AAUP UW-Madison

About

The University of Wisconsin-Madison chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of faculty and academic staff that promotes academic freedom and shared governance.

Recent wins

On 30 Sept 2025, the AAUP national organization won an important federal ruling that the Trump administration had violated the First Amendment in arresting, detaining, and deporting students and faculty members for ideological reasons. Read updates about other recent AAUP litigation.

Recent activity

Sign a petition urging UW-Madison to reject the Trump administration’s “compact”. A group of faculty are proposing a faculty senate resolution opposing the contract, but the next faculty senate meeting is Nov 3, which is after the Trump administration’s Oct 20 deadline.
The Executive Committee of the UW-Madison chapter of the AAUP, together with the boards of WUU, UFAS, and TAA, wrote a letter to UW-Madison Chancellor Mnookin and UW System President Rothman expressing concerns about campus free speech. (See google doc and pdf.)

Recent concerns

The Trump administration has sent demands to nine schools, that they agree to a “compact” in exchange for federal research funds. See AAUP’s response: Universities must reject “Loyalty Oath” compacts. (The “compact” has now been extended to all universities, with administrators having until Oct 20 to respond.)
The UW System administration is introducing a new policy on core general education requirements in response to Act 15 Section 134, and there are concerns about the implications for ethnic studies requirements at UW-Madison and other campuses. Comments must be submitted online by Wednesday, 15 Oct 2025..
UW System administration also has a workgroup working on the new teaching workload requirements from Act 15 Section 137.

Join us

Membership is open to all UW-Madison graduate students, academic staff, faculty, researchers, and teachers. (See Article II of the AAUP Constitution.)

Sign up at the AAUP national page and your name will be forwarded to the local chapter. Yearly dues are on a sliding scale by income.

Officers (2025-2026)

President Karl Broman
Vice President Joseph Salmons
Secretary April Haynes
Treasurer Timothy Yu
At large members of the Executive Committee: Matthew Hora, Michael Childers