This is the first post for The AAUPdate! If you are a member of our chapter, you’ll get these updates regularly in your inbox. If you’re not a member, you are invited to subscribe below, to receive these updates by email. Please also feel free to forward this along to colleagues!
Posts will include updates on chapter events and activities of our various committees. We will also include links to a few important news items to keep membership informed of campus developments, particularly related to academic freedom and shared governance at the university.
In case you missed it: our AAUP chapter held a press conference outside the CU gates on September 2nd, the first day of classes. It was covered in the New York Daily News, The Chronicle of Higher Ed, and CBS New York, as well as the Spectator (see below) and international news outlets.
AAUP@CU Chapter Committee Activities:
★ The Advocacy Committee works to influence public opinion and government decision-makers to shape policies that affect academic work. This group has been focused on the following priorities:
Federal funding cuts: we oppose drastic cuts proposed for FY 2026: 57% cut to NSF, 40% to NIH, and 24% to NASA. We also reject efforts to reclaim $30B in appropriated research funds. These cuts threaten innovation, economic activity, and thousands of jobs. The long-term consequences include reduced life expectancy, diminished global leadership in science, and irreversible damage to the research infrastructure. Congress must act to ensure funds are released and resist further cuts.
Alternative funding models (such as state-level funding): we urge state and city lawmakers to develop alternative funding — such as support for vaccination programs for those losing Medicaid coverage — in response to federal rollbacks.
Support for international students: we advocate for the protection of international students affected by abrupt visa revocations and SEVIS terminations. These students contribute $43.8B to the U.S. economy and support 300,000 jobs. We call on lawmakers to defend their rights and oppose unjust enforcement actions by ICE.
The committee has generated brochures, flyers, and documents containing systematic information on lost grants, contract terminations, and medicaid cuts at CU and across the country — addressing how the overall impact of these cuts will affect people’s lives. We use this info to raise awareness in the following ways:
Local Outreach: canvassing at a farmer’s market in Congressman Mike Lawler’s district. We are raising awareness about cuts to health and climate research, including threats to CIESIN at Lamont-Doherty, which provides vital flood risk data and supports informed disaster planning.
Phonebanking and emailbanking our local House and Senate Representatives
Hill Day Coalition: building a coalition of CU faculty that plans to meet with congressional staffers in D.C. Some members will be traveling to the capital this week on September 18th in conjunction with the national “Rally for Medical Research."
The Advocacy Committee has been meeting weekly on Tuesdays to organize and plan our activities. We need more participants to brainstorm ideas and help disseminate materials — reach out to Giulia Zanni if you’d like to get involved!
★ The Organizing Committee of Columbia AAUP recognizes that our influence as a chapter depends on a large and active membership, which represents all units of the university. Since March, we have been working to broaden and deepen faculty’s involvement in the activities of our chapter, and our membership has nearly tripled in this time.
In recent weeks we have been organizing support for our chapter’s syllabus pledge for academic freedom in the classroom, which has received more than 100 signatories and has earned media attention in the New York Daily News, on local news, and in the Columbia Spectator. Over the fall, we will be working with Communications to develop a structure of departmental representatives.
We would very much welcome your participation! If you would like to get involved, please write to [email protected] and we will schedule a time to meet.
★ The University Senate Committee: To date, 14 AAUP chapter members are also part of the 2025-2026 University Senate. Senate/AAUP members meet at least monthly to discuss common issues and how to better inform their constituencies. Following a recommendation from an AAUP member, the Senate Office started distributing weekly University Senate Primers to help the faculty community understand the vital role each committee plays in shared governance. So far, the Faculty Affairs, Academic Freedom, and Tenure Committee and the Education Committee have been featured. More will be announced soon. Please share this widely and plan to register for the first Senate Plenary of the semester here. Campaigning is underway for the Tenured, Tenure-Track, and Off-Tenure Senate Executive Committee – the most important Senate Committee. Only Senators with the shared title vote in these elections, but you may ask YOUR senators to vote for individuals you believe would make good EC members. There are 9 tenured candidates for 5 slots and 6 TTOT candidates for 2 slots. Elections began Wednesday, September 10th, and close on Thursday, September 18th.
AAUP/Senators want you to know about two University Senate Town Halls this week. Please register and attend to express the importance of maintaining the integrity of our University Senate, Statutes, and Bylaws, as well as to share any concerns regarding the Senate Review Report (which we have yet to receive) and any other business.
Register HERE for DOWNTOWN Senate Town Hall on 9/16, 6:30-8:30 Faculty House
Register HERE for UPTOWN Senate Town Hall on 9/18, 6:00-7:50 Alumni Auditorium
★ The chapter has a new Coalitions Committee, which had its first meeting this week. We have already been collaborating with New York Metro Coalition for Higher Education (NYM-CHE), composed mainly of AAUP, PSC (AFT), and UAW locals and chapters that emerged from last April’s “Hands Off Higher Ed” march. In addition, we are: participating in a nascent collaboration across regional medical center faculty and staff, reaching out to a coalition of CUNY faculty; reaching out to the new Columbia Alumni for Academic Freedom; and working with various union locals and organizing campaigns on Columbia campuses. Members who want to participate in this outward-facing coalition work, or who are in touch with organizations they think we should connect to, may contact Rob Newton.
★ The end of the last academic year saw the establishment of an Events Committee. In addition to press conferences, actions and collaborations on emergent issues, AAUP will organize 3-4 major events this year. In the first, scheduled for September 19th, speakers from across the disciplines will consider the changes that have resulted from the extraordinary external and internal pressures on the university in the last two years, culminating in the Agreement with the federal government. Students and faculty find themselves confronting confusing new disciplinary procedures, changes to the operations and powers of the Senate, restrictions on the admission of international grad students, new structures for academic oversight of departments, and an extraordinary consolidation of authority over many dimensions of university life in the Office of the President and the Board of Trustees. On September 19th, we will take stock of what these changes portend while also identifying new strategies for a more robust defense of our rights, of academic freedom, and of our capacity to participate in meaningful university governance. See further details about this event (including registration link) at the bottom of this post. Later this fall we plan to convene a university forum on the broader context for the transformations that are currently being justified as a way to manage the present emergency.
Other events will be shaped by member interest and the unfolding events of the current year. If you are interested in joining the Events Committee, please contact Rosalind Morris.
★ The Communications Committee has been working with the Events and Organizing Committees to get the word out about the chapter’s initiatives and issues arising on campus. We are excited to publicize the forum “Our Transformed University,” which will take place on September 19th. And we are particularly delighted to be launching The AAUPdate, the chapter’s new biweekly newsletter. Please reach out to us if you want to get involved in the work of the committee or if you have suggestions for ways to disseminate information to our colleagues across the university.
Relevant News & Links:
The Trump Lawsuit You Haven’t Heard of Is the Real Game Changer (Harvard Crimson)
Video of clash over gender-identity content in Texas A&M children’s lit class leads to firing, removals (Texas Tribune)
A General Air of Anxiety – The Red Scare targeted my father. He taught me the meaning of resistance (Boston Review)
Upcoming Chapter Events:
OUR TRANSFORMED UNIVERSITY
Shared Governance and Academic Freedom: Taking Stock and Next Steps
September 19, 2025, 12pm – 2:00pm, 103 Jerome Greene, Columbia University
This is a hybrid event. Both in-person and remote attendance is limited to CUID holders. Registration is required for both in-person and remote participation. A webinar link will be distributed to registered guests in advance of the event. In-person attendance is on a first-come, first-seated basis. Press attendance is in-person only. Register here.