@utaaup
We are the advocacy chapter of the American Association of University Professors at The University of Tampa. Please follow for important information and updates related to our chapter and campus. www.utaaup.org
Congrats to @ncaaup.bsky.social & all who fought against this surveillance policy that would've allowed admin to hijack microphones in the classroom for secret recordings.
This move would've chilled classroom discussion & suppressed students' willingness to ask questions & take intellectual risks.
Image of an event invite
Mark your calendars! Please join UTampa AAUP for February’s Third Thursday (next week) on 2/19. We’ll be meeting at Four Green Fields Riverwalk. Stop by between 4-6pm for a beverage and some camaraderie!
@aaup.org , @aft.org and others are sponsoring a mass call on Sunday about strategies to pressure our schools to stop investing in partners that fund ICE and the DHS. Join the call this Sunday at 7 PM. Register using the link:
www.mobilize.us/aft/event/89...
"We do not accept a system in which personnel decisions affecting people’s careers and livelihoods are made at the direction of online vigilantes and so-called journalists, whose methods would not be taught in our university or allowed at our university publications."
“I don’t know of any faculty member at UNC that has any faith that the provost, human resources officer, or especially the university lawyers have the faculty interests anywhere in mind when they’re making these decisions.”
—Michael Palm, @unc-ch-aaup.bsky.social President
In this piece, UTampa faculty discuss how the challenges we are facing in higher ed today, we have faced before…
www.ocregister.com/2026/01/25/g...
“Plato does not agree with the narrative that there are two biological sexes and that everyone should be heterosexual. So it is controversial. But that's the whole point of including him in the syllabus.”
— Martin Peterson, Texas A&M
@texasaaup.bsky.social
@texasaft.org
@tamu-aaup.bsky.social
A petition is circulating to defend OU graduate instructor Mel Curth. You can read the letter to OU’s President and sign the petition here:
actionnetwork.org/forms/defend...
“OU’s decision to place an instructor on administrative leave following a routine grading dispute—& subsequent failure to defend her from harassment & discrimination…raises serious concerns about the University’s commitment to educational standards, academic freedom, & instructor safety.”
This is one of the most important documents produced this year.
At a time when many of our professional organizations are punting, @aaup.org has been leading on EdTech, AI, academic freedom & faculty governance.
I'm humbled to be joining the team that authored this report.
The AAUP chapter at Oklahoma University released a statement demanding that the President and Board of Regents defend Mel Curth, the instructor put on administrative leave after the viral fallout for failing Samantha Fulnecke’s essay, from death threats and targeted harassment.
🚨The “American Higher Education Restoration Act” would carve out a special pathway to tenure for faculty who teach “American Constitutionalism + Western Civilization,” increase the teaching loads for faculty who work in non-STEM disciplines…+ impose new governing board control over hiring. 👇
“The key to America’s economic growth is research and development. Removing or barring top researchers from the country would transfer that talent (and the research and development) to other countries.“
Thanks to our UTampa colleagues, Drs. Coon and Hall!
www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/12/01/c...
Subscribe to "Academic Freedom on the Line," the Substack of the AAUP's Center for the Defense of Freedom, to receive newsletters and and regular analysis from experts on academic freedom!
The most recent newsletter covers the University of Texas system's fight against the compact👇
“Higher education is a public good. It’s good for democracy, it’s good for the economy. And so it’s worse for all of us if it gets controlled one way or the other from the outside”
🔥 WashU in STL rejects Trump’s loyalty oath compact! 🔥
The resistance cannot be stopped!
AAUP chapters and organized higher ed workers across the nation are unified in spearheading this fight—let’s keep it up!
Tampa No Kings
Trump on a toilet a giant phone with the words “Nobel prize was rigged just like everything under Crook Joe and the radical left lunatics! I won in a landslide. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Lady wearing a shirt that reads “I AM AUNT TIFA”
Tampa No Kings
Scenes from Tampa, Florida today.
#nokings
@utaaup.bsky.social
Join AAUP's National Teach-In on Trump's Loyalty Oaths!
Tomorrow, Oct 17pm at 2pmET on Zoom. Be there!
Register at link below👇
#AcademicSky #DefendHigherEd
Reject the ongoing censorship of student media on our campuses!
“Administrative efforts to subordinate campus journalism to public relations are inconsistent with the mission of higher education to provide a space of intellectual exploration and debate”
—Hank Reichman, in a new Academe Blog post
MIT President Sally Kornbluth next to a shot of the campus and text of an open letter to the government on the education compact proposed by President Donald Trump. In black text the kicker Governance, the headline MIT Rejects Proposed Federal Compact, and the sub-headline MIT is the first institution to reject a proposal by the Trump administration that would trade preferential treatment on federal funding for far-reaching changes. Photo illustration by Justin Morrison/Inside Higher Ed | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | Nate Hovee/iStock/Getty Images | MIT
The quote “In our view, America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.” — Sally Kornbluth, MIT president, in a letter to the campus community Friday.
ICYMI | MIT has rejected the Trump administration’s proposal to sign on to the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which would mandate sweeping changes across campus in exchange for preferential treatment on federal funding.
https://bit.ly/3KO0g5l
Great piece @insidehighered.com by Robert Post and Tom Ginsburg about the considerable threats posed by Trump's (extortion) "compact" with 9 universities. @aaup.org
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
A student looking at a cellphone with a bunch of fists flying out of it.
With Doxing On the Rise, Here Are 7 Tips to Stay Safe Online
Experts offer solutions to prevent doxing and advice about how to respond and keep yourself safe if it happens to you. https://bit.ly/47KLTrY
#AcaemicSky #EDUSky #HigherEd
Just a little #throwback, thinking about our joint #solidarity event on Monday!
Here’s a 🧵 on key points in Judge Burroughs’ order in the AAUP/Harvard AAUP’s lawsuit against Trump’s DOJ for ideological funding cuts at Harvard:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
We Out Here!
AAUP & @aft.org members from coast to coast are out in the streets this #LaborDay standing on business & raising the voices of higher ed workers as we continue to resist an unprecedented wave of attacks.
Join Us!
#DefendHigherEd
✊🏼✊🏾✊🏻✊🏿✊🏽
Unite and rise! #solidarity #LaborDay
Image of a crowd of people sitting on a beach in blue shirts.
Image taken from a drone overhead, showing people lined up on the beach, spelling out the words, unite and rise
Just a few images from our #solidarity event this #LaborDay!
We are getting our community together this #LaborDay. Today, join us in St. Pete at 10 a.m. You can find more information at the link below. #WorkersOverBillionaires
www.mobilize.us/aft/event/82...
GIF shows a collection of hands in multiple colors coming together, surrounded by the words teamwork makes the dream work
Let’s make this #LaborDay a day of action and #solidarity! Learn more at maydaystrong.org #StrongerTogether #WorkersOverBillionaires
