On May 7, 2024, the presidents of the AAUP chapters of Whitman College, UW, and WSU wrote to U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to draw their attention to “escalating attacks on academic freedom” and to call on them “to stand up in defense of the core values of free speech, free association, and academic freedom” in Washington. Read the full letter.

“The AAUP and its chapters defend the right to free speech and peaceful protest on university campuses, condemn the militarized response by institutional leaders to these activities, and vehemently oppose the politically motivated assault on higher education… The way forward is through education and dialogue, not through zip-ties and fear-mongering.”

Full statement from the AAUP and list of chapter signatories, including the WCAAUP chapter:

In Defense of the Right to Free Speech and Peaceful Protest on University Campuses

In 2023-2024, we focused on strengthening faculty power and solidarity. We aimed to:

1. 1. Organize for appropriate faculty compensation;
   2. Practice budget activism against austerity;
   3. Secure academic freedom at Whitman College.

Our work included…

Fall of 2023

• • A letter of concern in October, 2023, about the historical structuring and late timing of new faculty compensation. Starting in August, 2024, new faculty will be paid earlier and compensated for new trainings and relocation.
  • Affirming our students’ right to academic freedom in an October 11, 2023, letter, and re-affirming it at the student walkout for Palestine in April, 2024.
  • Meeting with President Bolton in November, 2023, to share chapter concerns about the current circulation and content of speech at Whitman. The president affirmed academic freedom in an email, “Responding to community concerns, questions, and needs” later that month.
  • Advancing chapter member questions to the hiring committee for the new provost and dean of the faculty (PDOF) in November, 2023.
  • Continuing to work closely with the Academic Freedom and Due Process Committee in the effort to obtain a high-level college endorsement of the Statement on Academic Freedom, and to ensure an appropriate listserv moderation policy.
  • Initiating the “Law and the Academy” faculty discussion series, which convened to discuss affirmative action (November, 2023), labor unions (February, 2024), and academic freedom (April, 2024).

Spring of 2024

• • Offering opportunities for chapter members to support the WSJP-SAC work on divestment from Israel in January, 2024.
  • Circulating a memo of facts and questions on faculty compensation at Whitman in February, 2024.
  • Working with the Faculty Committee on Compensation on said questions.
  • Re-circulating material from the recent WCAAUP past re: austerity, collectively analyzing the tenure-track hiring pause announced in March, and pondering junior-senior housing budgets publicized in April, 2024.
  • Organizing around the National Day of Action for Higher Education for the Public good in April, 2024.
  • Advancing deliberations on the need for academic representation on, and academic freedom and shared governance training for, the Board of Trustees.
  • Beginning to research shifts in labor due to budget cuts and increasing clerical and administrative responsibilities of the faculty.

Thank you to colleagues who read and responded to emails, shared links, attended meetings, drafted and supported institutional and public-facing documents, and initiated other key work for shared governance, academic freedom, and the economic security of Whitman faculty.

Please direct your questions to the 2024-2025 chapter officers Jack Jackson (President), Lisa Uddin (Vice President), and Xiaobo Yuan (Secretary/Treasurer).

As of May, 2024, the president of the chapter is Jack Jackson (Associate Professor of Politics), the vice president is Lisa Uddin (Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Culture Studies, and Paul Garett Fellow), and the Secretary-Treasurer is Xiaobo Yuan (Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Religion).

The Whitman College Chapter of the AAUP endorses the National Day of Action for Higher Education by the national AAUP. The Day of Action is April 17, 2024.

The second meeting of the “Law & the Academy” discussion series took place on Tuesday, February 6th, at the Baker Center. The discussion concerned the US Supreme Court’s landmark decision (and dissent) on faculty unionization (NLRB v. Yeshiva University) and a brief summary of recent applications/interpretations of the decision. (Relevant additional reading: The AAUP’s policy statement on collective bargaining; a recent collective bargaining agreement between Occidental College’s NTT faculty and that college.)

On November 28, 2023, the officers of the AAUP chapter issued a letter concerning academic freedom and the divestment debate.

On November 11, 2023, Prof. Jack Jackson and Prof. Timothy Kaufman-Osborn co-facilitated the first discussion from the Law & the Academy series. Titled “Affirmative Action,” the discussion focused on the Supreme Court case Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023) and its implications for higher education. The Department of Politics and the AAUP chapter co-sponsored the event.