Greetings AAUP-CSU Members and Supporters,
The fall 2025 semester has been a swirl of activism and engagement, with our postcard campaign for academic freedom, our participation in No Kings 2, our collaborations with student organizations and ASCSU, and our National Day of Action for Higher Education. AAUP-CSU President Mary Van Buren’s advocacy was instrumental in getting student pronouns restored in ARIES, and the University of Colorado Boulder’s Faculty Council endorsed the mutual academic defense compact that our chapter championed last spring.
After you climb out from under the avalanche of December grading and celebrate the joys of the season with friends and family, take a moment to reflect on the importance of solidarity in this moment. Universities are continuing to cave to the Trump administration. We need your help to ensure that CSU stands strong and stalwart in 2026!
[Take Action] [Stay Informed] [Get Support] [Join AAUP-CSU]
Take Action
Monthly meeting
Wednesday, December 5, 4:30-5:30pm | Avogadro’s Number
We gather monthly to plan actions, discuss concerns, and build solidarity. All are welcome (faculty, staff, students, and community members). This month we’ll be discussing upcoming collaborations with students and the AAUP’s report “On Title VI, Discrimination, and Academic Freedom.“
The AAUP National Day of Action was a huge success!
After demonstrating on the plaza with student groups and collecting over 150 postcards for academic freedom and student services, we screened the documentary The Librarians with a group of community members eager to ensure that school libraries in Colorado remain free of government censorship.
Help us plan, promote, and execute our Spring 2026 Actions!
In Spring 2026, we are planning actions related to the university budget, a teach-in event highlighting the importance of academic research the Trump administration is trying to silence, and a push for new members. Help us with one of these events and let us know what you and your colleagues are concerned about. Let’s make change together in 2026!
Stay Informed
AAUP-CSU In the News! Read Chalkbeat Colorado’s coverage of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Faculty Council endorsement of the mutual academic defense compact. The article quotes AAUP-CSU President Mary Van Buren, saying:
“Colorado State University professor and faculty council member Mary Van Buren, whose council was one of the first to pass the resolution in May, said she understands school leaders are trying to preserve the institution amid threats against federal financial support.
‘But where do you draw the line if you’re constantly being encroached on?’ Van Buren said. ‘If you’re constantly making small capitulations to the administration, at what point are you just hollowing out the very core of university values?’”
Read the full article here.
AAUP-CSU In the News! Read the Rocky Mountain Collegian‘s coverage of the November 7 AAUP National Day of Action for Higher Education. The article explains:
“CSU AAUP collaborated with several student activist organizations to collect mutual aid donations and march in protest of actions taken by President Donald Trump’s administration, which many view as an attack on higher education. Organizations including CSU Young Democratic Socialists of America, Students for Justice in Palestine, CSU Stem Interdisciplinary Ram Alliance, The People United, CSU Students for Emancipation and Social Liberation, Indivisible NOCO and more participated in the march.”
AAUP-CSU President Mary Van Buren was quoted in the article, noting that:
“The importance of this (event), from AAUP’s perspective in particular, is to demand that we not only protect higher education from the kinds of threats posed by the Trump administration, but also to insist that higher education is accessible financially, culturally and in every way to all members of society.”
Read the full article here.
The Chronicle of Higher Education published an article, “The Colorado Paradox,” that explores how the TABOR Amendment has resulted in decreased in-state student enrollment in Colorado’s public universities. The report notes that:
“Only one in four Colorado high-school graduates enrolls immediately in postsecondary education and completes a credential six years later,” notes a 2021 Colorado Commission on Higher Education task-force report. The state’s college-going rate for high schoolers is just under 50 percent, far lower than the 61-percent national average, which has worried policymakers in work-force development, given slowing migration to the state.
For students of color, the state’s educational attainment is more bleak: The gap between Hispanic Coloradans with associate or bachelor’s degrees compared with non-Hispanic whites is the widest of any state — with only one in five Latinos in Colorado earning a credential beyond high school, despite being the fastest-growing population. The gaps for Black and Native students are just as wide, if not wider. Education advocates say that the rural parts of the state are underserved, fueling the nation’s second-biggest wealth gap between counties; the top 1 percent of earners take home 20 percent of all income in the state.
Read the full article here.
The AAUP published a report on how civil the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is being weaponized to chill speech on university campuses. As noted on the AAUP website:
A new report published today by the AAUP and the Middle East Studies Association finds that the weaponization of civil rights law has been central to attacks on campus speech over the past two years.
The report, “Discriminating Against Dissent: The Weaponization of Civil Rights Law to Repress Campus Speech on Palestine,” is the first systematic empirical study of government investigations and private lawsuits against US colleges and universities under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The findings in the report underscore how the Civil Rights Act of 1964—which passed in response to years of nonviolent civil disobedience against racial injustice—is being cynically used to squash political dissent and speech that advocates for the human rights of Palestinians. At the same time, the Trump administration appears to have completely halted investigations based on complaints of racial harassment.
Read the full report here.
Get Support
AAUP works for you! In December, AAUP national members can take advantage of the following webinars:
Check out AAUP’s collection of reports, articles, and books on a variety of topics in AAUP’s Issues in Higher Ed page. Use their research to advocate for faculty and students on our campus!
Membership has its benefits! Check out the resources available to national AAUP members, including webinars, toolkits, a subscription to Academe, and benefits from the American Federation of Teachers.
Join AAUP-CSU
Membership Drive
The AAUP@CSU is mobilizing to respond to threats aimed at higher education and changes faculty are experiencing on campus.
We want to grow our numbers and we need your help! Invite your colleagues and friends to connect with AAUP@CSU:
- Sign up for our newsletter.
- Become a member or supporter.
- Attend our monthly meeting the first Wednesday of each month, 4:30-5:30 p.m., at Avogadro’s Number.
