Defend Academic Freedom: Register for Our Expert Panel Discussion (April 5)

We are nearly two weeks into the Trump administration, and he has already begun to implement his vision for the future of our nation and our profession. Since taking office, he has signed executive orders dismantling DEI initiatives, disrupting vital on-going research at the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation, sowing chaos in federal grant funding, and firing key labor allies on the National Labor Relations Board.

If you have been impacted by the research funding freeze, please complete this Higher Education Labor United survey intended to measure the scope of the impact.

The assault on the freedom to think and research is precisely what many of us feared. It would be easy to feel paralyzed and hope that by making sacrifices now, we may be able to preserve ourselves. But anticipatory obedience will only hasten the demise of higher education as we know it. As academics, we know that the best remedy for fear is knowledge, and as unionists, we know that the best remedy for fear is communal solidarity.

Knowing this, AAUP Oregon is convening a panel discussion on academic freedom so that together we may learn from four experts from across the United States. The panelists will explore how we can organize to protect academic freedom and shared governance in the face of the incoming administration’s threats to our freedom to research and teach and our students’ freedom to learn.

Register here to attend.

Want to take action sooner? Register for AAUP’s Organize Every Campus and learn the skills to organize your colleagues, build power, and defend higher education.

In solidarity,

Ron Mize

Vice President of Academic Freedom and Shared Governance