Dive Brief:
- The University of Illinois was among four higher ed institutions censured by the American Association of University Professors.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports the AAUP voted overwhelmingly in favor of censure following an inadequate response by U of I administrators over concerns that it violated Steven Salaita’s due process rights as a tenured faculty member — as well as campus shared governance policies — when administrators reneged on his appointment due to his sharp criticism of Israel on Twitter.
- During its annual meeting, the AAUP also passed a resolution condemning proposed legislation in Wisconsin that would strip faculty of certain tenure protections and shared governance rights, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
The University of Illinois controversy captured the industry last summer after Salaita lost his place at the state’s flagship Urbana-Champaign campus before he could teach his first class as a tenured professor. His anti-Israel comments on Twitter were picked up by critics and factored into a political renege of his job offer. The AAUP first threatened censure at the end of April. As a tenured faculty member, Salaita should have been given greater due process in a fight to keep his job and other U of I faculty should have been able to weigh in on the decision.
The other three universities censured during the AAUP meeting, according to The Chronicle, were the University of Southern Maine, Felician College in New Jersey, and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.