News and Upcoming Events. 4/11 Updates
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." -Upton Sinclair
4/16. ACTION WEDNESDAYS: ZOOM MEETING AT 9:00AM TO DISCUSS UM'S POLICY AND THE CLIMATE OF FEAR ON CAMPUS
Last week we had our first of what will be weekly Wednesday meetings until the end of the semester where we will take tangible actions and build our community. They will alternate between in-person and virtual meetings. Next Wednesday we will meet on Zoom on a non-UM hosted account and discuss crafting a response to UM's silence on the Trump Adminsitration and the government's persecuation and deportation of students and faculty without US citizenship. You can register for the next meeting here.
Remember: if you want our chapter to exist and if you want us to do more, we need your participation. We are a local all-volunteer organization even if we are associated with a formidible national higher education orgnanization.
4/16 AT 4:00pm: Understanding University Budgets
Also, on 4/16, the AAUP and the Higher Ed Labor Alliance will be cohosting a Zoom session on understanding university budgets and how they reflect the moral positions of universities. You can register to attend this important event here.
AAUP AND ALLIED ORGANIZATIONS FIGHT DEPORTATIONS IN THE COURT
Contrary to what was conveyed at our university's last townhall, more than a lone univeristy is standing up to the Trump administration. On March 25, the national AAUP filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members who participate in protected First Amendment activities in support of causes that the Trump Administration opposes. Thirty faculty groups and an alliance of 86 university and college adminstrations joined in filing amicus briefs in the support the AAUP's lawsuit.
SOUTH FLORIDA FACULTY PARTICIPATE IN THE NATIONAL "HANDS OFF" PROTEST
Last Saturday, faculty from the University of Miami, Florida International Univeristy, and Miami-Dade College joined thousands of protesters in downtown Miami to voice their opposition to the Trump Administration. We must avoid normalizing this presidential adminstration or obeying in advance despite what our university's leadership may be insisting. Protest matters. In a univeristy context, "pivoting" is just another word for anticipatory obedience.
Our AAUP chapter is the only fully indepndent faculty, graduate student, and staff organizational alliance on campus. Members of the Board of Trustees and the university adminstration do not attend or participate in our meetings. Strengthen our organization by attending our meetings and events. Bring your friends and colleagues.