With the incoming Trump administration all but declaring war on American universities, it is essential for educators of every persuasion to close ranks in defense of academic freedom. Unfortunately, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), once the “most prominent guardian of academic freedom” in the U.S., has lost its way.

As reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education, the AAUP has lately been under fire from erstwhile allies who believe that the 109-year-old organization has turned away from political neutrality and compromised its core mission.

In just the last four months, the AAUP has repeatedly taken positions that undermine rather than support academic freedom.

In August, the AAUP rescinded its longstanding opposition to academic boycotts, adopted in 2006. The new policy — clearly aimed at Israeli universities in response to the brutally destructive Gaza war — now holds that such boycotts “can legitimately seek to protect and advance ... academic freedom and fundamental rights.” 

That assertion is self-contradictory. Academic boycotts inevitably create restrictions on scholarly exchanges by barring contact with targeted institutions or faculty. As a former chair of the AAUP Committee on Academic Freedom once explained, “The whole idea of boycotting academic institutions in order to defend academic freedom is utterly wrongheaded.”

Pressure from the movement to boycott Israel evidently led the AAUP into an oxymoron. Next came a statement approving the equivalent of intellectual loyalty oaths, imposed by faculties themselves.

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