AAUP Urges AAU to Reject Nebraska

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is taking aim at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln for faculty cuts across multiple programs made late last year.

In what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind letter from the organization, AAUP President Todd Wolfson called on the American Association of Universities to deny Nebraska’s membership bid. Wolfson argued that the decision to close four departments and lay off dozens of faculty last fall compromised “UNL’s status as a leading research university.” He also questioned whether the flagship meets AAU standards.

Nebraska has been seeking to rejoin the AAU since it was kicked out in 2011. At the time, members voted to remove the university over concerns that Nebraska didn’t meet AAU research criteria. The vote followed an AAU membership review that found that Nebraska trailed other members on research metrics, though university officials have argued the metrics don’t take into account the system’s medical school, located on a separate campus, or appropriately value agriculture research.

“While fiscal pressures driven by state disinvestment are real, UNL’s response raises fundamental concerns,” Wolfson wrote to AAU leadership. “The elimination of entire departments to achieve relatively modest short-term savings risks long-term damage to research capacity, student enrollment, and institutional reputation. More importantly, the process by which these decisions were reached appears to have violated core principles of shared governance and relied on evaluative tools inappropriate for personnel actions of this kind.”

Last fall, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved a plan to cut four programs, including the state’s only Ph.D. program with concentrations in educational leadership or higher education. UNL also merged other programs and laid off at least 51 professors, according to the university, though the AAUP puts that number at 58.

Officials in Lincoln disputed the characterization that the cuts were made without faculty input. A UNL spokesperson said they were “disappointed” with the AAUP letter, which they argued “fails to acknowledge substantial evidence and important context” around shared governance.

“These difficult but necessary decisions have been made through established university processes in response to enrollment, program demand, financial sustainability and the university’s long-term academic mission,” a university spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement to Inside Higher Ed. “UNL respects the AAUP’s role and welcomes constructive, fact-based dialogue about these issues, while remaining focused on strengthening our academic programs, supporting our university community and serving the people of Nebraska.”

The UNL chapter of the AAUP has also thrown its support behind Wolfson’s letter.

“The contents of the letter speak to the experiences of faculty over the past year, which do not align with what the AAU mission is in terms of valuing academic freedom, valuing shared governance,” said Kelsy Burke, a sociology professor and vice president of the UNL chapter.

Burke acknowledged that some may see the advocacy efforts as harmful to the flagship’s push to return to the AAU but said the letter was an attempt to get administrators to listen, which faculty members feel like they have not done before and after the cuts.

Burke added that “this is a message that needs to get out to try to hold our administrators accountable.” Tying their concerns to UNL’s bid to rejoin the AAU, Burke said, will make them harder to ignore.

AAU declined to weigh in on the controversy.

Rob Marus, deputy vice president for communications at AAU, told Inside Higher Ed that per the association’s policy, it does not “comment on individual decisions to extend membership to a particular university.”

AAU membership is invitation only. The organization evaluates institutions based on research and graduate-education measures and considers a range of factors for potential members, including federal research funding support.