The AAUP is the primary defender of academic freedom in higher education in the United States.

AAUP 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, postdoctoral 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.

Why Do We Need AAUP At Salisbury University When We Have a Faculty Senate?

The Salisbury University AAUP Chapter was created to fight for workplace democracy, transparency, equity, and anti-racism.

Some members of AAUP are also on the Faculty Senate. However, AAUP’s role is broader than that of the Faculty Senate, in two ways:

  1. AAUP represents a broader array of people who teach on our campus. Tenured, tenure track, contractual, adjunct, part-time, and graduate instructors–anyone who teaches on our campus–all have a voice in AAUP
  2. AAUP allows us to have connections with other faculty across the USM system. We are connected to AAUP chapters at other USM institutions. This allows us to quickly get information on threats to higher education experienced at other USM institutions, and how other institutions are handling these threats and allows us to better coordinate efforts across the system.