UConn-AAUP Update December 15, 2025
- Survey: Impact of Threats to Academic Freedom and Immigration Policies and Enforcement
- Nominees for UConn-AAUP Annual Executive Committee Elections
- Chief Negotiator Blog Post 12/03
- Traveling Internationally? Save this contact info!
- Large Nov. 18 Email Zap to Push for Serious Negotiations, Family Leave, and Academic Freedom (and Winners Announced for largest emails)
- Letter to Board of Trustee’s for Today’s Meeting sent by Andrea Celli—Associate Professor and UConn-AAUP Executive Committee Member
- UConn-AAUP Executive Committee calls for immediate action on salary equity fund
Survey: Impact of Threats to Academic Freedom and Immigration Policies and Enforcement
UConn-AAUP members have reported that threats to academic freedom and changes to immigration policies and enforcement have affected multiple areas of their work, including grant cancellations, suspended funding mechanisms, and travel restrictions. To offer a better understanding of the impacts of these changes, please fill out this anonymous survey This survey is on a non-UConn affiliated platform.
The results will inform UConn-AAUP’s actions in support of our members. On the final page of the survey (after submitting your answers), you are invited to click on the link to a separate form to enter a raffle for a $25 gift card.
NOMINEES FOR UCONN-AAUP ANNUAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ELECTION – 2026-2027
The UConn-AAUP Chapter invites member nominations and self-nominations to stand for election to the UConn-AAUP Executive Committee. We seek a wide diversity of UConn-AAUP members from different disciplines, points of view, and status of employment. We seek members interested in standing for officer roles (President, Executive Vice President, Vice President for Membership Development/Organizing, Secretary/Treasurer), Regional Campus Representative, and Member-at-Large seats. The term of service is for one year; member’s duties involve attendance at bi-weekly meetings.
Please respond by January 9, 2026, to general@uconnaaup.org
If you would like to learn more about the UConn-AAUP Executive Committee, please contact members of the Nominating Committee: Sam Sommers smsommers@gmail.com, Kathleen Tonry, Ktonry@gmail.com or Tom Bontly t.bontly43@gmail.com
Chief Negotiator Blog Post 12/03
The chief negotiator has posted an update on negotiations. Log in now to review: UConn AAUP Member Website | Membership Website
If you have not signed up for the membership site- please do so today! Use the link above to create a profile. The office will verify membership and then you will have access to the full site. This membership site is for dues paying members. Not a member? Join now!
Traveling Internationally? Save this contact info!
With the changing landscape of international travel, UConn-AAUP wanted to remind members that if you are traveling internationally on University business this break and run into issues; please make sure to connect with the administration and with the union as soon as possible. Should you face an issue, especially while crossing the border, connect with David Amdur davidamdur@uconnaaup.org
Large Nov. 18 Email Zap to Push for Serious Negotiations, Family Leave, and Academic Freedom (and Winners Announced for largest emails)
We estimate over 550 e-mails were sent on November 18th in the virtual action to make the union stronger and to fight for a better UConn together. 224 people documented their participation in this action! Amazing! You are making this union stronger with every action you take.
Two departments won a coffee hour for their exemplary participation – LCL & Sociology! Congrats to our department winners. And our regional campus winner with the highest rate of participation is: Stamford. Gina will be in touch soon to arrange a time that works for the departments and campus.
There is considerable frustration that there has not been movement on our key bargaining priorities. Clearly showing the need for all of us to stay engaged and informed.
Let gina know if you would like to engage in future meetings! ginadb@uconnaaup.org All are welcome and encouraged to be part of the movement for stronger working conditions for all members!
Andrea Celli; Associate Professor and UConn-AAUP Executive Committee Member sent the following into the board of trustees for today’s meeting:
Dear Chair Toscano, Dear Members of the Board,
We have heard from colleagues in several departments that a new policy regarding large class sizes and the use of temporary labor was disclosed about three weeks ago, with plans for enforcement beginning next academic year.
Based on the reports we are receiving, the practical goal of this policy is to reach a significant reduction in the number of graduate students and adjunct faculty, an expenditure item that is easier to target in UConn’s effort to meet what many consider unrealistic yet detrimental financial goals.
Informally, we also heard that some deans’ offices recognize the negative impact these and other cost-cutting measures will have on the quality of education and on UConn’s broader public mission. Nonetheless, we are hearing that these cuts are expected to proceed. These measures will not only affect educational quality but will also reduce the range of subjects available to students and limit access to graduate education for residents of Connecticut.
We would like to ask if the Board of Trustees is aware of the harm these cuts are already causing to our ability to provide our students with the level of teaching excellence they abundantly paid for and deserve.
UConn-AAUP Executive Committee calls for immediate action on salary equity fund
For Immediate Release
Press Contact:
Michael Bailey l michaelbailey@uconnaaup.org l 860-487-0450
UConn Administration Diverted $1.15M from
Faculty Salary Equity Fund to Pay Cost of Fringe Benefits
UConn-AAUP Executive Committee calls for immediate action on salary equity fund
Storrs – Between 2020-2024, UConn administrators diverted $1.15 million from a fund that was designed for adjusting faculty base salaries and instead used that money to pay the cost of fringe benefits. UConn-AAUP – the union for UConn faculty, researchers, and athletics personnel – is calling for the UConn administration to take several immediate steps to rectify the situation, including restoration of $1.15 million to the fund.
Since at least 1981 the fund, which is administered according to the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the UConn Board of Trustees and UConn-AAUP, has existed in different forms in order to redress systemic salary inequities and to make competitive salary adjustments.
However, beginning in 2020, the UConn administration changed its long-standing practice and began to charge “fringe rates” on faculty base salary raises over multiple budget cycles. The cost of fringe benefits is calculated using rates that the University bases on the actual charges from the benefit programs administered by the State of Connecticut. The administration did not communicate this change to the union or to faculty who applied for salary adjustments.
Indeed, between 2020-2024, the administration charged fringe rates of between 34–51% on salary increases and paid those fringe benefit costs out of the $2.85 million that was set aside for equity adjustments, special achievement, and retention offers. The upshot is that $1.15 million (or just over 40%) of the pool that was intended to be applied to base faculty salary raises was instead used to pay for the cost of the fringe benefits. When questioned about this change in practice by UConn-AAUP leaders (who finally learned of it in May 2023 – long after the changes had been instituted), the administration insisted that nothing prohibited it from diverting the funds.
UConn-AAUP considers this unilateral, non-consensual change in the implementation of a contractually guaranteed fund that is intended in large part to redress systemic inequities a significant breach of trust and good faith on the part of the UConn administration. In addition to calling for meaningful protections for how the fund is administered moving forward, protections that would be expressly contained in the new CBA, UConn-AAUP is calling for the following actions:
- Full and public disclosure of all financial records related to the fund
- Immediate restoration of the $1.15 million to the fund
- Independent audit of all salary adjustments paid for by this fund in the past five years
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UConn-AAUP/AFT Local 6746 represents more than 2,500 teaching, research and coaching professionals at the University of Connecticut (UConn). UConn-AAUP has a strong tradition of safeguarding the principles of shared governance within the University and promoting UConn’s unique role as the flagship research University at the State Capitol. Learn more at the union’s website: uconnaaup.org