HIGHER EDUCATION
Texas AFT is proud to represent faculty and higher education professionals in community colleges and universities.
AFT’s Real Solutions for Higher Education is a multi-year campaign that aims to make higher education truly affordable, creates opportunity for our students and strengthens our communities. As extremists attempt to undermine higher education by defunding our public institutions and eroding the freedom to teach and learn, we are championing real solutions to ensure that our two- and four-year colleges and universities are accessible and affordable for all students, fair employers for the faculty and staff who work on our campuses, and beacons of academic freedom, free speech and knowledge creation. Learn more on AFT’s website.
This 2022 report, the third in a series from AFT, further documents the troubling reality faced by the millions of professional educators who make up the ranks of contingent and adjunct faculty at the nation’s colleges and universities.
The transition of power in Washington, D.C., has created a lot of uncertainty for working people burdened by student debt. While we can’t yet predict what comes next with student loan repayment, we’re here to help you every step of the way.
It is more important than ever to provide a safe learning environment where difficult discussions can happen and where free speech on campus is protected from attacks by all, including administrators and unscrupulous politicians.
Historic Affiliation : AAUP and AFT Join Forces
Delegates to the biennial meeting of the American Association of University Professors voted in 2022 to affiliate with the American Federation of Teachers, joining forces to build a more powerful and inclusive academic labor movement that will be better able to take on the challenges facing higher education as well as the threats to our democracy. Read more.
What We Stand for in Higher Education
FAIR WAGES
Like K-12, higher education institutions statewide are experiencing staffing shortages, with unfair wages as a major contributing factor. Significant budgetary investments must be made in the faculty and staff at Texas colleges and universities.
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
In higher education, protecting tenure and ending the attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs ensures Texas colleges and universities can recruit and retain the best and brightest academic minds to open the world to our students.
VOICE IN DECISIONS
Empowered educators produce engaged students. History consistently shows how unions can raise the bar for all of us. If educators have a voice in their workplace, they can negotiate and win better working and learning environments.
Texas AFT members across the state have developed an Educator’s Bill of Rights, and we’re bringing it to the Legislature in 2025. And it includes key rights for higher ed faculty and staff.
AFT Voices
Raising up the voices of AFT members in higher education, become a part of our national conversation at Voices on Campus.