However, the work of defunding and micromanaging the state universities continued during the legislative session of 2022 in ways that clearly communicate disrespect for the academic mission. The same contempt for lifelong scholarship that led legislators to consider banning tenure remained apparent in budgetary deliberations. The pride in high-quality public education that inspired Iowa to put a schoolhouse on the Iowa quarter was nowhere to be seen in 2022.
Today, the faculty and graduate students who make up the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) affirm our intention to stand in defense of all members of the higher education community in the face of extremist, authoritarian attacks from Florida’s executive and legislative branches. Florida’s students, families and communities deserve better than the lies and misinformation flowing unstemmed out of Tallahassee.
Delegates to the June 2022 Biennial Association Meeting voted to ratify the action of the Council that the American Association of University Professors affiliate with the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. This affiliation builds on our ten-plus year partnership with AFT and strengthens both organizations, while ensuring that the AAUP will maintain its independence and autonomy. Together, we represent more US higher education workers than any other union.