AAC&U joined the American Council on Education and other higher education organizations in sending a letter to US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos raising concerns about a proposed rule on campus free speech. While the department’s goal of protecting robust debate and a diversity of ideas on campus is admirable, the rule is likely to curtail or limit free speech, particularly at private institutions.

The Delphi Award presents a $15,000 award to institutions that have demonstrated effective strategies to support non-tenure-track, contingent, or adjunct faculty in pursuing strategic priorities such as student learning and community engagement. The award is an initiative of the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California in partnership with AAC&U.

At the recent Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, AAC&U members elected three new directors and selected new officers to serve on the board of directors. William Craft will serve as chair of the board, Carol Leary as past chair, Lenore Rodicio as vice chair, and Alex Johnson as treasurer. The new directors are Jonathan R. Alger, Brandon Busteed, and Nancy J. Cable.

AAC&U Vice President Dawn Michele Whitehead joined the Making Global Learning Universal podcast to discuss how campuses can tailor global learning to their own contexts and enable all faculty and students to engage in unique ways with their campuses, communities, and careers. Faculty, staff, and students interested in these themes can join AAC&U for the Conference on Global Citizenship for Campus, Community, and Careers, October 8–10 in Miami.

The thirteen additional institutions will host TRHT Campus Centers, following the ten institutions selected in 2017. In partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s TRHT effort, AAC&U works with higher education institutions across the country to create Campus Centers that prepare the next generation of leaders to confront racism and to dismantle the belief in a hierarchy of human value.

AAC&U has formally endorsed a statement by the American Association of University Professors that argues for the importance of expert knowledge and the higher education institutions that produce and transmit it. Addressing an ongoing movement to attack the disciplines and higher education institutions, the statement defends the critical role these institutions perform in producing the knowledge that sustains American democracy, especially in this moment of intense global instability.

AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella has joined the Heterodox Academy Advisory Council, a group of higher education leaders and public intellectuals who will help guide work to enhance the quality and impact of research—and improve education—by promoting open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement in higher education.