On Saturday, April 5, 2025, the Connecticut State Conference-AAUP held a one-day conference on Defending Higher Education at Wesleyan University. The conference was organized by the CT-State Conference and Wesleyan AAUP, and attended by members of AAUP chapters across Connecticut, Massachusetts, and beyond.
Program
9:30 Welcome and Opening Remarks
- Afshan Jafar, President AAUP CT-State Conference
9:40-10:45 Opening Keynote (watch video)
- Hamilton Nolan, Labor Journalist: “Why the Labor Movement Is America’s Greatest Hope Now”
10:50-12:00 Organizing Panel (watch video)
Building Solidarities: What Can Advocacy Chapters Learn from Collective Bargaining Units? What Can Collective Bargaining Units Learn from Advocacy Chapters?
- Bethany Letiecq, Vice President AAUP/AFT Local 6741
- Rotua Lumbantobing, Vice President AAUP
- Russell Newman, President Emerson College AAUP
1:00-2:30 Afternoon Workshops:
- Michael DeCesare, Senior Program Officer, AAUP Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance (DAFTG), on Dismissal Policies, the Red Book, and Faculty Handbooks (watch video)
- Afshan Jafar, President AAUP CT-State Conference and Connecticut College AAUP, on Title IV and Academic Freedom
- Jason Wozniak, Coalition for Action in Higher Education steering committee, on Cross-CT Planning for April 17 AAUP Day of Action
2:45-4:00 Closing Panel (watch video)
Isaac Kamola, Director AAUP Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, and Jason Wozniak, Debt Collective: “Follow the Money, Fight Back!”
Thanks to the organizing committee Mary Gallucci, Flo Hatcher, Afshan Jafar, Isaac Kamola, Jeffers Lennox, David Stoloff, Margot Weiss, and T. David Westmoreland; and Caryn Canalia for on-site planning.
Conference sponsored by an AAUP Development Grant; co-sponsored by Connecticut State Conference-AAUP with support from all CT AAUP Chapters.
Connecticut State Conference of the American Association of University Professors, Inc. 