Covid-19 Update from AAUP Executive Director, Julie Schmid

We’re keeping busy on the digital front during the pandemic. Here’s a compilation of our current and upcoming webinars, blogs, and updates from the national AAUP and its members and staff.

Webinars We held a webinar on remote teaching and its impact on intellectual property this week. You can find a recording and the slides here, as well as links to past webinars. On Tuesday, we’ll be holding a webinar on Financial Exigency and Program Elimination with AAUP’s Hans-Joerg Tiede. That webinar has reached its capacity, but you can sign up here to get a recording. Keep an eye on our events page for all upcoming webinars and events.

A Look at AAUP’s Policy on Financial Exigency As we face a global pandemic that may drastically affect enrollments in fall 2020, Michael Bérubé, a professor at Pennsylvania State University and a former member of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, has written a new article for Academe about what the AAUP policy on financial exigency does and does not say. That’s here.

In-Person Conference and Biennial Meeting and Summer Institute Canceled Due to guidance issued by the CDC and state and local governments, we are unable to hold the June 18–21 AAUP Conference and Biennial Meeting as scheduled. The election of AAUP officers and Council members scheduled for the Biennial Meeting will be conducted by a secret mail ballot of chapter and section delegates starting on or about June 19, 2020. The non-election portion of the Biennial Meeting is postponed and will be rescheduled when feasible. Additionally, we are unable to hold the 2020 AAUP Summer Institute—planned for July 23–26 at the University of Nevada, Reno—as scheduled. More details are forthcoming.

AAUP Members on the Front Lines Check out an Academe Blog post from AAUP East Coast organizer David Kociemba about AAUP clinical faculty, some of whom are on the front lines of caring for COVID-19 patients. As a reminder, the following AAUP chapters are accepting donations: AAUP medical school and health center members at University of Connecticut Health Center (donate here); the Biomedical and Health Sciences of New Jersey (donate here), and Wayne State University, where you can donate by sending or dropping PPEs to Wayne State/Detroit Medical Center: Harper University Loading Dock, 3990 John R Street, Detroit, MI 48201. You may also make donations by reaching out to your local or state emergency operations center.

Solidarity Statement AAUP’s president Rudy Fichtenbaum has issued a statement of solidarity with essential workers. It reads in part, “To our members who are working in hospitals and in health care, to transit and postal workers, to the Instacart and Amazon workers who are demanding safer working conditions and wages as they risk their health to serve customers, to everyone working in stores and in other essential services, to all those who do not have the luxury to stay at home, know this: you are leading the way, and we are with you.” You can add your name to the statement here. We’ll be in touch with another update in two weeks. I hope you stay safe during these difficult times.

Best regards, Julie Schmid, Executive Director, AAUP