Efforts by conservative lawmakers and school administrators to drive the woke out of classrooms and off campuses across the state have come under coordinated attacks. Now, the source of those attacks is in the spotlight.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is a radical leftist higher education teachers' union with chapters at the University of Alabama (UA), Auburn University, Samford University, the University of West Alabama and the University of South Alabama.
These chapters are becoming among the most vocal groups opposing and undermining state and federal efforts to rid college campuses of woke policies and programs that fail students. They've become Alabama's legacy media's favorite surrogates, often quoted to oppose conservative higher education policies throughout the state, yet few people know just how radical they are. A new report, complete with audio, seeks to show that.
The American Association of University Professors is an affiliate of Randi Weingarten’s union. https://t.co/JniJU4wlMT
— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) June 11, 2026
Last week, City Journal magazine published materials obtained through a public records request by John D. Sailer at the Manhattan Institute. The documents, which, according to Sailer, included "agendas, brainstorming documents, grant records, and meeting audio recordings," exposed a nefarious plan coordinated by Isaac Kamola, the director of the AAUP's Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, to undermine the efforts of conservative lawmakers to take back college campuses nationwide.
Shocking recordings detail how the group would fight the growing trend of new civic centers emerging across campuses.
"I would really love to see kind of a robust research project on these right-wing centers and individuals—like, naming and shaming and discrediting and undermining the legitimacy," Kamola said during a recorded meeting released in the City Journal Report (around the 1:34:50 mark).
"I would love to strategically map who these f-ckers are, and figure out what the weaknesses are, and design a research agenda that just goes through them and tries to knock them out," he said.
The AAUP national chapter has sued the Trump administration over its efforts to remove diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs nationwide.
"The AAUP has joined a coalition of higher ed groups in a lawsuit against the Trump administration's most recent anti-DEI executive order," the group wrote in a social media post.
"This executive order is a direct attack on academic freedom and the First Amendment—an attempt to coerce silence by threatening faculty, students, and federal partners who confront the realities of race and discrimination. In a democracy, higher education must be free to pursue truth, foster debate, and expand opportunity for all. Instead, this administration is using the power of federal contracts to impose ideological conformity. The AAUP has defeated these attacks before, and we are proud to stand with this coalition to do so again," the post said.
Meanwhile, state chapters here have worked together to fight conservative policies.
The group's Auburn Chapter was one of the first vocal opponents of efforts taken just earlier this month by the Auburn Board of Trustees. Those changes include the creation of a Presidential Academic Advisory Council to replace the current Faculty Senate, the implementation of a "Curriculum, Courses, Syllabi, and Core Educational Requirements Policy," and a requirement that every student take a United States History and Civics Course.
"Mark Criley, a senior program officer in the department of academic freedom, tenure and governance at the AAUP, called the changes' the end of shared governance' at Auburn," according to a report in Inside Higher Ed.
"If you're designing that body and selecting half of its membership, then you're losing the frank, candid, informed judgment of the faculty," Criley reportedly told the outlet. "He's especially concerned about the 'collegiality' mention, which suggests that faculty members who raise difficult questions or more frequently challenge leadership might not be selected," the outlet quoted him as saying.
The University of Alabama Chapter of AAUP was formed in November 2025.
Within weeks, the group was arguing that the school couldn't legally shutter two student magazines and consolidate them into one.
A few days later, the UA Chapter was weighing in on the changes at Auburn.
"What happened at Auburn last week is a travesty that takes curriculum decisions out of the hands of experienced faculty and into the hands of people who have never led a class," a social media post read before the group quoted a statement from their sister organization.
"Faculty are not employees in a corporate structure to be managed through top-down authority," Auburn AAUP's statement said. "They are experts entrusted with educating students and advancing knowledge, and that work depends on collaboration, shared governance, and strong academic freedom protections."
On Sunday, AL(dot)com reported additional reactions at UA to the changes at Auburn. One of the individuals quoted was Sara McDaniel is an education professor at Alabama and president of UA's chapter of the AAUP. She told the outlet she was "confused and surprised" about the changes.
In what might be an ominous sign for those expecting Dr. Peter Mohler, the president of UA, to follow Auburn's lead, McDaniel told AL(dot)com that "AAUP and Provost Lesley Reid have 'collaborative back and forth communication' and a good working relationship."
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