of withholding donations. Inspired by our students’ courage, we see this moment as an opportunity to begin building collective governance on campus.
Join Us!
Achieving our shared goals of strengthening academic freedom, dissent and expression, economic security, and democratic governance at Harvard will not be easy. But we are heartened by the recent formation of dozens of new AAUP chapters across the country, demonstrating a commitment to higher education for the common good and a more egalitarian conception of the university.
We encourage all educators on this campus, of all ranks and titles, to join us in building AAUP-Harvard Faculty Chapter from the ground up. A more free, just, and democratic Harvard is possible – if we work to bring it into being.
To join, first make sure your membership in the national AAUP remains active (for eligibility details, see Article II of the AAUP Constitution). We will be developing our membership infrastructure over the summer; stay tuned for further details on how to participate.