WHEREAS recent and escalating politically motivated actions by governmental bodies pose a significant threat to the foundational principles of American higher education, including the autonomy of university governance, the integrity of scientific research, and the protection of free speech;

 

WHEREAS state governments across the South and aligned political actors at the federal level have targeted the independence of institutional accreditation with legal, financial, and political incursion designed to undermine the accreditation process and exert improper control over academic administration;

​

WHEREAS these state governments have routinely undermined faculty governance and academic freedom with state laws and policies;

​

WHEREAS these same state governments will choose the board members of the Commission for Public Higher Education and that board will choose a director, offices that will direct the commission;

 

WHEREAS the influence of state control over this commission will corrupt the independent accreditation process and allow states to steer colleges and universities toward policies, curriculum, hiring standards, and institutional benchmarks that will undermine higher education’s role in our democracy;

 

WHEREAS the administration of Appalachian State University arranged for the university to be part of a trial run for the accrediting body without faculty involvement or plausible justification for seeking a new accreditor only one year after a successful reaffirmation of accreditation through SACSCOC;

 

WHEREAS the proposed change of accreditors coincides with a drastic proposal to redefine academic freedom in the UNC Code that would render academic freedom secondary to university policies and the new accreditors’ standards, which are considerably less protective of academic freedom in the case of CPHE;

 

THEREFORE, be it RESOLVED that the Appalachian State University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors demands the administration of Appalachian State University and the University of North Carolina system leaders to formally declare it will no longer engage in the pilot project or explore accreditation with the Commission for Public Higher Education;

 

Be it further RESOLVED that the Chapter rejects in the strongest possible terms the proposed redefinition of academic freedom in the UNC Code and demands the University of North Carolina Board of Governors to withdraw the proposed change. The Chapter further supports the efforts of the national AAUP and fellow state chapters to pursue all avenues available for challenging this redefinition.