AAUP Presents

In this episode we talk to Atia Sattar, an associate professor (teaching) in the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Southern California, about the article she wrote for AAUP’s Academe magazine  entitled “Academic Motherhood and the Unrecognized Labors of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Women of Color.” In it,  she wrote,  “while women in higher education often face a career p...

In this episode we examine the changing higher ed landscape after the Supreme Court decision in the case Students for Fair Admissions, INC, v. President and Fellows of Harvard College which effectively ended effectively end race-conscious admissions. The guests are Charles Toombs and Risa Lieberwitz. Charles Toombs, a Professor of Africana Studies at San Diego State University and president of the...

In this episode we focus on AAUP’s work around racial justice. This is the first in a series of podcasts this season that will examine issues around the fight for greater racial equity in higher education. Tune in to hear our discussion about efforts to restrict teaching about race, the racial equity initiative at the AAUP, and what's ahead.  The guest are Irene Mulvey and Glinda Rawls. Irene...

We’re returning to the topic of student debt after this week’s arguments before the Supreme Court over the Biden administration’s student debt relief program.  Risa Lieberwitz, AAUP’s general counsel and a professor of labor and employment law in the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and Jenna Sablan, AAUP’s senior program officer for government relations, weigh in on wh...

In this episode we discuss  the AAUP’s new  investigative report on the summary suspension and dismissal of Dr. Mark McPhail, at Indiana University Northwest.  In September 2021, the administration dispatched campus police officers to McPhail’s home to inform him that he had been dismissed and banned from campus, supposedly for making racially charged threats of physical violence. No accuser was i...

As student debt has grown astronomically over the past few decades, topping $1.7 trillion in federal and privately held debt, there seemed a moment of (limited) hope over the summer after years of activism and pressure when the Biden administration announced a federal plan to cancel $10K of debt for most federal loan holders and $20K of debt for those who had received Pell Grants. That plan ground...

In this episode we sit down with Professor Lori Latrice Martin, an associate dean in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and professor in the Department of African and African American Studies at Louisiana State University, to discuss  her article “Black Out: Backlash and Betrayal in the Academy and Beyond,” which examines what Professor Martin describes as the "predictability of ef...

In this episode of the podcast we discuss the issue of the massive transfer of wealth from tribal nations who underwrote the founding of land-grant universities and how institutions are beginning to address and contend with difficult questions about their relationship to Indigenous communities. The issue is the topic of a recent article  in AAUP’s Academe magazine entitled  “Confronting the Wealth...

 On April 28 the AAUP released a report of the Special Committee on Governance, Academic Freedom, and Institutional Racism in the University of North Carolina System . The report considers the influence of the North Carolina state legislature on the systemwide board of governors and campus boards of trustees. It discusses how political pressure and top-down leadership have obstructed meaningful fa...

In this episode we discuss AAUP’s recently released statement from Committee A, Legislative Threats to Academic Freedom: Redefinitions of Antisemitism and Racism, which addresses partisan efforts in state legislatures to enact bills targeting teaching about Israel and about the history of racism in the United States, in ways that present a significant threat to academic freedom.   The guests are R...

 The AAUP’s Kelly Benjamin talks to Michele Rayner, a member of the Florida House of Representatives, about attacks on academic freedom, the motivation for anti-critical race theory bills, and the state of the broader political situation in Florida. Episode update: When the episode was recorded, a bill Kelly and Rep. Rayner discussed that would make public college presidential searches in Florida...

After the University of Florida administration blocked faculty from testifying in a voting rights case, a battle over academic freedom broke out in the state, garnering national attention and a court case.  Paul Ortiz, professor of history at the University of Florida and president of the United Faculty of Florida -UF, talks to host Mariah Quinn about how faculty in the state are geared up to prot...

This podcast discusses the student debt crisis,  which affects than forty-five million people in the United States who are saddled with debt in excess of $1.7 trillion, and perils and promise of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. The guests are Kaitlyn Vitez, Federal Government Relations Specialist, AAUP national office and Jessica Sponsler, art historian and adjunct professor and...

 We're joined on the podcast by Irene Mulvey, a professor of mathematics at Fairfield University and the AAUP’s current president. We'll cover the AAUP's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, current fights to protect academic freedom and shared governance, and plans for a new deal for higher education.   Episode links: AAUP's COVID-19 resources Special report on COVID-19 and Acad...

This podcast focuses on the 2020-2021 Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, which presents findings from the AAUP’s annual Faculty Compensation Survey, as well as taking a deeper dive into the issue of institutional debt, which is covered in a special section of the report. This annual report outlines how years of unstable funding, combined with the impacts of the COVID‑19 pandem...

This podcast focuses on shared governance in higher ed. The AAUP released three reports this year looking at data collected from our national shared governance survey. The reports looked at the impact of the pandemic on shared governance, the demographics of senate chairs and governance structures, and faculty roles in decision-making.  We’ll be discussing those reports and more, as well as discus...