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Today, a new comprehensive report analyzing the incorporation of academic freedom provisions in collective bargaining agreements across higher education institutions was jointly released by the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions at Hunter College (National Center) and the American Association of University Professors’ Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom (CDAF). The report can be downloaded here.
The report provides the first in-depth, industry-wide examination of how academic freedom has been written into collective bargaining agreements across American higher education. Drawing upon contracts collected as part of the National Center’s 2024 Directory of Bargaining Agents and Contracts in Institutions of Higher Education and its Contract Research Site, the report highlights the variations and commonalities in contractual language and enforcement mechanisms, offering a valuable resource for institutions and unions seeking to strengthen academic freedom protections.
The report provides an extensive overview of scholarly literature on academic freedom and collective bargaining, along with a legal review of administrative agency decisions and arbitration awards addressing academic freedom issues.
The study concludes with a call for a nationwide training program on incorporating academic freedom into collective bargaining agreements. It emphasizes the need for uniformity in defining and enforcing academic freedom principles, as outlined in the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. The proposed program would assist negotiators in fully protecting academic freedom and free speech in higher education and suggests a separate program for arbitrators on these principles.
The contracts analyzed were negotiated by a wide range of four-year and two-year institutions with nationally affiliated unions, including the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and others. These agreements cover tenured and tenure-track faculty, contingent faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate student employees.
The report will be discussed by a panel at the National Center's annual conference on March 22 at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College.
What experts are saying about the report:
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Robert Post, Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School, stated, "This report adds immensely to our understanding of this very important topic. It is required reading for anyone wishing to chart the contemporary landscape of higher education in the United States."
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Mike Gavin, President and CEO of the Alliance for Higher Education, noted, "This report illustrates the opportunities and challenges in codifying academic freedom through collective bargaining, as well as the limitations of pre-determined definitions."
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Charlotte Garden, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School, remarked, "Its analysis shows how and why faculty and graduate students can collectively bargain meaningful protections for their research, teaching, and other work."
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Catherine Fisk, Barbara Nachtrieb Armstrong Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law, commented, "The compilation of contract provisions on academic freedom is an excellent resource for lawyers and academics working in this field."
About the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions:
The National Center is a national labor-management research center at Hunter College, City University of New York dedicated to studying collective bargaining in higher education and the professions. It provides resources, research, and training to promote understanding and effective practices in labor relations within the academic community.
About the American Association of University Professors:
The mission of the American Association of University Professors (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. Founded in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country's colleges and universities.
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