Why join AAUP?

Three reasons:

(1)   AAUP is the main organization pushing back on attacks on higher education in the United States today. No matter your political beliefs or ideology, if you work in higher education today, then you know that higher education institutions are under attack. If we don’t push back today, we may not be around tomorrow!

The National AAUP has supported litigation that local chapters have joined, including the now-filed amicus brief that our chapter joined and a lawsuit Harvard's AAUP chapter just filed against the Trump administration. To learn more about the AAUP’s other important work challenging executive orders, check out some examples of AAUP legal actions pushing back against the halting of science funding, the deportation of students, anti-DEI orders, and the dismantling of the Department of Education. The AAUP stands against political attacks on higher education.

(2)   While in the past university administrators may have seen faculty membership and participation in AAUP as a threat (as a first step towards unionization and shared faculty governance), faculty and university administrators today face a common threat with the assaults on higher education. The AAUP is working to save higher education as we know it by working to cultivate solidarity not only within universities, but also across them, so that higher education institutions find strength in pushing back against these existential threats together. While university administrators continue to resist the ideals of shared governance that AAUP champions, the interests of faculty and university administrators have never been more aligned. So there is quite literally no good reason not to join.

(3) If you are concerned about the assaults on higher education, there is simply no more important organization to join right now. By joining, you will receive access to the latest information and knowledge about AAUP work and initiatives, including ways you can participate at BU, locally, and nationally.

Who Can Join?

All ranks of faculty, graduate student employees, and research and instructional employees of the university (including research and instructional librarians) are welcome to join the BU chapter and attend meetings.

Higher education administrators are not eligible for active membership in the AAUP, but may become affiliated as dues-paying associate members. Associate members are not eligible to vote in the BU AAUP chapter, but may attend its meetings.

How to join?

There are two levels of AAUP membership.

You can join the BU AAUP Chapter by entering your contact information in this form). Membership in the BU chapter is free. There are no dues. The recent attacks on higher education has led the BU AAUP Chapter membership rolls to grow enormously in the past few months. Each day, new concerned faculty join our ranks. Come and join us today! There’s no reason not to.

Beyond joining the local chapter, we also hope you will join the national AAUP. As a dues-paying member, your contribution will financially support the important work of the AAUP nationally and provide you access to a number of member benefits. Only active members of the national AAUP are eligible to vote on chapter business. The AAUP offers a sliding scale of member dues, and a range of benefits, including access to AAUP reports and webinars, and a subscription to the quarterly magazine Academe.