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The UNC Chapel Hill chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) meets regularly to discuss campus affairs relevant to academic freedom, shared governance, and other issues of concern to higher education workers.

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Congrats to our colleague Dwayne Dixon on returning to the classroom!

Read Professor Dixon’s statement and our statement calling for his reinstatement.

AAUP Press Conference @ UNC: Wednesday, Oct. 8, 11am

On Wednesday, October 8 at 11am, we will gather outside UNC’s South Building, where AAUP officers along with UNC students will speak to the press, make some announcements, and then walk to New West with Professor Dwayne Dixon and his students. They’ll be returning to class for the first time since September 29, when Professor Dixon was wrongfully and harmfully placed on administrative leave. On Friday, October 3, the administration finally reinstated Dixon after significant pressure from the community, including AAUP NC, AAUP-Chapel Hill, UNC’s YDSA, UE-150, the ACLU of NC, and many of Dixon’s admiring colleagues and students.

We’ll be cheering their return but also using this moment to lay out, for faculty and the public, the many issues caused by UNC-Chapel Hill’s administration’s egregious attacks on faculty and students’ academic freedom and First Amendment rights—not just last week’s unnecessary and painful disruption of the fall semester for 300+ students, but also the harmful tenure vote delay for 33 faculty members at UNC in May and the illegal removal and destruction of a student-created, faculty-approved pro-Palestinian mural in August.

Meet-up at Namu: Tuesday, Oct. 14, 4:30–6:30pm

We’re gathering to celebrate our recently promoted and tenured colleagues—and to raise a glass to our important collective wins: fighting tenure delays, showing up for students’ freedom of speech, and organizing to defend academic freedom—we have a lot to celebrate! Join us at Namu for conversations and collegiality, and please invite your UNC colleagues.

Academic Freedom Resources

Please use this form to report any incidents of attacks on academic freedom or harassment of academic workers since August 2025. This form is confidential and will only be seen by officers and organizers for the NC AAUP.

Conversation with Former Provost Chris Clemens, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2pm

The Administration of Free Speech: A TransparUNCy Conversation with Former Provost Chris Clemens, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2pm, Carroll Hall.

For this year’s First Amendment Day, TransparUNCy will be joined by former Provost Chris Clemens for a discussion about some of the most contentious conflicts in higher education and their implications for free speech. How do debates around DEI, “institutional neutrality,” student protest, tenure, and the ongoing politicization of university governance affect the conditions for free speech on our campus?

Follow TransparUNCy here: https://uncaffirmativeactioncoalition.substack.com/

CITAP First Amendment Event at UNC, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2:45–3:45pm

CITAP First Amendment Event at UNC, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2:45–3:45pm, Carroll Hall

https://medialaw.unc.edu/events/citap1a_day_2025/

In collaboration with the What’s at Stake project https://www.onthestakes.com/, join this timely discussion on the role of First Amendment freedoms in protecting democracy.

The United States is backsliding into what political scientists call “electoral autocracy,” where elections are held but there is not free and fair competition. The President and his party are weaponizing the state to weaken the political opposition and the journalism outlets, media, platforms, and universities that can hold them accountable, including through elections. At such a moment, the First Amendment freedom to produce information and knowledge in the public interest that safeguards democratic elections, processes, and norms is crucial. This panel will provide a clear-eyed, research-based analysis of what is at stake and argue for the right—and responsibility—of media and platforms to serve as democratic gatekeepers and hold elected leaders accountable for eroding checks on their power. At a time when many university administrators and faculty would rather talk about the hypothetical threats of AI than the wolves at the door, panelists will detail the urgency of the existential threats to our shared democratic life, the violent consequences of inaction such as during the attempted coup on January 6th, and the ways that journalism, platforms, and universities must rise to meet the moment and fulfill their obligation of serving the public interest.

Panelists:

Rally in Support of Higher Education, Oct. 24, 2–4pm

Right to Light: A Rally in Support of Higher Education, Chapel Hill, Oct. 24 2–4pm, The Plaza, 140 W. Franklin, Chapel Hill, NC.

Keynote speaker: Professor Gene Nichol https://law.unc.edu/people/gene-r-nichol/, a distinguished professor of law, commentator, and author of several books on North Carolina politics, poverty, race, religion, and democracy. He was director of the UNC Poverty Center (2008–2015) until it was closed by the Board of Governors.

You can register to attend here https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/840735/.

Chapter Organizing

We’re identifying chapter liaisons for departments and academic units. If you’d like to volunteer, contact Erik Gellman at esgellman@gmail.com.

If you would like to help with these weekly updates or help maintain and update our chapter’s website and social media, please contact Michael Palm at mwpalm@gmail.com.

And everyone is welcome to join our weekly working meetings Fridays from Noon–1pm, even if just to say hi and see what’s going on.

Note that we are using a new link for these meetings!

https://unc.zoom.us/j/98472343156?pwd=WLsCiCkQcrOEsEmZwRri5p2S6PaaZR.1

Meeting ID: 984 7234 3156

Passcode: 305015

AAUP NC and UNC-Chapel Hill AAUP condemn the egregious violation of Professor Dwayne Dixon’s First Amendment rights to free speech and free association, his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process, and his academic freedom.

See the full AAUP NC and UNC-Chapel Hill AAUP statement on UNC administrators’ violations of Professor Dixon’s and his students’ rights.

On the night before the start of Fall 2025 semester, facilities workers at UNC-Chapel Hill boarded over and subsequently removed a student- and community-created mural in Hanes Art Center. The mural was initiated and created by several students in the undergraduate course Studio Art 490: Art as Social Action, with help from other students across campus. No Art Department faculty were consulted before the mural was covered and removed, and no one has taken responsibility for this censorship.

The American Association of University Professors North Carolina and the UNC-Chapel Hill chapter of the AAUP call on Chancellor Lee Roberts and Interim Provost Jim Dean to restore the mural and publicly explain how the decision to remove it was made and by whom.

See the full UNC-CH AAUP statement on mural censorship at UNC.

AAUP North Carolina and the UNC Chapel Hill chapter of AAUP stand in solidarity with the professors and students whose academic freedom and free speech rights were violated by the cover-up, removal, and destruction of the student-created mural "I told you I loved you (Gaza Solidarity)."

The campus community is invited to print T-shirts and posters bearing the quote from poet June Jordan that appears prominently on the mural:

I told you I loved you and I wanted genocide to stop.

Meet outside Hanes Art Center, where the mural was located, at 3pm on Wednesday, September 3. Bring a blank t-shirt if you'd like to screenprint.

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