About IL AAUP

The AAUP's purpose is to advance academic freedom and shared governance, to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, and to ensure higher education's contribution to the common good.

This website provides our members - and all others who are interested in us - information about our AAUP conference and our activities, as well as links to other state and national educational sites.

We invite you to contact us with any of your concerns or inquiries. As one of the largest conferences in the nation, we are fortunate to count among our members persons with tremendous experience on such matters as academic freedom, tenure and shared governance - three of the most important fundamental principles in academia. This collective experience and wisdom boosts our energies and enhances our efforts whenever we have to handle the variety of academic challenges that come to our attention.

Together with the annual conference and our Newsletter, Illinois Academe, this website is a means by which we aim to communicate and dialogue with our members. Through it, we are able to share ideas and concerns, and promote the academic principles that we all cherish. IL-AAUP can only be successful if participation and involvement is strong. As President of our conference, I will promote and strive for active participation by all our members. It is of the utmost importance, now more than ever, to become engaged in the preservation of the basic principles upon which AAUP is based. We are fortunate to have in many colleges and universities strong chapters that have for years been staunch advocates of AAUP principles. Coordinated initiatives, strong position statements and prompt responses yield better results and have a greater impact on both the state legislature and academic administration. There are success stories to share as well as challenges to face. We all have in our hearts the desire to improve and protect academia along the principles of AAUP. I firmly believe that part of our duties as academics is to educate others of the tremendous value and importance of these principles, as well as to protest by the strongest possible means any violation of such principles.

Please explore the national web site of AAUP, www.aaup.org, which is listed as one of our links. There you will find an amazing collection of useful information, including statements of academic freedom, links to other AAUP conferences, electronic pages of "Academe" and "Footnotes" and lots more.

Feel free to contact me with comments or suggestions of additions to our website, or any matters with which our Council can assist you.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Harkins
IL-AAUP President