One of the central concerns of the AAUP is the preservation of academic freedom. The SCU chapter has worked to represent faculty concerns about academic freedom in relation to several issues, including:
- Professor Watchlist, Turning Point USA - The approval of a Turning Point USA chapter on campus in spring 2017 and the national organization's use of a "Professor Watchlist" to target progressive/liberal faculty.
- Intellectual Property - faculty rights over materials developed for online and hybrid courses at the university.
- Acceptance of Koch Gift - The University's acceptance of a donation from the Charles Koch Foundation in June 2019 sparked concern here, as on other campuses, given the Koch Brothers' efforts on other campuses.
- Grading - In winter quarter 2020 the chapter proposed that the Faculty Affairs Committee revise the Faculty Handbook grading policy to protect faculty from interference with the assignment of grades during the quarter, along with other changes.
AAUP Resources
- Statement on Principles of Academic Freedom and Tenure (1940)
- Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure (2013)
Links of Interest
- Michael Meranze, We Wish We Weren't in Kansas Anymore: An Elegy for Academic Freedom, Los Angeles Review of Books (4 March 2014)