Protecting freedom of expression is vital, but it is useless to divorce disputes about the content of research and teaching from the attacks on the very structures of higher education that house, fund, and govern it. Supporters of free speech must work with and learn from labor organizers, debt resisters, community organizers, advocates for racial justice, and protectors of public goods. The AAUP has recognized the need for a broad-based agenda by partnering with the American Federation of Teachers on a campaign for a New Deal for Higher Education. A special issue of Academe is focused on labor rights and governance, and also on the need to radically re-envision how higher education is funded. AAUP’s recently elected new progressive caucus, Faculty United for the Common Good, is pressing even wider goals for the organization’s agenda. Meanwhile, new organizations like Higher Education Labor United are forging a broad coalition of staff, instructors, and students to bargain not only for higher wages and better working conditions but for a wide range of social-welfare and social-justice goals that assist all those who live, study, and work in higher ed. And organizations like our own, Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Education, are fighting for a higher-education system that combines access to high-quality education, labor rights, and democratic governance of public goods. These efforts take direct aim at defeating the broad assault on higher education, but many, many more people need to get involved.
READ: Lisa Levenstein and Jennifer Mittelstadt in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “The Real Fight for Academic Freedom”
