AAUP Rallies Students, Faculty, and Community Members Against Trump Attacks on Academia

On Friday, Nov. 7, over 50 students, faculty, staff, and Middletown community members gathered in front of Usdan University Center to stand in solidarity against the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education in the past year. The demonstration was organized by the University’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

Attendees gathered to “celebrate freedom of speech, academic freedom, and the right to teach, learn, and work free from fear and repression,” according to an email sent by AAUP to multiple campus mailing lists on Monday, Nov. 3, encouraging the University community to attend.

“Students and faculty across the country are standing in solidarity against the Trump regime’s use of fear on the streets and on campuses to silence dissent,” the email read. “Wesleyan University has a deep history of protecting rights and freedoms, and we want to celebrate that history as a united campus.”

The rally began with attendees viewing a poster with lists of words “banned” by the Trump administration—these are words now removed from governmental websites and flagged for review in federal agencies’ communications. Their use can also lead to research proposals or other agreements with the federal government being axed. They were then encouraged to pick up flashcards with the words written on them for a reading, following speeches by members of the University. 

Since President Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025, his administration has engaged in a full-throated attack on the nation’s system of higher education, sparking fears among both professors and administrators that the administration’s wrath will one day fall upon the University.

Dean of the Social Sciences Mary-Jane Rubenstein; Chair of the Physics Department Brian Stewart; Associate Professor of Theater Katie Pearl; Associate Professor of Letters Jesse Torgerson; and Professor of History Jeffers Lennox all gave speeches about academic freedom and the role and goals of the AAUP at the rally. 

“Although they have not hit Wesleyan yet, they [the administration] will come for us,” Lennox, who also organized much of the rally, said. “And we want to make sure that everyone on campus is prepared to resist what those attacks look like.” 

In addition to fulfilling a key campaign promise to dismantle the Department of Education, Trump has unilaterally withheld federal funding from several universities in an attempt to extract policy-related concessions related to antisemitism on campus, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and research focuses, upending traditional notions of academic freedom. Trump has also revoked the visas of thousands of international students, many of whom engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy or protest, denied U.S. entry to prominent academics, and attempted to impose a blanket $100k fee on H-1B visas that was later partially rolled back.

His actions have sparked widespread fear and opposition on campus, with Friday’s protest marking the most recent action by the University community.

In a newsletter published on April 23, 2025, the AAUP urged that the University prepare for potential attacks by the Trump administration.

“University administrations should be ready to publicly and officially defend faculty members’ academic freedom against attacks on their work or speech,” the newsletter read.

University President Michael Roth ’78 has expressed fierce opposition to the Trump administration’s crackdown and has written in support of groups committed to defending academic freedom.

“Whether refusing to apologize for diversity efforts or simply standing up for the freedom of scientific inquiry, there is growing resistance to the administration’s attempt to control civil society in general and higher education in particular,” Roth wrote on Sept. 12, 2025. “The groups defending their campuses from governmental intrusion are not just shielding the status quo. They are resisting attempts to undermine education as the practice of freedom, safeguarding the various ways that learning can allow students and teachers to open their minds and their hearts to new ideas and ways of living.”

The AAUP, founded in 1915 in the midst of several controversial dismissals of professors across the country, is a union and advocacy group of faculty and other college and university professionals. Today, it is based in Washington, D.C. and has members and chapters at institutions across the country.

The University’s AAUP chapter has existed nearly as long as the national organization; established in 1921, it eventually became dormant in the late 1990s, but was re-established in June 2022. 

On campus, the Wesleyan AAUP advocates for the welfare of faculty and works to protect the academic freedom and integrity of the University. As of the chapter’s 2023–24 End-of-Year Report, they have 156 members from all academic departments on campus. 

In addition to professors, students, including Maya Nelson ’27, a coordinator of both the University’s chapter of the Sunrise Movement and the Traverse Square after-school program, also delivered speeches at the rally. She is also a representative for Students Rise Up, a national movement dedicated to organizing students for political action to advocate for educational rights.

“[The movement is] trying to build a national voting power base across constituencies to make our demands heard and run a political campaign from our standpoint instead of from the basis of authoritarianism,” Nelson said.

Following the speeches, attendees had the opportunity to pick one of the phrases banned by the Trump Administration, write it on a piece of paper, and leave it somewhere on campus. From options like “alternative energy” to “cultural sensitivity,” organizers intended for members of students and faculty to realize and engage with the censorship of the words. 

Arya Dansinghani can be reached at adansinghani@wesleyan.edu.

Alessandra Woo can be reached at aawoo@wesleyan.edu.