Twin Cities Chapter
News

• 12/8/2025: In a unanimous vote, members of the UMN Twin Cities chapter of the AAUP approved this Statement of Solidarity with Somali and Immigrant Communities.
  
• 11/18/2025: Win in AAUP v. Trump: Court Blocks Attacks on University of California System.
  
• 11/18/2025: PEN America Urges University of Minnesota Regents to Reconsider Restrictions on Departmental Speech.
  
• 11/17/2025: A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction in AAUP v. Trump, which The New York Times calls “an extraordinary rebuke to the federal government’s campaign against elite schools.” On Friday, November 14, the court ordered the Trump administration to stop coercing the University of California by threatening to cut research funding and demanding payments in connection with civil rights investigations. AAUP general counsel Veena Dubal, who is a law professor at UC Irvine, stated “This represents saving higher education, saving public research and the standing up of faculty and staff and student
  
• 10/25/2025: The EC sends AAUP counsel letter to Provost Ritter and General Counsel Peterson urging rejecting the Trump compact.
  
• 9/30/2025: Court Rules in AAUP v Rubio: Trump Admin Violated First Amendment
  
• 9/30/2025: A letter and report sent to the Board of Regents regarding their resolution on institutional speech and documenting its detrimental impact on academic freedom at the University of Minnesota.
  
• 9/19/2025: Please consider signing and sharing this letter from AFT/AAUP in support of federal funding for medical research and student aid.
  
• 9/4/2025: A Letter Regarding Concerns with Planned Academic Freedom Forum
  
• 8/28/2025: A Letter Regarding Appointment and Pay Confusion for NTT Faculty
  
• 8/19/2025: A Letter to President Cunningham and the Board of Regents Regarding a Fair Contract for UMN Service Workers
  
• 4/10/2025: Our chapter has signed an amicus brief supporting a preliminary injunction in AAUP v. Rubio.
  
• 4/7/2025: A letter sent to CLA Dean GerShun Avilez requesting the reconsideration of the pause to P&A mulit-year contract process.
  
• 3/27/2025: Please read the Standing with Non-Citizen and Immigrant Students and Colleagues letter to President Cunningham, signed by over 500 members of the University of Minnesota, with specific requests to support non-citizen students, staff, and faculty.
  
• 2/3/2025: A Statement in Support of the Report of the Task Force on  Academic Freedom Protections for Contingent Faculty Appointments
  
• 1/21/2025: The Take Back the Senate Campaign begins!
  
• 1/15/2025: Materials used by Faculty Senators in preparation of the no-confidence vote of Interim President Ettinger and Provost Rachel Croson.
  
• 1/13/2025: A letter sent to the Administrative Hiring Task Force.​
  
• 11/27/2024: Mayor Frey's Assault on Academic Freedom
• 10/14/2024: Todd Wolfson, the President of the AAUP (national), sent this letter to President Cunningham condemning the "unhiring" of Professor Raz Segal and asking that the offer be reinstated. The message was also sent to members of the Board of Regents, and members of the Faculty Consultative Committee.
• 7/1/2024: A letter sent to President Cunningham urging the reinstatement of the offer to Professor Raz Segal to be the director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
  • ​7/22/2024: An AAUP EC reply to the disappointing response from the President's Office to their July 1 letter.
• 6/12/2024: Urgent call to action! Read the email sent by the executive committee to Interim President Ettinger, Incoming President Cunningham, and Provost Croson regarding the administration's unilateral withdrawal of a tenure-stream job offer for esteemed historian Raz Segal to direct the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Then write to the administration expressing your concerns. More details can be found here. The letter sent by the executive committee can be found here.
• 2/15/2024: The Power of Higher Ed Organizing: A conversation with Rebecca Givan -  a moderated discussion with the President and bargaining chair at Rutgers AAUP-AFT. Join us the learn more about how faculty at Rutgers built their organization and won their historic contract. Details available here.
• 1/3/2024: An email sent to Provost Croson from the executive committee regarding concerns about unit statement policy proposals.
• 12/27/2023: An opinion piece, "Coverage of antisemitism charge is reckless", in the Star Tribute Members by executive members of our AAUP chapter executive committee.
• 11/14/2023: Members of our AAUP chapter executive committee have written a letter to the editor in The Minnesota Daily: Calls to police campus speech against Israel must be rejected.
• 10/23/2023: Our AAUP chapter has issued a Statement on Defending Academic Freedom at the University of Minnesota
• 9/29/2023: Our AAUP chapter has issued a statement on Hamline University’s Recent “Academic Freedom and Cultural Perspectives: Challenges for Higher Ed Today and Tomorrow” Event​
• Previous news items can be found here.
• 4/24/2023: Op-Ed on CLA budget cuts. Our AAUP executive committee and members have written an Op-Ed in the Minnesota Daily asking "Why is the Administration Gutting CLA?"
• 4/25/2023: Statement on CLA budget cuts. Our AAUP chapter has issued a statement on CLA instructional budget cuts.
• 2/23/2023: Statement on graduate student union. Our AAUP chapter has issued a statement of support for the UMN Graduate Labor Union (GLU).
• ​1/14/2023: Statement on Hamline University. Our AAUP chapter has issued a statement on Hamline University and academic freedom.
• 1/8/2023: The January 27 One Faculty Town Hall. Our AAUP chapter is organizing a Town Hall towards understanding the issues confronting the growing number of fixed-term or contingent faculty members on our campus. This is part of our effort that is targeted at focusing attention on the common interests of the different categories of faculty members and working towards their realization. This Town Hall hopes to bring forward the thinking expressed in Fall 2022 in various forms, such as the op-ed of faculty members in the School of Social Work and the op-ed and the podcast involving Sumanth Gopinath and Heather Holcombe, the President and Vice-President of our chapter. 
  
  We will be meeting on Friday, January 27 from 2:00pm - 4:00pm in Blegen Hall 250. We hope to see you there.  (Note that we were originally meeting in room 317 but this has changed to room 250.) While a Zoom link is available, to fully engage in the discussion we encourage in-person participation.
• 12/6/2022: New Minnesota Daily op-ed. Read the Minnesota Daily op-ed by Heather Holcombe and Sumanth Gopinath the, respectively, vice president and president of the UMN-Twin Cities chapter of the AAUP on the lack of job stability, academic freedom, and a livable wage. You can also listen to their podcast with Minnesota Daily reporter Stella Mehlhoff in which they discuss the challenges faced by fixed-term faculty.
• 11/6/2022: "Your Professor May Be a Gig Worker." Read the Minnesota Daily op-ed by Heather Holcombe and Sumanth Gopinath the, respectively, vice president and president of the UMN-Twin Cities chapter of the AAUP on the lack of job stability, academic freedom, and a livable wage.
  
  You can also listen to their podcast with Minnesota Daily reporter Stella Mehlhoff in which they discuss the challenges faced by fixed-term faculty.
• 11/2/2022: Wage cuts in the School of Social Work. The School of Social Work has announced a reduction in faculty pay in an effort to balance its budget.  Read the Minnesota Daily op-ed from affected faculty members.
• ​10/11/2022: UMN-TC-AAUP response to VP Horstman. The UMN-TC-AAUP Executive Committee writes to Vice President Horstman and President Gabel to express their outrage at the email sent by Horstman to the entire "University Community" that described the University's bargaining with Teamsters Local 320 in partisan terms.  See that letter here.
• 5/3/2022: Spring 2022 Meeting. The Twin Cities chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) invites you to meet other faculty and learn about the AAUP at our spring member meeting on Tuesday, May 3, 12:00–2:00pm, in the Multipurpose Room 1/2 on the 2nd floor at the University Recreation Center, 123 SE Harvard Street (Directions). Please RSVP.
  
  Due to continuing concerns about the pandemic, we have reserved a large room and arranged several ways to attend the meeting. If you are comfortable, please join us for a light lunch and socializing at noon. After we call the meeting to order at 12:30, we expect all participants to be masked. Feel free to join us at that time if you prefer. You are also welcome to join us remotely through this zoom link.
  
  AGENDA
  Lunch and socializing: 12–12:30pm
  Meeting: 12:30–2pm
• Introduction to the AAUP
• Update on chapter activities
• Report on survey of UMN faculty
• Breakout group discussion of priorities for 2022–23
• Discussion of elections and chapter bylaws