About

Colorado State University AAUP is a member of  the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). The mission of the AAUP is to advance academic freedom and shared governance; to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education; to promote the economic security of faculty, academic professionals, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and all those engaged in teaching and research in higher education; to help the higher education community organize to make our goals a reality; and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good.

For more information about the National AAUP please visit  https://www.aaup.org/about-aaup.


Recent AAUP-CSU Campaigns

The following excerpts describe a few of the many recent activities undertaken by the AAUP-CSU. Please click the links to learn more about what we are doing and how you can help!

AAUP-CSU suggestions for No Kings rally signs
The Oct. 18, No Kings March will likely be the biggest day of protest in US history, and the AAUP-CSU wants to ensure that this includes strong and clear support for higher education. When making your signs, please consider promoting …
AAUP-CSU Postcard Campaign to Protect Free Speech, Academic Freedom, and Student Centers
The AAUP-CSU+ASCSU Postcard Campaign for Free Speech, Academic Freedom, and Student Centers has collected hundreds of postcards to CSU Chancellor Tony Frank and the CSU Board of Governors! The successful campaign continues at the Oct 18 No Kings Rally and …
CSU Withdraws Changes to Freedom of Speech and Peaceful Assembly Policy!
AAUP-CSU is pleased to announce that following discussions with President Parsons at Faculty Council on October 7, 2025, CSU administration has withdrawn their recent changes to the Freedom of Speech and Peaceful Assembly policy.
AAUP-CSU Needs your Help Now!
AAUP-CSU invites all CSU and Fort Collins Community Members to join in the fight to protect academic freedom, free speech, student services, and the sciences, research, and arts at CSU.  Please volunteer at upcoming actions and events hosted by AAUP-CSU.
AAUP-CSU Newsletter, October 2025
AAUP-CSU's October 2025 Newsletter is now available (click here!). There is a lot going on, and AAUP-CSU is active in taking a stand for employee rights, academic freedom, free speech and student services.
Act Now to Save Funding for Science, Research, and the Arts
AAUP-CSU asks all members and supporters to call/write their elected officials to urge protection for research funding. The Congressional budget process will eventually resume, and legislators will determine specific levels of funding – if any – for higher education and …
Revised Free Speech Policy Alarms Faculty and Students
The revised free speech policy announced by the CSU administration in September threatens the right to free speech and peaceful assembly on campus. AAUP-CSU calls on all CSU and Fort Collins community members to write to CSU admin and ask …
AAUP-CSU condemns attacks against CSU from the AFL.
A disturbing “civil rights complaint” was filed against CSU by America First Legal (a partisan group founded by Stephen Miller). AFL knows/cares nothing about truth, education, or the Colorado communities. Join AAUP-CSU and help CSU Administration keep their commitments to …
AAUP-CSU at the No Kings march
The CSU chapter of the AAUP showed up for the No Kings march on June 14. AAUP-CSU members Anders Fremstad (Economics) and Brian Munsky (Biomedical and Chemical Engineering) spoke at the event to protest the unconstitutional intimidation against free speech …
AAUP-CSU Advocates for the Establishment of a Mutual Defense Compact for CO Higher Education
The AAUP Resolution to Establish a Mutual Defense Compact for Colorado Institutions of Higher Education was passed at the CSU Faculty Senate on May 6, 2025 with a nearly unanimous vote of 45-1.
ASCSU Unanimously Passes a Resolution for a Mutual Defense Compact for Colorado Institutions of Higher Education
The Associated Students of Colorado State University (ASCSU) joined with AAUP-CSU to pass their own version of the Resolution to Establish a Mutual Defense Compact for Colorado Institutions of Higher Education.

Recent National AAUP Campaigns

Below are a few of the recent campaign and wins by the national AAUP. Click any of the boxes to go to the full stories in the national press, or read more at AAUP in the News.

  • A new report by the AAUP's Committee on College and University Governance outlines how recent legislation marks a troubling trend toward curtailing the authority of faculty senates at state institutions, relegating them to merely advisory or consultative roles.
  • In a historic wall-to-wall labor union lawsuit led by the AAUP, a judge has issued a preliminary injunction that will stop the Trump-Vance administration’s attempt to unlawfully stifle free speech and academic freedom across the UC system. This marks a […]
  • A report published today 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 H-1B visa program was created to provide a path for the US to attract skilled professionals from around the world to fill urgent needs. When the government makes it impossible for these professionals to come to the US, universities […]
  • The AAUP and AFT warn that the Trump administration’s offer to give preferential treatment to colleges and universities in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda is entirely corrupt.
  • The AAUP and partners sued to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members for ideological reasons.
  • In response to news that the University of California administration plans to provide the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights with personally identifiable information of numerous UC faculty, students, and staff, the AAUP and the Council of UC […]
  • A new Committee A report addresses the issue of discrimination in higher education and the recent surge in US Department of Education investigations utilizing Title VI in programs that receive federal funding.
  • In a moment when it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict the consequences of our online speech and choices, the AAUP and Faculty First Responders are issuing guidance to AAUP members and other academic workers.
  • With a broad coalition of faculty, staff, students, and labor unions, we are asking the court to block the Trump administration from further use of financial threats to coerce the UC system to accede to demands that will harm faculty, […]

Academe Blog

Want to learn even more, check out the recent editorials on the Academy Blog. Academe Blog is a production of Academe magazine and focuses on issues in higher education. The blog and Academe are published by the American Association of University Professors, but opinions published in them do not necessarily represent the policies of the AAUP.

  • by Guest Blogger
    BY SIBESO LISULO What happens when a university, the very institution tasked with speaking truth to power, cannot afford the cost of its own voice? This is not a theoretical question but a lived reality for a lot of academics […]
  • by Hank Reichman
    BY HANK REICHMAN This week the AAUP released a report, In Defense of an Independent and Representative Faculty Voice: The Case of Faculty Senates, prepared by a subcommittee of the AAUP’s Committee on College and University Governance.  I am a member […]
  • by Guest Blogger
    BY AFSHAN JAFAR We have recently seen accelerating legislative and political attacks on faculty governing bodies at state institutions, including legislation recently enacted in Indiana, Ohio, Utah, and especially Texas.  In a recently published report titled In Defense of an […]
  • by via a contributing editor
    BY DANIEL SEGAL It is the rare faculty member who today is unaware of the significant increase in attacks on speech rights and academic freedom protections on U.S. campuses over the past two years. A recently released joint report from […]
  • by via a contributing editor
    BY ADAM RZEPKA A large public university is wiping out all of its humanities departments. It isn’t sure why. As I write this, our Interim Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS)—a newly hired computer scientist who […]
  • by via a contributing editor
    BY BILL MULLEN Can you identify yourself and explain what happened at Texas State? My name is Tom Alter. Until being recently fired in violation of my free speech rights, I was a tenured associate professor of history at Texas […]
  • by Guest Blogger
    BY AMY LAI Academic freedom is generally defined as the freedom to engage in activities involved in the production of knowledge, without unreasonable interference or restriction from law, institutional regulations, or public pressure. Interferences with academic freedom can come from […]
  • by Guest Blogger
    BY SHAWN GILMORE It’s now been a few weeks since the second Trump administration offered its “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” first to nine institutions, then to the rest of us. Containing a range of provisions, the agreement […]
  • by AAUP
    POSTED BY THE AAUP We are pleased to announce the publication of volume 16 of the AAUP’s Journal of Academic Freedom. Our call for papers, “Philanthropy and Academic Freedom,” invited scholarly articles that address the impact of large private donations on […]
  • by Guest Blogger
    BY ANDREW JOSEPH PEGODA People have the right to take gender studies classes. These classes include an emphasis on how patriarchy and gender stereotypes affect everyone. Negative impacts of boys being told “don’t cry” and girls being told “be quiet” […]