Author: Joseph Fitsanakis

DEFENDING ACADEMIC INTEGRITY ● PROTECTING FACULTY RIGHTS

These are tough times for higher education workers. But we continue to fight.

Dear Colleagues,

Across the United States, higher-education workers are operating under a level of pressure that feels increasingly difficult, even by the standards of a sector long accustomed to political and cultural scrutiny. Recent political developments surrounding policing, freedom of speech, and campus governance, have placed faculty and administrators at the center of broader national conflicts over public order, identity, and dissent.

Compounding these tensions is the rapid, largely unregulated expansion of artificial intelligence. While AI offers significant opportunities for research and pedagogy, its unregulated proliferation has introduced profound uncertainties around authorship, intellectual integrity, labor displacement, and the future of scholarly expertise. Faculty are now tasked with redesigning assessment, revisiting ethical frameworks, and navigating technological change at a pace that far exceeds traditional institutional adaptation cycles. The result is an additional layer of cognitive and professional strain placed upon already stretched academic communities.

At the same time, the anti–higher-education rhetoric associated with the political movement surrounding Donald Trump has contributed to a broader atmosphere of suspicion toward universities as institutions. Critiques portraying higher education as ideologically biased or disconnected from public needs have translated into policy proposals, funding threats, and heightened political oversight in several states. For many of us, these developments feel less like routine policy debates and more like challenges to the legitimacy of our work.

Taken together, these forces have converged to create an environment of near-unprecedented pressure on higher-education workers nationwide. The cumulative impact is not merely administrative or professional; it is psychological and structural, shaping decisions about research agendas, classroom practices, and even whether some of us choose to remain in academia.

As we deal with this dangerous conflagration, I urge you to continue to engage with AAUP, both regionally as well as nationally. On February 18, our statewide AAUP will be holding its monthly “Power Lunch” on Zoom, to discuss the current higher-education legislative climate in South Carolina. You can register for this event here. Meanwhile, on February 26, AAUP National will hold an online session on “Shared Governance and Faculty on Contingent Appointments”. If you are a member of AAUP National, please join by going here. If you are not a member of AAUP National, please consider adding your voice to the defense of our profession.

We continue to monitor these developments, engaging with CCU’s leadership, and advocating to protect and strengthen academic freedom and shared governance on our campus. Please remember to reach out should you have questions or concerns that fall under the broad banners of shared governance and academic freedom. Additionally, reach out to your new colleagues and urge them to get in touch with AAUP/AFT-CCU by going to our website.

In Solidarity – Joseph Fitsanakis, PhD, President AAUP/AFT-CCU

An Instructor Was Fired After a Viral Recording of a Gender Lesson. Now She’s Suing the University. A fired Texas A&M instructor’s has sued after a viral recording of a gender-identity lesson sparked political backlash, raising questions about academic freedom, due process, and the growing influence of external political pressure on university decisions.

● A secretly recorded classroom exchange about gender identity went viral, triggering political criticism and leading to the instructor’s dismissal despite disputes over whether course content violated policy. Internal faculty reviews found that academic freedom and proper procedures were violated, but the university upheld the termination anyway. The instructor’s federal lawsuit alleges free-speech and due-process violations, arguing the firing reflected political pressure rather than legitimate academic or contractual grounds.

N.C. State Fires LGBTQ Pride Employee in Undercover Video. Another unsuspecting subject of an activist group’s undercover videos at UNC System schools is now out of a job. This time, the group targeted NC State University’s LGBTQ Pride Center.

● The group Accuracy in Media has posted videos shot at universities across North Carolina and in other states that it says shows evidence of diversity, equity and inclusion programs on campuses where such programming is restricted. The group shared a video of the center’s assistant director explaining how the school continues to support LGBTQ+ students despite changes in policy at the system level. next morning, he was no longer employed by NC State, according to the university.

Higher Ed’s Bullying Problem. Despite increasing awareness, bullying persists in higher education. Universities often enable toxic workplace dynamics through hierarchical structures, precarious employment, and weak accountability systems, causing serious harm to faculty well-being, careers, and institutional culture..

● Bullying in higher education is widespread, with research showing staff prevalence rates ranging roughly from 18% to 68%, far higher than many general workplace estimates. Academic hierarchies, competition, and insecure contracts can normalize subtle forms of incivility and power abuse, making bullying harder to identify and address. Marginalized groups are disproportionately affected, and scholars argue institutions need clearer policies, stronger reporting systems, and cultural change to reduce workplace harm.

DEFENDING ACADEMIC INTEGRITY ● PROTECTING FACULTY RIGHTS

We are following developments across the nation that may affect us soon.

Dear Colleagues,

As the fall 2025 semester gains momentum, AAUP/AFT-CCU is not only focused on internal issues at CCU but also working with AAUP/AFT-SC to track political and legislative developments across the state.

We are equally attentive to national trends that threaten academic freedom and shared governance. Some states are serving as early warning sites for the rest of us—Georgia among them. In October 2021, its Republican-led legislature effectively abolished tenure. Now, faculty in the state university system are required to post syllabi online.

Transparency and public engagement are integral to academic work, but in today’s political climate, compulsory syllabus posting looks less like openness and more like an invitation for targeted political attacks. As Dr. Matthew Boedy, President of the Georgia Conference of the AAUP, has warned, this mandate hands those who systematically target professors yet another avenue to do so.

We will continue monitoring these developments, engaging with CCU’s leadership, and advocating to protect and strengthen academic freedom and shared governance on our campus.

Please remember to reach out should you have questions or concerns that fall under the broad banners of shared governance and academic freedom. Additionally, reach out to your new colleagues and urge them to get in touch with AAUP/AFT-CCU by going to our website.

In Solidarity – Joseph Fitsanakis, PhD, President AAUP/AFT-CCU

Georgia professors now have to post syllabuses publicly online. Some University System of Georgia professors will now have to post their syllabuses online, starting this semester. Syllabuses for core classes and classes offered by the College of Education had to be posted before the start of the current fall semester. Other courses have until the registration period for the 2026 fall semester to comply with the rule. The policy was passed in May. A letter from University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue says all syllabuses must include required readings and key learning objectives.

● The article includes a statement from Professor Matthew Boedy, an English Professor at the University of North Georgia and the President of the Georgia Conference of the AAUP. Dr. Boedy says he welcomes more transparency for students but has concerns about how this newly public information may be used. “I know that many of my colleagues have been targeted for what they teach in their classroom, and this allows that targeting even more pathways,” he says.

The US used to be a haven for research. Now, scientists are packing their bags. A growing number of academics and researchers leaving the United States. As government funding for scientific research dries up, and as President Donald Trump wages pointed attacks against some of the nation’s top universities, more academics are looking to Europe and Asia as safe havens.

● A recent survey of U.S. college faculty by the journal Nature found that 75% were looking for work outside the country. Some are doing so to protect their research, while others are trying to safeguard their individual freedoms.

● As part of its 2026 budget proposal, the Trump administration has called for the elimination of the NEH, the largest humanities funder in the United States. It has also dismantled the National Science Foundation, the only federal agency that funds research across all fields of science and engineering. It has already canceled at least 1,653 active research grants.

● On Aug. 21, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote allowed the White House to proceed with almost $800 million in cuts to research from the National Institutes of Health.

● The Trump administration’s list of banned words is now at over 350 and growing, with words such as “woman,” “climate,” “race,” and “housing” on the list. It has also taken down from government websites decades-worth of data related to climate change, health, and other scientific research.

The coming collapse of faculty diversity. Trump’s war on university diversity programs is often seen as a distinct initiative, but it is part and parcel of his effort to delegitimize academic institutions by suggesting that they are not hiring the best and brightest. And by targeting university budgets, he is assuring that faculties will become less diverse. Studies also suggest that students of color will suffer.

● In academe, demographic shifts in new faculty can happen with no one being the wiser, because hiring decisions are scattered across departments. Undergraduate admissions are different because they are centralized, and so admissions staff see the composition of admits before they send acceptance letters — or they did until the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision forbidding the use of race in admissions. Because faculty hires happen one by one, academic leaders do not see the aggregate effects of hiring decisions until after the hiring season, if then.

DEFENDING ACADEMIC INTEGRITY ● PROTECTING FACULTY RIGHTS

Attacks against higher education are real, but so is the momentum to resist

Dear Colleagues,

Earlier today I was one of two AAUP/AFT-CCU Executive Committee members who attended the AAUP-SC chapter’s Kick-Off meeting. The meeting brought together around 25 chapter leaders and activists from across the state. In comparing notes, it is clear that higher education all across South Carolina is facing mounting challenges, ranging from the erosion of shared governance to direct threats against faculty, staff, and student rights that have been established for over 100 years in the United States.

At the same time, however, the AAUP is fighting back with force. The organization has added over 7,000 members nationwide since January of this year. Our local conference here in South Carolina grew by 100% between January and July. The AAUP-SC conference is building programming and preparing materials to provide help to faculty, staff, and students, oriented around key AAUP concepts such as shared governance, academic freedom, and improving working conditions for all.

In the midst of all this action, our university has a new president, Dr. James Winebrake. Dr. Winebrake comes to us from University of North Carolina Wilmington, which does not have an active AAUP chapter. However, the university includes the AAUP Standards of Shared Governance in its Faculty Resources page. The CCU chapter of AAUP/AFT intends to be proactive about reaching out to Dr. Winebrake and establishing a working relationship with him and his office. We will report our progress to you with frequency.

Please remember to reach out should you have questions or concerns about working at CCU that fall under shared governance and academic freedom. Additionally, reach out to your new colleagues and urge them to get in touch with AAUP/AFT-CCU by going to our website.

In Solidarity – Joseph Fitsanakis, PhD, President AAUP/AFT-CCU

AAUP-SC adopts DEI statement. Right before the end of the spring 2025 semester, the South Carolina Conference of the AAUP adopted a collaboratively-written statement in support of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). The statement was the result of a collaboration of members of Committee T on Governance, the AAUP Executive Council, and members in attendance at the AAUP-SC Spring meeting. Also at the Spring meeting, AAUP-SC adopted a set of “aspirational” best practices regarding how institutions employ adjunct faculty. This set of practices grew out of the work of Committee Z on Equity in the Profession and were informed by reports by the College of Charleston Faculty Welfare Committee in 2017, the committee’s survey of adjunct faculty in 2023, and subsequent conversations with respondents, AFT and AAUP resources, other print sources, and consultations with AAUP-SC membership.

● In part the statement reads: “We affirm that diversity, equity, and inclusion are legitimate and compelling aims of higher education institutions and strongly urge that the administrations and boards of South Carolina’s public and private colleges and universities avoid engaging in anticipatory obedience to proposed state and national legislation and to the flurry of vague and expansive orders from the federal government’s executive branch“.

Participate in AAUP ‘Faculty in the South’ survey. The Georgia conference of the AAUP and its partners in states across the South have been at the forefront of fighting attacks on higher education. To assist in that fight, the would like to know your opinion as a faculty member if you work in one of the following 12 states: South Carolina, among other southern states. Please participate in and spread through your faculty networks the 2025 AAUP Faculty in the South Survey. You can see results from previous years here. AAUP/AFT-CCU will share the results of the survey later this semester.

● Key findings from the 2024 survey indicate that about 60 percent [58.7] of respondents would not recommend their state as a desirable place to work for colleagues, while 28 percent were planning to apply in another state in the coming year. That same amount [27.7 percent] had applied for academic jobs in other states since 2022. The top five states for those applications were: California, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Illinois. Every state in the nation was listed at least four times. More than a quarter [27.7 percent] said they did not plan to stay in academia long term.

AAUP releases report on artificial intelligence and the academic professions. Educational technology, or ed-tech, including artificial intelligence (AI), continues to become more integrated into teaching and research in higher education, with minimal oversight. The AAUP’s ad hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Academic Professions—composed of higher education faculty members, staff, and scholars interested in technology and its impact on academic labor— conducted a survey with a sample of five hundred members from nearly two hundred campuses across the country, collected during a two-week time period. You can download the report here.

● Survey respondents emphasized the importance of improving education on AI, promoting shared governance through policies and oversight, and focusing on equity, transparency, and worker protections.
● Among the committee’s five recommendations was “Implementing Shared Governance Policies to Promote Oversight”, which notes that AI integration initiatives are spearheaded by administrations with little input from faculty members and other campus community members, including staff and students. There are thus high levels of concern around AI and technology procurement, deployment, and use; dehumanized relations; and poor working and learning conditions.

The 2024 AAUP Community College Shared Governance survey results are now out. For more than a century, the AAUP has conducted or sponsored national shared governance surveys at four-year colleges and universities. In 2024, the AAUP, in partnership with the Center for the Study of Community Colleges, conducted an inaugural shared governance survey focused on com­munity colleges, the institutions educating nearly 40 percent of all undergraduates in the United States. Findings from this survey provide insights into areas of faculty authority and administrative collaboration in the nation’s public community colleges and allow for a more robust understanding of shared governance across American higher education. You can access the survey results here.

● Overall, the results of the survey present a mixed picture of community college shared governance. At most responding institutions, and especially at responding institutions with tenure systems, faculty authority is consistent with AAUP-recommended governance standards in decision-making about pro­grammatic, departmental, and institutional curricula; teaching assignments; salary policies; and faculty searches, evaluations, and tenure and promotion standards.
● However, in several decision-making areas, including budgets, buildings, provost selection, and strategic planning, community college faculty have few meaningful opportunities to participate. In these areas, community colleges deviate from the principles out­lined in the Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities, which emphasizes faculty involvement in personnel decisions and budget preparation.
● Although questions continue to be raised about the relationship between collective bargaining and shared governance, few statistically significant differences between unionized and nonunionized colleges were apparent in this survey or in the AAUP’s 2021 survey of four-year institutions. Indeed, the areas where col­lective bargaining did appear to make a (statistically significant) difference were those typically specified in bargaining agreements, including salary policies and teaching loads.

DEFENDING ACADEMIC INTEGRITY ● PROTECTING FACULTY RIGHTS

We are coordinating with CCU administrators to defend academic freedom

Colleagues,

Earlier this month, members of the AAUP/AFT-CCU Executive Committee met with Provost Gibbs Knotts, our university’s provost and chief academic officer, to engage in a candid conversation about the growing national, regional/state and local threats to academic freedom—particularly those stemming from efforts to restrict the teaching of topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

We are pleased to report that the meeting was productive, grounded in mutual respect, and focused on shared values. Importantly, we affirmed the Provost’s strong support for the core academic principles that the AAUP has long championed: academic freedom, shared governance, and the faculty’s central role in the intellectual life of the university. We found this affirmation encouraging, especially in a climate where these principles are increasingly under political scrutiny.

Together, we exchanged perspectives on the growing number of legislative and administrative efforts—at the national, state, and local levels—that seek to curtail academic freedom, limit what faculty may teach, or limit critical inquiry in classrooms. These challenges are real, and we agreed on the importance of remaining vigilant and informed as they continue to unfold.

We also committed to maintaining open lines of communication between AAUP/AFT-CCU and the Office of the Provost moving forward. As both faculty representatives and academic leaders, we share the responsibility of monitoring potential threats to academic integrity and ensuring that responses are thoughtful, principled, and collective.

Finally, the meeting reaffirmed a broader truth: that the preservation of academic freedom is not the task of any one office or organization alone. It requires shared effort, shared vision, and a shared belief in the university’s role as a place of free inquiry and rigorous debate. Although we aim to remain vigilant and pro-active, we left the conversation confident that, even in these difficult times, Provost Knotts shares our dedication to these ideals.

In Solidarity – Joseph Fitsanakis, PhD, President AAUP/AFT-CCU

Harvard sues the Trump administration over ban on enrolling foreign students. Harvard University is challenging the Trump administration’s decision to bar the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students, calling it unconstitutional retaliation for defying the White House’s political demands.

● “With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,” Harvard said in its suit. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”.
● Harvard enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Most are graduate students and they come from more than 100 countries.

Hope as US universities find ‘backbone’ against Trump’s assault on education. Amid concerns over authoritarian overreach, a growing number of universities are finally resisting the Trump administration’s aggressive actions against higher education, including funding threats and policy demands. Over 400 university presidents signed a statement condemning political interference, and Harvard became the first institution to sue the administration over coercive demands tied to federal funding, with support from numerous academic organizations and faculty advocacy groups.

● Advocates argue that universities must do more than issue statements—they must protect their communities and academic integrity. While some hope Harvard’s lawsuit marks a turning point, many credit students, faculty, and unions with pressuring administrations to act. Faculty groups emphasize the need for unity between institutions and their communities to resist unprecedented federal interference..

A major college accreditor pauses DEI requirements amid pressure from Trump. The WASC Senior College and University Commission, which accredits colleges mainly in California and Hawaii, has paused its DEI standards to review compliance with federal law following a Trump executive order. Although the order does not change existing laws, it threatens federal recognition of accreditors that promote DEI, prompting some to reconsider or suspend such requirements.

● The move reflects growing state and federal pressures to eliminate DEI programs, particularly in Republican-led states with anti-DEI legislation. Tensions arise where accreditor policies clash with state requirements for inclusion, such as protections for transgender students.
● Other accrediting bodies, like the American Bar Association and Higher Learning Commission, have similarly revised or removed DEI language under political pressure.

The Faculty Salary Squeeze: Professors brace for another year of losing ground. Faculty pay in U.S. higher education has stagnated or declined in real terms, while living costs —such as housing and insurance— have soared. Some professors have seen their inflation-adjusted salaries drop by 15% since 2012, despite increasing workloads and taking on multiple teaching roles to make ends meet. Nationally, full-time faculty salaries fell 1.5% from 2013–2023 after adjusting for inflation, and tenure-track faculty have seen a 10.2% drop since 2019–2020.

● Experts attribute the stagnation to shrinking state funding, ballooning administrative costs, and institutional spending on amenities over academics. Meanwhile, top administrators have seen much higher salary growth. Faculty morale is low, and more professors are considering leaving academia. The situation is especially dire for contingent faculty, who make up nearly 70% of the teaching workforce.
● Unionization has surged among faculty, often yielding pay increases through strikes and collective bargaining. However, some institutions are proactively addressing the problem by benchmarking salaries and implementing cost-of-living adjustments.
● Scholars warn that without consistent, transparent salary strategies, colleges risk losing qualified faculty and eroding educational quality. A “reckoning” may be approaching, as fewer applicants are now vying for academic jobs that were once in high demand.

DEFENDING ACADEMIC INTEGRITY ● PROTECTING FACULTY RIGHTS

Defending Higher Education from Existential Threats

Colleagues,

These are not normal times. As organized faculty at CCU, we stand at the forefront of an escalating battle over the very future of higher education. The latest waves of layoffs, funding cuts, and political attacks against our profession threaten not only our institution but the very principles of academic freedom and equity that we uphold.

This week, we assess the devastating impact of mass firings at the Department of Education and the broader consequences of federal defunding, including targeted research funding suspensions at Columbia University. Diversity officers are fighting back against relentless legislative and political pressure, while the NIH budget cuts signal a deeper war on higher education.

We must remain vigilant, united, and proactive in resisting these assaults. Our collective voice is more important than ever.

In Solidarity – Joseph Fitsanakis, PhD, President AAUP/AFT-CCU

Assessing the Impact of Layoffs at the Department of Education. Last Tuesday, the Trump administration fired nearly half of the Education Department’s roughly 4,100 employees, leaving the agency with a skeletal staff of about 2,183. Here is what to expect, as the scope and impact of those layoffs are beginning to take shape.

● The layoffs have hit some offices harder than others, with devastating consequences for the department’s core functions. The Institute of Education Sciences, responsible for data collection and research, was virtually gutted, leaving only a handful of staff members to manage critical national education statistics.
● The Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), which oversees student loans and federal financial aid, lost over 300 employees, raising concerns about the agency’s ability to maintain essential services like FAFSA processing and borrower support.
● The Office for Civil Rights (OCR), charged with investigating discrimination complaints, now operates with only five regional offices, a severe blow to student protections.
● Here is what AAUP/AFT is primarily worried about: with fewer staff to monitor compliance, investigate fraud, and guide institutions through evolving regulations, the fallout from these cuts will lead to delays, mismanagement, and a diminished federal role in safeguarding educational equity and access.

The Trump Administration Is Out for Blood. And it Won’t Stop at Columbia. It would be nice to think that the administration was suspending research funding to Columbia out of a genuine concern for the safety of Jewish students there. But it is not, argues David A. Bell.

● The Trump administration’s actions against Columbia University, including the abrupt cancellation of $400 million in research funding, are not rooted in genuine concern for combating antisemitism but rather in a broader effort to dismantle higher education. Despite Columbia’s extensive measures to address antisemitism, the administration’s move disregards legal procedures and appears driven by political vengeance, not policy reform. Bell compares this to McCarthy-era persecution, urging Columbia to fight back in court rather than appease the administration. He warns that this attack won’t stop with Columbia, as other universities are already in the administration’s crosshairs.
● AAUP Condemns Trump Administration’s Punitive Weaponization of Federal Grant Funding at Columbia. The Trump administration has taken the unprecedented move of cancelling $400 million in federal contracts and grants to Columbia University in alleged response to “inaction by Columbia’s administration on antisemitism.” This heavy-handed partisan intrusion into Columbia’s academic, research, and health care operations will damage students’ education, stop progress toward lifesaving biomedical therapies, and harm patients being treated in Columbia’s hospitals.

The Diversity Officers, Under Siege, Dig Their Heels In: “They’re Trying to Make You Afraid of Fighting.” At the 2025 NADOHE conference, diversity officers gathered to strategize against escalating attacks on DEI efforts, fueled by anti-DEI legislation and federal actions.

● Speakers stressed the importance of coalition-building, urging allies to actively support diversity initiatives rather than retreat under pressure. Many DEI professionals, predominantly women and people of color, face job cuts and program eliminations, while universities grapple with balancing legal compliance and inclusive goals. Despite these challenges, attendees emphasized data-driven advocacy, strategic rebranding of DEI work, and national storytelling campaigns to highlight the value of diversity efforts, vowing to persist even as political headwinds grow stronger.

The NIH Cuts Are Part Of An All-Out War On Higher Education. In a presidential administration with an unlimited capacity for chaos, colleges and universities have become targets of this early phase of right-wing assault, argues academic and organizer Dennis Hogan, who teaches in the History and Literature Program at Harvard University.

● “For now, the task of higher education leaders and scientific researchers will be to make the case to lawmakers and the public alike that there is no ivory tower separate from the economy as a whole: Slashing federal support for colleges and universities will make us poorer, sicker, stupider, and more vulnerable. Whatever version of higher ed emerges from the Trump administration will still have to work urgently to expand its base, to open itself up politically, to welcome more students and citizens at more affordable prices“.