Auburn University faculty protest Board of Trustees’ dissolution of university senate

AUBURN — Auburn University’s Board of Trustees dissolved its faculty senate in June with little notice to faculty in order to comply with a state law that does not apply to the flagship university. 

On Friday, more than 100 faculty and community members gathered outside the trustees’ meeting to protest the decision and warn that it could have broader consequences. 

“These are the voices for people coming from many parts of the Auburn family. They are current and emeritus faculty. They are students and alumni. They are staff and administrators. They are community supporters,” said Heidi Hausse, a history professor and one of the organizers of the protest.

The two unions on campus – United Campus Workers (UCW) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) – asked to read a declaration of concern at the board meeting, but were told that their request was “not supported.”

The declaration had over 600 signatures of support from the broader Auburn community as of Friday morning. 

Auburn’s decision came a few months after the Alabama Legislature passed HB 580, putting limits on the powers of faculty senates. However, that bill specifically exempted Auburn and the University of Alabama, both of which have standing in the state constitution.

Tracy Witte, one of the organizers and a professor of psychology, said the dissolution of the faculty senate – called the university senate at Auburn – felt like a message that faculty was no longer part of the Auburn family. Witte was a university senator from 2015 to 2021. 

“I always thought faculty were part of that family,” she said in an interview Wednesday. “It’s just the faculty that don’t have a representative body anymore. Why is that? Are we not part of the Auburn family?”

Other groups on campus have a representative body – undergraduate and graduate students, and staff. Auburn trustees replaced the faculty senate with the Presidential Academic Advisory Council (PAAC), which will not be independent from the board or university president and will serve a strictly advisory role, according to university policy. 

Auburn’s president will appoint some members of the council, while others will be elected from faculty at each school. The president can appoint faculty or non-faculty members until each college has equal representation. 

Hausse said the advisory council, while advertised as faculty-led, consists mostly of appointed members, and that administrators have emphasized that the council is not a representative body like the university senate. 

“The upper administration has made clear not only are more than half of its members appointed instead of elected, but even its elected members should not be understood as representatives, and we should not use the word representative to refer to those members,” Hausse said.

After recognizing the appointed executive positions of the council at the trustees meeting on Friday, Auburn University President Christopher Roberts said that he is looking “forward to a very constructive and productive partnership with you and the other faculty members that will soon be elected.”

‘Climate of fear’

The dissolution of the faculty senate is the most recent action that organizers said have contributed to a “climate of fear” at Auburn over the last year. 

“There’s a lot of fear on campus. People who don’t want to publicly express disapproval of what’s happening,” Witte said. 

Multiple university employees were fired following the death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk last September for social media posts condemning the commentator’s rhetoric. The firings were celebrated by Alabama Republican politicians like U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who coached football at the university in the early 2000s.

Some of the terminated employees sued the university for violating their First Amendment right to free speech.

Witte said Friday that faculty at the protest are the “front runners in terms of sticking our necks out.”

“This is a peaceful demonstration. Everything that we’re doing is legal. We are safe,” Witte said. “So that the many, many people across campus who right now are like, ‘I think this is terrible, but I’m not going to say anything,’ feel more comfortable for the future.”

New core curriculum

The board also mandated two new classes for all Auburn students at the June meeting, but the curriculum will not be totally created by faculty. The board will have final say on the curriculum. 

Kate Craig, a history professor at Auburn, said in an interview Wednesday that eliminating faculty expertise from curriculum creation harms students.

“It’s not a problem with the idea that U.S. history and civics aren’t valid subjects to teach. Of course they are, but what has fundamentally happened in this policy is that the board has radically restructured the core curriculum at Auburn,” Craig said. 

Vini Nathan, the university’s provost, said at the trustees’ work session Thursday that one of the two new mandated courses – U.S. History and Civic Leadership – will be required for all incoming freshmen in Fall 2027, and both will be required by Fall 2028. 

“We just want to let our faculty lead that, and we want to be able to bring it forward to the board,” Nathan said. “This is in terms of the board directive and in terms of our timeline. This was specific guidance that we got from the board.”

Students will have to take the classes while also meeting all other core curriculum requirements.

“Essentially, they said that we had to do this, and then they told us we had to figure out how to do it,” Craig said.

The board will have final approval for the new courses. 

Hausse said Friday she is worried that the advisory council’s presentation will be focused on board approval instead of maximizing student learning.

“Imagine sitting there thinking instead of, ‘What is the best way that we can teach students about something? What’s the best way that we can broaden their horizons when they come to Auburn?’” Hausse said. “Instead, you’re sitting there thinking, ‘Will the board say yes to this? Is this what the board wants?’”

She said at the protest that political appointees, like the board members, controlling curricula restricts students’ freedom to learn. 

“You have people who are furthest from the classroom curriculum designed in the subject area of a subject saying all students must take this thing,” Hausse said. “How is that good for students? How does that suggest they will get the best education?”

The protest on Friday, Craig said, was not about the faculty losing control or representation. It was always an advisory position, but she said the expertise of Auburn’s faculty has been left out of decisions that will impact every student.

“This is about completely sidelining our expertise and our care and attention to Auburn. I hope that more people recognize, as a result of Friday, that these policies are a bad thing for everyone, that this will have the effect of devaluing students’ degrees,” Craig said. “In the end, thinking about my students. That is really what motivated me because I think that they deserve better.”