Professors’ Union Bosses Forge Ahead with Political Endorsements Despite Members’ Concerns Over Neutrality

Higher education belongs in the hands of professors—not union officials using the AAUP brand to advance a one-party political agenda.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has endorsed a dozen Democrats running for the U.S. House and Senate in the 2026 elections, further transforming the 111-year-old organization from a defender of academic freedom and professional standards into a partisan political operation.

According to reporting in Inside Higher Ed, the AAUP’s latest round of endorsements includes Florida state representative and Democratic Socialist Angie Nixon, former U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (Ohio), and continued support for Abdul El-Sayed (Michigan). Nine additional House candidates across Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania also received the AAUP’s stamp of approval. All are Democrats. The association made its first-ever national-level political endorsement in July 2026 for El-Sayed during Michigan’s Democratic primary.

AAUP President Todd Wolfson has argued that the organization must engage in “politics proper” to protect higher education, academic freedom, research funding, and student interests. He has stated that either the AAUP is “at the table or you’re on the menu.” The group’s criteria focused on states with significant AAUP membership and candidates already backed by local AAUP chapters or the American Federation of Teachers, followed by private meetings to confirm alignment with the AAUP agenda.

This shift has drawn criticism from members and observers who argue that a professional association long associated with defending academic freedom and institutional neutrality should not become an electoral arm of one political party. Earlier reporting noted that a meeting used to gauge Michigan members’ views on the El-Sayed endorsement was attended by only about 40 of the state’s roughly 4,000 AAUP members. Wolfson has acknowledged the criticism but remains undeterred, promising more intensive member outreach in future cycles.

For educators and professors who value academic freedom, this development raises fundamental questions of compulsory association and the use of professional organizations for political ends. The principle at stake is the same one articulated by Thomas Jefferson and long defended by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation: no one should be compelled to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions he or she disbelieves. Whether through formal union dues in AAUP-affiliated bargaining units or through the institutional weight of membership, professors should not be conscripted into a partisan political machine.

Academic freedom requires the ability of faculty to pursue truth, teach, and research without political litmus tests from either government or professional associations. When an organization that historically positioned itself as a neutral guardian of that freedom instead selects candidates exclusively from one party—and, in at least one case, from the Democratic Socialist wing—it risks subordinating scholarly independence to electoral strategy.

Concerned Educators Against Forced Unionism (a special project of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation) has long documented how teachers’ and faculty unions prioritize political agendas over individual educators’ professional interests. The AAUP’s endorsement campaign follows that pattern. Professors who disagree with the candidates or the broader political program retain the right to object, to decline financial or institutional support for activities they oppose, and to seek alternatives that prioritize education and academic freedom over partisan mobilization.

The AAUP’s leadership is free to advocate for its preferred policies. It is not free, however, to erase the distinction between a professional association and a political action committee, nor to treat dissenting members as obstacles to its new electoral mission. Higher education belongs in the hands of professors committed to their disciplines and students—not in the hands of officials treating the AAUP brand as a campaign resource.

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