American Association of University Professors
University of Delaware Chapter

011F Hullihen Hall, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716
Phone: (302) 831-2292; Fax: (302) 831-4119; E-mail: admin@aaupud.org

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What is AAUP?

AAUP-UD President Deni Galileo, Executive Council Member Persephone Braham, and attorney Lance Geren, three members of our bargaining team.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is a national organization representing college and university faculty members, with members at more than 2,000 institutions and local chapters at 960 campuses. The AAUP is dedicated to defending the principles of academic freedom and tenure, ensuring meaningful faculty participation in institutional governance, and establishing sound academic standards to ensure due process.

The University of Delaware AAUP Chapter (AAUP-UD) is certified by the State of Delaware Department of Labor to represent full-time faculty members on the issues of wages, salaries, hours, vacations, sick leave, grievance procedures, sabbatical leaves and other terms and conditions of employment as set forth in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA or contract).

AAUP Mission

Illustration courtesy of national AAUP

The AAUP-UD supports the core mission of the national organization, which states: “The mission of the American Association of University Professors(AAUP) is to advance academic freedom and shared governance; to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education; to promote the economic security of faculty, academic professionals, graduate students, post doctoral fellows, and all those engaged in teaching and research in higher education; to help the higher education community organize to make our goals a reality; and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good. Founded in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country’s colleges and universities.”  However, the AAUP-UD is certified to represent only full-time faculty in its formal contract.

Protecting Academic Freedom and Shared Governance

Graphic & photo courtesy of national AAUP

The national organization states: “Protecting academic freedom is the AAUP’s core mission. Academic freedom is the indispensable requisite for unfettered teaching and research in institutions of higher education. As the academic community’s core policy document states, “institutions of higher education are conducted for the common good and not to further the interest of either the individual teacher or the institution as a whole. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition” (1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, which has been endorsed by more than 240 national scholarly and educational associations).”

Since its founding, the AAUP has been ensuring meaningful faculty participation in institutional governance. At UD, our chapter also works to preserve and strengthen our academic freedom and shared governance by protecting the UD Faculty Handbook and the UD Faculty Senate’s ability to exercise the faculty’s jurisdiction over academic matters.

AAUP-UD Serves All UD Faculty

The University of Delaware chapter of the AAUP exists to help our members, and all faculty which we represent, on a number of levels:

  • Aguarantee of academic freedom and freedom of expression
  • The protection of shared governance
  • The right to work in an environment free of discrimination
  • The achievement of economic security
  • The assurance of flexible benefits
  • A fair and established grievance procedure

We also address an array of unique concerns related to education and research. It is the AAUP’s task not only to protect the faculty’s economic and workplace rights, but also to conceptualize, and make the Administration aware of, specific ways in which the University can deepen its commitment to educational and research excellence. Without AAUP-UD, there would be no campus organization devoted exclusively to faculty rights, economic concerns, and educational and research excellence. Consequently, all faculty gain by supporting the AAUP’s agenda, and all faculty benefit from the AAUP’s existence.

American Association of University
Professors
Rudy Fichtenbaum, former president of national AAUP and Professor Emeritus of Economics at Wright State University. Photo courtesy of national AAUP.