BSM Town Hall
Monday 10/27 6pm, Hitchcock Multipurpose Room, Stone Center
The Black Student Movement will be hosting a Town Hall on Monday,
October 27th, at 6:00 PM in the Hitchcock Room of the Stone
Center. The objective of this event is to strengthen and unify the
Black community at Carolina. During the Town Hall, we will discuss
matters related to Upendo Lounge, clarify any confusion, and answer
any questions students, staff, and alumni may have. We are inviting
all Black organizations, faculty, and alumni to join us in this
important conversation. This space was not only taken from BSM as an
organization but from us collectively as a community. So, we're
looking for your support, presence, and engagement as we work together
to reclaim and restore it.
Worker Health Care Plan Teach-In
Tuesday 10/28 6pm
UE 150 is hosting a virtual teach-in on the current State Health Plan
and rising costs in NC. RSVP
here.
AAUP Webinar in support of the upcoming 11/7 Day of Action
Tuesday 10/28 5-6pm
AAUP members, check your email for a link to register.
Day of Action for Higher Ed!
Friday 11/7 1:15pm, Polk Place
Join Sunrise UNC and other campus groups! As students organize for
educational access and affordability, the freedom to learn, campus
safety, and a better future, the AFT and AUUP along with cross-sector
higher education unions are standing shoulder to shoulder in
solidarity.
Academic Freedom at the next Faculty Council meeting
Friday 11/7 3-5pm, Kerr Hall
Chapter members will present on academic freedom—what it means, its
history, and the urgent need to protect it today—at the next Faculty
Council Meeting, Friday, November 7, from 3-5pm, 1001 Kerr Hall. Join
us!
Report on UNC Audit
Thursday 11/13 5:30-8pm, Carr Hall
Howard Bunsis will share the findings from his independent audit of
UNC. Our chapter secured a grant from the NC AAUP to help fund this
audit. Howard will report for an hour, followed by 90 minutes
of Q&A. Co-sponsored by UE150 and TransparUNCy.
3 petitions to sign rejecting Trump Loyalty Oaths for Higher Ed
Our chapter voted to collectively endorse this one, but you can also
sign as an individual.
DTH Faculty Free Speech Survey
Fill out the DTH Faculty Free Speech Survey!
Reclaim the Narrative: Higher Ed for the Common Good
Wednesday 10/29, 2-4pm
The AAUP, Stand Together, and PEN America invite you to join Reclaim
the Narrative: Higher Ed for the Common
Good,
a two-hour training webinar will equip you with practical tools to
tell your story and amplify the value of higher education in public
life.
Higher education is under coordinated attack, from funding cuts and
DEI bans to assaults on tenure, free speech, and the safety of
international scholars and students. Our individual stories of how our
work in higher education makes a difference are the most powerful
antidote to the misinformation campaign against higher
education. Truth is resistance. Every story we can share with the
public pushes back against false narratives that paint higher ed as
elitist and broken.
In this training, you'll learn how to:
- Write powerful op-eds and letters to the editor
- Use social media to reach wider audiences
- Prepare for media interviews with confidence
- Adapt these materials to host Reclaim the Narrative workshops on
your own campus
AAUP members can register
here
to attend. Together, we can reclaim the story of higher education as a
public good essential to democracy.
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:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89195114865?pwd=qf2kY5jKF6utphBBKn4ghkszHa6lLT.1
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:
- Meredith D. Clark https://hussman.unc.edu/people/meredith-d-clark,
Associate Professor of Race and Political Communication at UNC
School of Journalism and Media; Co-Principal Investigator, UNC
Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life
- Shannon C. McGregor
https://hussman.unc.edu/people/shannon-c-mcgregor, Associate
Professor at UNC School of Journalism and Media; Co-Principal
Investigator, UNC Center for Information, Technology, and Public
Life
- Daniel Kreiss https://hussman.unc.edu/people/daniel-kreiss, Edgar
Thomas Cato Distinguished Professor at UNC School of Journalism and
Media; Faculty Director, Co-Principal Investigator, UNC Center for
Information, Technology, and Public Life
- Anika Collier Navaroli https://www.anikacolliernavaroli.com/,
Assistant Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Journalism
School; Reporting Fellow at Tech Policy Press
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