Mutual Academic Defense Compacts (MADC) are a strategy for joining institutions of higher ed together to protect each other from the attacks coming from the Trump administration. This movement began with resolutions taken by faculty senates, usually about academic freedom. Higher Ed Labor United is a coalition of local labor unions representing all kinds of higher ed workers, not just faculty. Together, faculty senates and higher ed labor unions have significant power. What follows focuses on MADCs, by Bruce Simon. – Editor
From Bruce Simon, Associate Professor English, SUNY Fredonia and SUNY University Faculty Senate President-Elect
Rutgers University’s Faculty Senate kicked off the MADC movement on March 28, 2025 with a call for a NATO-like alliance of Big Ten universities, followed by U Mass Amherst’s Faculty Senate on April 10, which called for members of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) to stand together. By the time the SUNY University Faculty Senate passed a MADC resolution of our own, on April 26, which urged the SUNY System Administration to help form two further alliances (within the University of the State of New York, along with a “Public Good U” coalition of the willing), we were able to refer to a “growing host of governance bodies and professional associations” that have “passed resolutions and statements, circulated petitions, and issued statements and open letters calling for collective action to defend, protect, and advance academic freedom, shared governance, and other foundational principles and functions of higher education”—and compile an extensive resource list.
This list is already behind the times, as the MADC movement is growing fast. See We Are Higher Ed’s MADC tracker, the U Mass Amherst MADC tracker, and the City University of New York (CUNY) governance body compilation for the current state of play. The organization Stand Together for Higher Ed has developed a toolkit for any campus group to build a team.
Imagine how quickly these networks could expand if national unions and local chapters were to join Rutgers AAUP-AFT in New Jersey and United University Professions in New York by passing MADC resolutions of their own. The more ad hoc groups, established governance bodies, and unions stand with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in committing to fight efforts to control or destroy U.S. higher education, the more emboldened presidents, system heads, and boards will be to join that fight, whether quietly or openly.
A good game plan requires both offense and defense. Whether we’re talking sports or war, there are many positions, alignments, strategies, and tactics that go into offensive and defensive operations. No one group can or should do everything. But we all should be doing something.
Great post, Bruce. And thank you for all YOU are doing.