2018 AAUP Conference to Focus on Free Speech on Campus
The 2018 AAUP Annual Conference on the State of Higher Education will take place from June 13 to 17 in Arlington, VA. This year's conference theme focuses on "Free Speech on Campus" and features a series of concurrent sessions on June 14 and 15 that "explore the complexities of campus free speech through sessions on student press freedom, hate speech, campus free-speech legislation, the relation of free speech to academic freedom, and a range of other topics." You can access the full schedule on AAUP's national website, or here.
AAUP of SC President, Dr. J. Mark Blackwell, will be participating in a session related to the conference theme on Friday, June 15, entitled "Perspectives on Free Speech from Regional AAUP Officers." The session includes discussions on state "free speech" bills, confederate monuments, and national and state court rulings on free speech and the First Amendment. President Blackwell will also be attending AAUP's 104th Annual Meetings as a chapter and conference delegate.
The 2018 Plenary Speaker for the conference is Dr. Nancy MacLean, Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University and author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America (2017). Dr. MacLean will connect her research on the radical right to higher education in a presentation entitled ""The Origins of the Radical Right’s Attack on Higher Education and Democracy—and What We Can Do About it" which will take place during the Plenary Luncheon on Friday, June 15.
The 2018 keynote address at the annual AAUP-CBC dinner on Thursday, June 14 will be given by Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations Professor, and AAUP General Counsel, Dr. Risa Liberwitz. Dr. Liberwitz 's address is entitled "Fighting for Our Rights Today, Building Our Strength for Tomorrow."
If you are interested in attending the conference, you can register online until June 4th and onsite on June 13th.
If you are unable to attend the conference, and would like to follow the action on social media, look for the hashtag #AAUP2018.