The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is both a union and a national membership organization representing university faculty nationwide. Founded in 1915, the AAUP has chapters on hundreds of campuses across the country. Its mission is to uphold academic freedom and shared governance in universities — two pillars of higher education that have come under attack at the state and federal level in recent years. In this political climate, the organization has stepped into the frontlines as universities have faced escalated political interference.
Last semester, the Trump administration rescinded hundreds of millions of essential research and teaching dollars, detained student leaders and revoked international faculty and student visas. The AAUP — with the support of chapters from Harvard, New York University, Rutgers and the Middle East Studies Association — challenged cases where international students were threatened with deportation for their political views. On Sept. 30, in the decision AAUP v. Rubio, a federal district judge ruled that international students cannot be denied first amendment rights to free speech. This was an important win, but the struggle is far from over.
On Oct. 1, 2025, the Trump administration issued a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” to nine universities, asking them to pledge their loyalty to the administration by agreeing to a multitude of restrictions on free expression or risk losing federal funding. The demands include recognizing only male and female “sexes” and using force to break up campus protests, among others. This week, all universities are being asked to sign.
To take these and other threats to academic freedom seriously, the Trinity chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has been reactivated. The group’s goal is to ensure academic professionals have the freedom to teach and research whatever they see fit, without interference from state or institutional authorities, in order to promote the common good.
We are currently a group of nearly fifty faculty and teaching staff from across a wide range of disciplines in the natural sciences, humanities and social sciences. This year, we are writing a monthly column in the Trinitonian, sharing issues that we think matter to all campus groups. You’ll find our first in this issue, telling you more about the threat of the Trump “compact.”
We engage with these issues because universities and colleges have been the locus of critical thinking and free expression for centuries. In classrooms all over the United States, professors strive to give students the tools to think, write and talk critically about ideas that matter. Importantly, free speech comes with responsibility to our community. We do not have to treat every opinion equally, and we do not have to tolerate information that is false. But we also do not have the right to avoid controversy or demand comfort.
We may have to hear views that disturb us, or have difficult interpersonal exchanges. But if we listen to ideas different from our own, we also may decide we were wrong to dismiss them. We might discover something about ourselves or others that we did not know. This is why the open exchange of ideas on university campuses is a threat to those who seek to quash minoritized voices and unpopular opinions. If those voices are heard, they may just change other people’s minds. This is what the Trump “compact” seeks to silence.
AAUP members are here to defend your right to learn freely and to ask difficult questions. We’ll be holding a teach-in to share what is at stake should Trinity be asked to sign a Trump “compact.” Look for our flyers, our monthly columns and join us in bringing attention to these issues. And email us if there is something you’d like to hear about!
AAUP Email: [email protected]
