The Lafayette College chapter of a faculty union and membership association held a general body meeting last Friday afternoon, marking the chapter’s first formal gathering since its re-establishment this spring.
The chapter of the American Association of University Professors, or AAUP, has established providing an alternative forum for voices that do not have voting rights in faculty meetings as a key goal.
“Working people should always have a say in their conditions and in the safety of their co-workers,” said Drew Swedberg, an adjunct Film and Media Studies instructor.
Faculty meeting voting privileges are granted to “all regular” or “full-time, non-visiting” faculty, according to a document listed on the college’s clerk of the faculty website. Visiting assistant faculty members cannot vote at faculty meetings.
The Lafayette was not granted access to the chapter’s first meeting due to concerns from members about public exposure.
Courntey Dalton, a librarian and member of the chapter, said that around 20 people registered to attend the meeting, but did not take a head count. Jeremy Zallen, a spearhead of the chapter and history professor, declined to provide exact numbers.
Tara Gilligan, a senior lecturer in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, called the meeting “a space where more people can come together.”
Gilligan, a member of a chapter committee that evaluates the organization of the chapter, said that academic freedom and fair labor rights were key topics of the meeting, the same topics to which her committee dedicated subcommittees over the summer.
“This meeting was partly about how to extend that to other subcommittees we’ve been working on,” she said.
Zallen echoed Gilligan’s emphasis on academic freedom, specifically mentioning the suppression of free speech related to the ongoing violence in Gaza.
“AAUP has been one of the only organizations among higher ed workers that has been actively and successfully confronting these dangers,” Zallen said.
James Woolley, a retired English professor who attended the meeting, highlighted the Trump administration’s attack on higher education and withdrawal of funding from scholarly institutions.
“It’s a major threat to the academic economy,” he said. “More so in the large research universities than in smaller institutions like Lafayette. But it touches Lafayette, too.”
The chapter was re-established in April, partially in response to the dismissal of Maura Finkelstein, a Muhlenberg College professor who was placed on paid administrative leave following a college investigation into alleged online discrimination featuring anti-Zionist rhetoric.
Assistant psychology professor and steering committee member Abbey Mann stressed the importance of continuing discussions even in seemingly calmer times.
“I don’t think we need to be in crisis to get together and discuss the things that are important to us,” Mann said.
Looking forward to future meetings and agenda items, Zallen said the group plans to address fair compensation for faculty and staff members and organize an additional committee on shared governance.
The chapter is also looking to attend a solidarity conference in November hosted by the Pennsylvania AAUP at Dickinson College.
“Individually, we’re kind of small,” Zallen said. “But together, we are stronger than our parts.”
Richard G. • Oct 18, 2025 at 9:33 am
Nice. Future reporting on this development at Lafayette could include some survey of various positions of current American Association of University Professors president Todd Wolfson. It will be interesting to see if priorities for faculty on the hill relate to academic matters or if instead there is more entrenched and aggressive activism on the part of the faculty in their anti-Israel rhetoric. If the latter, the appearance of an AAUP chapter mirrors the growing lack of tolerance among higher ed professoriate for opposing views.