From the Spring Meeting: Statement in Support of DEI, Adjunct Best Practices

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

At its Spring meeting, AAUP-SC members adopted a collaboratively-written statement in support of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. 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.

The statement was the collaboration of members of Committee T on Governance, the AAUP Executive Council, and members in attendance at the 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 USCA Faculty Welfare Committee in 2017, Julia Eichelberger at the College of Charleston in 2019, 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.

The AAUP-SC wants these documents to be useful resources for members and the community as we all work to make higher ed more accessible and equitable in the Palmetto State.