AAUP Conferences Sponsor Lobby Days

As state legislatures opened their 2004 sessions, several AAUP conferences held gatherings to lobby legislators and advance Association goals. On January 15, the Virginia AAUP conference and the Faculty Senate of Virginia, a coalition of faculty senates from the state's universities, cosponsored an annual higher education advocacy day that emphasized the need to invest in higher education. Faculty met with members of the Virginia legislature and their staffs in Richmond to discuss higher education financing and governance issues. They also recruited additional cosponsors for a bill that would provide for nonvoting faculty representatives on governing boards.

In Denver on February 3, the Colorado AAUP conference held a legislative breakfast focusing on similar issues. In addition to finance and governance, conference members talked to legislators about the threat to academic freedom inherent in bills promoting an "academic bill of rights" that had been introduced into the Colorado legislature. The conference presented a Friend of Higher Education award to state senator Ronald Tupa of Boulder for his support of higher education funding. Legislators in both states congratulated faculty for coming to their capitals to advocate for higher education, and emphasized the need for faculty to stay involved for the long term.

The Colorado conference joins a growing number of AAUP conferences in starting a regular lobbying function. In addition to the Virginia conference, AAUP conferences in Michigan, Ohio, and New York have held regular lobbying events for many years, and more are adopting the practice.