Saving Lives, Building Futures, Powering the Economy: A Blueprint for Strengthening and Transforming Higher Education

WHEREAS, our system of higher education is a public good; and 

WHEREAS, community colleges, regional four-year universities, public and private research institutions, small liberal arts colleges, religiously affiliated institutions, historically Black colleges and universities, other minority-serving institutions, and postsecondary technical and vocational schools support students’ individual growth and attainment, prepare students for life after college, strengthen local and regional economies, and produce research and knowledge that makes life better for everyone in the United States; and 

WHEREAS, the attacks on campus free speech, students’ right to learn and academic freedom, research funding, DEI programs, and student financial aid at the state and federal levels are part of a larger authoritarian effort to weaken the very institutions that prepare students to think critically and to engage in a robust, vibrant, multicultural, pluralistic democracy; and

WHEREAS, the federal government continues to weaponize the immigration process to limit opportunity for international students and workers and to terrorize international and immigrant students and workers, including the ongoing use of abductions and detention of immigrant students and workers; and

WHEREAS, the decades-long affordability crisis in higher education, including $1.8 trillion in student debt burden, is foreclosing the opportunity for people to pursue their dreams by making it even harder for students from working- and middle-class families to complete a program of study and obtain a college degree; and

WHEREAS, even with the high cost to students and their families, the tuition dollars flowing into higher education are not enough to backfill cuts in federal and state monies, resulting in institutional closures, program discontinuance, the rampant casualization of the academic workforce, and faculty and staff layoffs; and

WHEREAS, state and federal disinvestment, combined with increasing reliance on financialization, privatization and philanthropic donors, has left colleges and universities vulnerable to interference and destabilization by external actors; and

WHEREAS, faculty in contingent positions and academic staff lack job security, benefits, workplace voice and professional independence, and because of the exploitation of contingent labor, they are more vulnerable to attacks on their academic freedom, to repression of their free speech rights, and to facing discipline, termination or nonrenewal of employment for exercising these rights; and

WHEREAS, the AFT is the largest and fastest growing higher education union with members in all 50 states and territories, and with that size and strength comes a moral responsibility to our members, their students and the sector as a whole; and

WHEREAS, the AFT and the American Association of University Professors engaged in a far-reaching process of member and affiliate leader engagement to develop our Blueprint for Strengthening and Transforming Higher Education:

RESOLVED, that the AFT will reaffirm its commitment to combating these attacks on colleges and universities through our AAUP/AFT Saving Lives, Building Futures, Powering the Economy campaign, and will share our AAUP/AFT Blueprint for Strengthening and Transforming Higher Education with the higher education community and advance the Blueprint with political candidates and federal and state policymakers; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will continue its work to increase investment and public funding for higher education, including the fight for free public college, so that the cost of college is not a barrier to accessing higher education; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will continue to fight for colleges and universities to be safe and welcoming for all faculty, staff and students regardless of home country, race, religion, ethnicity, gender identity and sexuality, and will continue to provide resources, trainings and toolkits to assist our affiliates in combating racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, LGBTQIA+ hate and all other forms of hate; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will protect the right of students to learn and faculty to teach and research by fighting political interference in higher education and vigorously defending faculty and academic staff from political harassment, doxxing and loss of employment for exercising their academic freedom and free speech rights; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will continue to provide our members, affiliates, students and the broader higher education community with the resources, trainings and tools needed to allow members to navigate the weaponization of the visa process and to support members, students and their families facing attacks and harassment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will continue to fight to end contingency of employment and fight for meaningful job security and economic security for all academic workers, regardless of employment status; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will continue to organize the higher education workforce both inside and outside of the collective bargaining context, and use the power of the union to provide the training, expertise and resources our affiliates need to defend and strengthen higher education through building robust unions, negotiating strong contracts and engaging in state and federal lobbying efforts.

Adopted July 19, 2026