The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is a union and membership organization for faculty. Among its missions is to “define fundamental professional values and standards” in part as a defense against outside interference. They’ve failed that part of their mission. The AAUP has long been a typical left-wing organization—see the 2015 essay, “The AAUP Takes a Sharp Left Turn“—and this year they’re doubling down on that image. For example, the AAUP chapter at Rutgers sent this email:
It includes an announcement that they formed a committee “after Trump’s election to prepare for the new wave of attacks we know are on the way from a fascist, racist, xenophobic administration.” The AAUP used to recognize the danger of such “intemperate partisanship.” In one of their foundational documents in 1915, the AAUP wrote:
If this profession should prove itself unwilling to purge its ranks of the incompetent and the unworthy, or to prevent the freedom which it claims in the name of science from being used as a shelter for inefficiency, for superficiality, or for uncritical and intemperate partisanship, it is certain that the task will be performed by others.
As the Rutgers email indicates, the AAUP has failed to police its ranks. Given this abdication of their responsibility, it should not be a surprise that others are seeking to perform the task.
The AAUP of 2025 should have heeded the warnings of the AAUP of 1915.
Image: “Strike at Rutgers-Camden, 2023” by Barthe93 on Wikimedia Commons
