The American Association of University Professors was founded in 1915 by Professors John Dewey of Columbia University and Arthur Lovejoy of Johns Hopkins University. The association's membership of 43,000 academics on nearly a thousand campuses is pledged to "maintain and advance the standards and ideals of the profession."
In the 80 years since its founding, the AAUP has fought to uphold the principles of academic freedom, tenure, due process, and faculty involvement in the decision making process of higher education. The AAUP is a professional organization bearing a relationship to the professoriate similar to that of the American Bar Association to the legal profession and the American Medical Association to medicine.
The AAUP's 1940 statement on academic freedom has been endorsed by nearly 200 educational organizations, including the Association of American Colleges, the American Association for Higher Education, and the American Council of Learned Societies.
The most recently elected Officers