In this video produced by AAUP TV, AAUP president Todd Wolfson, NYU Professor Chenjerai Kumanyika, and University of Pennsylvania Professor Lorena Grundy discuss why all universities should forcefully reject Trump’s loyalty oaths.
Author Archives: brianmunsky
AAUP-CSU Sign-Making Party – Oct 16.
Come make signs with American Association of University Professors, the STEM Interdisciplinary Rams Alliance, and the Young Democratic Socialists of America to Support Sciences, Research, and the Arts at the 2025 Homecoming Parade and the Oct. 18 “No Kings” Rally.
Join the CSU chapter of the AAUP at our sign-making party on Thursday, Oct 16 at 4:30-6:30pm. We will have an evening of fun and community with dancing, laughing and making art to support Science, Research and the Arts. We will provide shared art supplies and help to make pro-science and pro-education signs to wave in the weekend’s Homecoming Parade and No Kings rally and march. All are welcome – bring your colleagues, friends, neighbors, and kids!
Filed under Action, Event Announcement
ASCSU Senate Commits to Support AAUP-CSU’s Campaign to Protect Academic Freedom, Free Speech, and Student Services at CSU.
The Fifty-Fifth Senate of Associate Students of Colorado State University (ASCSU) passed Bill 5514 on September 24, 2025: Supporting an American Association of University Professors Fort Collins Initiative. The passage of this bill is a demonstration of ASCSU’s commitment to support the work of the AAUP, and a commitment to raise student voices to fight for change on campus.
This legislation furthers the relationship that the AAUP and ASCSU have built up over the past year. After discussion within the Senate, Bill 5514 ultimately passed with no dissent, highlighting the ASCSU Senate’s support for this initiative. Upon passage of the Bill, several ASCSU members helped the AAUP table in the plaza, and there is a strong interest from the Senate to table with the AAUP again to protect academic freedom, freedom of speech and student services at CSU.
Filed under Stay Informed
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. Please distribute to all your colleagues, friends, and family and join us at this Wednesday’s general meeting.
Filed under Highlight, Uncategorized
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has substantial concerns about CSU’s new “Free Speech and Peaceful Assembly” policy.
In response to recent changes to CSU’s “Free Speech and Peaceful Assembly” policy (see “Revised Free Speech Policy Alarms Faculty and Students”), the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE*) shares AAUP-CSU’s concerns that this fast-tracked policy revision
“…constitutes an impermissible restraint on faculty members’ speech and threatens to chill expression. As a public university system legally bound to protect community members’ First Amendment rights, CSU must revise this policy and allow faculty members to speak their minds freely.”
Read FIRE’s full letter to the CSU administration here and then please join the AAUP-CSU in our ongoing Postcard Campaign to ask the CSU Administration and the Board of Governors to Support Free Speech, Academic Freedom, and Student Centers.
The fundamental rights to Free Speech and Peaceful Assembly must be protected for all students, faculty, and staff.
* FIRE (https://www.thefire.org/) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group whose mission is to defend free speech.
Filed under Stay Informed
Next AAUP-CSU General Meeting – Wednesday Oct. 1, 2025.
Our next AAUP general meeting will be on Wednesday, October 1, 4:30-5:30pm at Avo’s. Please join us and bring your colleagues, friends and family.
We are several weeks into the Fall Semester, and political attacks on university education are reaching critical levels of concern. This meeting will give us an opportunity to meet each other to build solidarity and gather our strength for actions in the short and long term.
Meeting Agenda
- Introductions for new and returning members.
- Overview of AAUP-CSU website and resources and membership drive [see post here].
- Updates on campaign to urge the CSU Board of Governors to protect Academic Freedom, Free Speech and Student Services [see post here].
- Updates on plans to attend and advocate for faculty and staff at the Oct. 9 Board of Governors meeting [see post here].
- Updates on legislative campaign to contact CO members of congress to Support Science, Research and the Arts [see post here].
- Planning for AAUP-CSU involvement in the Oct 18 No Kings protest [see post here].
- Discussion and open suggestions for future AAUP-CSU actions
- Other business
Filed under Event Announcement
Opinion – Colorado’s colleges and universities need collective action to fight Trump administration policies
Co-presidents of the Colorado Conference of the AAUP, Aaron Schneider (Leo Block chair and professor of International Studies at Denver University) and Steve Mumme (Emeritus professor in the Colorado State University Department of Political Science) make a passionate case for all Colorado Universities to band together to form a mutual protection compact to protect Academic Freedom. “Colorado’s AAUP faculty believe it is time to pursue the path of institutional cooperation and mutual defense. The barrage mounted against our universities has just begun and more threats from government and private actors are sure to come.”
We need to unite today to defend our freedoms for tomorrow. Please join the AAUP mailing list and write you CSU Administration and the Board of Governors to voice your support for the AAUP Mutual Defense Compact for Colorado Institutes of Higher Education.
Filed under Issue Support
Revised Free Speech Policy Alarms Faculty and Students
by the AAUP@CSU Executive Committee
The revised free speech policy announced by the CSU administration at the September 2, 2025 Faculty Council meeting threatens the right to free speech and peaceful assembly on campus. It was fast-tracked rather than brought to the floor of the Faculty Council to avoid public deliberation, an action that violates the norms of shared governance. Concerns about the new policy (read the new policy and tracked changes here: ) include the following (please click the arrows below to expand each section):
- The new policy is overly broad and often confusing.
2. The new policy adds unreasonable limitations on employee speech.
a. The policy mandates that “speech made in an employee’s official capacity may be subject to institutional oversight,” but does not specify which types of speech constitute “speaking in an official capacity” or what the institutional oversight would entail.
b. The policy contains a “Public Commentary” section that defines public commentary as employees’ “expressive activities as private citizens on matters of public interest.” This definition is broad enough to potentially encompass public scholarship, extension, or engagement work. This is a clear abrogation of academic freedom.
c. The policy states that “Employees may engage in Expressive Activities as private citizens on matters of public interest, so long as those activities do not pertain to or interrupt their official job duties and responsibilities.” This implies that the university has oversight of the free speech rights of private citizens, including any speech relating to education or education policy.
d. The policy appears to restrict faculty members’ use of their academic rank as a professional title.
3. The new policy infringes on students’ rights to free speech and peaceful demonstrations.
a. The new policy limits chalking on the plaza to publicity for programming by CSU units and student organizations, violating people’s right to free speech.
b. The policy puts limitations on the projection of messages on public buildings and surfaces. Symbolic protests that “block the audience’s view” or prevent participation in a university event are forbidden.
c. Camping and encampments” are broadly defined and tightly regulated in ways that violate the spirit of peaceful assembly.
4. The new policy radically redefines “peaceful” to exclude any “act or activity” that violates “applicable law or policy.”
a. This is an overly broad statement that, for example, would categorize non-promotional messages chalked on the LSC plaza as activity that is not peaceful.
Section E.8.2.f of the Faculty and Administrative Professional Manual states that “The major purpose of the University Administration is to provide an atmosphere conducive to teaching, research, extension, and service. Administrators, therefore, must protect, defend, and promote academic freedom as a necessary prelude to the free search for and exposition of truth and understanding.” AAUP@CSU believes that both the approval process for and the substance of the new policy violates one of the most fundamental administrative responsibilities articulated in the Manual.
Filed under Action, Highlight, Issue Support
AAUP Needs YOUR Help to Defend CSU
CSU needs your help now more than ever!
Like many universities across the country, CSU is facing unprecedented threats in the form of a disturbing, so-called “civil rights complaint” that has been brought against Colorado State University by a group known as America First Legal. This organization, which was founded by Stephen Miller and named after a KKK slogan, cares nothing about truth, education, or the Colorado State community. Their frivolous attack seeks only to intimidate us so that they may exert political control over our state and university.
AAUP-CSU needs your help to Stand up and Fight Back.
Write to CSU President Amy Parsons, Chancellor Tony Frank, and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and ask them to remain strong and to protect our students, faculty and staff.
The links below will open email drafts addressed to each of these officials*. Simply edit the email to explain why you stand with CSU. Then, sign it with your full name and Colorado city or county of residence, and hit send.
- Email CSU President Amy Parsons (Amy.Parsons@colostate.edu)
- Email CSU Chancellor Tony Frank (Tony.Frank@colostate.edu)
- Email CSU Board of Governors (csus_board@mail.colostate.edu)
- Contact Attorney General Phil Weiser (this link will bring you to an online form where you can post the message below).
* Note — some browsers (e.g., Duck-Duck-Go) may cut off half of the message. If this occurs, you can copy and paste the full message from below.
Suggested Email Text (Please feel free to edit):
Dear CSU President Amy Parsons / CSU Chancellor Tony Frank / Attorney General Phil Weiser,
As a member of the northern Colorado community, I value the role that Colorado State University plays in our region: educating students, supporting community-based research, promoting economic growth, and serving as a hub for cultural, intellectual, and democratic engagement. I am writing about the disturbing federal complaint that America First Legal (AFL) has brought against Colorado State University.
America First Legal does not share Colorado values. In Colorado, we are proud that our community is diverse and welcoming. We believe that the university must ensure that all students have equitable access to educational opportunities, and that programs should be in place to support students’ diverse needs. And we believe that college campuses should be places for open discussion, learning, and research, free of government censorship.
I am writing to ask you to stand firm and continue to ensure that CSU’s students, faculty, and staff can pursue the institution’s educational and research mission unimpeded. Please support AAUP-CSU’s proposed resolution to build a collaborative protection network among institutions in Colorado to defend these principles and empower our universities to:
- Keep our student centers open and resources available to all students–as they are now.
- Do not agree to remove courses or requirements from the curriculum.
- Do not allow infringements of free speech inside or outside of the classroom.
- Fight every attempt to withdraw lawfully allocated research funding in court–don’t cave to political extortion.
Thank you for your leadership in this moment. Universities are being asked to make tough choices because they are a bulwark of democracy. Use the leverage that you have to ensure that CSU remains a vital community resource and an engine of healthy democracy.
Sincerely,
Filed under Uncategorized
Join AAUP-CSU at the Good Trouble Lives ON protest, July 17, Fort Collins CO.
AAUP-CSU needs members and associates to join the Good Trouble Lives On protest to hand out flyers to support AAUP initiatives. Please contact us at aaupcsu@gmail.com to obtain materials and instructions.
Good Trouble Lives On is a national day of nonviolent action to commemorate the life and Civil Rights work of Congressman John Lewis and to respond to the attacks posed on our civil and human rights by the Trump administration.
AAUP-CSU will join IndivisibleNOCO and other local progressive groups to line the streets of Fort Collins. Protesters will be picking location on College Ave. between Mulberry St. and Prospect St.
Join AAUP at this event to distribute flyers and build support to protect of affordable education and academic freedom in Colorado.
Filed under Action, Event Announcement
