Chapter Mission & History

Mission

Wesleyan AAUP is an Advocacy Chapter (not a collective bargaining chapter). We champion academic freedom, advance shared governance, and organize to promote economic security for all faculty and staff. In accordance with these principles, the chapter advocates for faculty and staff across rank and category. We educate the campus community about AAUP policies and standards, create autonomous sites and processes for relevant discussions, prepare faculty to participate in governance more effectively, and organize all members to make change on campus.

Our mission is to:

  • Promote the interests of our faculty and staff

  • Defend academic freedom at Wesleyan University and throughout academe

  • Encourage faculty participation in governance at Wesleyan University

  • Protect and advance the professional status and interests of all faculty and staff, including equal pay for equal work

  • Promote administrative transparency and the unrestricted dissemination of institutional data and information

  • Facilitate the dissemination of information on higher education principles and practices

  • Inform the academic community about AAUP standards, best practices, and policies

photograph of the Wesleyan AAUP Charter, indicating AAUP recognition of the new chapter

History

The histories of Wesleyan and the national AAUP are intertwined. The dismissal of a Wesleyan economics professor was a galvanizing event for the founding of the AAUP in 1915, and Wesleyan faculty established the first AAUP chapter in 1921. Wesleyan president James McConaughy, then-president of the American Association of Colleges, worked closely with the AAUP to shape the authoritative “1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure.”

The last active chapter on campus became dormant in the late 1990s. In Fall 2021, the national organization recognized the efforts of faculty to re-establish an advocacy chapter on campus. The re-established chapter was formally chartered in June 2022.

Read more about Wesleyan’s history of faculty organizing, 1913-2022, in our draft paper, “The AAUP and Faculty Organizing at Wesleyan: Historical Lessons.”

Chapter Bylaws

Read our chapter bylaws here.

End-of-Year Reports

2022-23 Report

2023-24 Report