by AAUP National
March 7, 2022
The governing councils of the AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers are pursuing an affiliation to join forces, at a time of momentous challenges to higher education and to democracy. The AAUP Council voted unanimously Sunday to recommend ratification of the affiliation to our June biennial meeting. If approved by the AAUP’s delegate assembly in June, the agreement will bring together two organizations representing more than 300,000 faculty overall, the largest such alliance in the country. The partnership will serve as the basis for enhanced faculty voice with nationwide reach and huge potential for future organizing growth and success.
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The partnership comes against the backdrop of increased legislative attacks on teaching and academic freedom, as well as persistent public underfunding that has led to an explosion in student debt and adjunct precarity and poverty. Through the affiliation, the 44,000 member AAUP and the 1.7 million-member AFT will work hand in hand to protect academic freedom and to unify the faculty voice at the state and federal levels.
The AFT and AAUP have a history of partnership and formal joint organizing agreements, including dual AAUP/AFT affiliates currently representing more than 20,000 faculty and staff. The organizing partnership has resulted in several victories at research institutions, colleges and universities where union organizing efforts had not succeeded in the past.