Volume 17: Academic Freedom as a Practice of Democracy

At a panel during the Coalition for Action in Higher Education’s April 2025 national protest, urban and cultural studies scholar Davarian Baldwin made a rousing call for courage in the face of political and material repression in US colleges and universities: “We are the power that we have been waiting for.” Responding to this call, the 2026 volume of the AAUP’s Journal of Academic Freedom seeks to showcase work of students, educators, and activists—and of unions, scholarly associations, and other governance bodies—in fighting back against repression.

The volume seeks submissions on initiatives that have been pursued, strategies that have been deployed, coalitions that have been built, and work that remains to be done in the fight for academic freedom. Submissions are due by March 9, 2026.

We will consider any eligible submission relevant to the journal’s core focus on academic freedom. Topics of special interest for the volume include but are not limited to

• political education
• public outreach
• sanctuary campuses
• mutual defense compacts and other forms of coalition-building
• debt reveals
• boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns
• campus unionization
• protests and other forms of mass mobilization
• lawsuits
• political lobbying

Check out the call for papers, submission guidelines, and editorial policy to learn more about this volume and past issues of the Journal of Academic Freedom.

Questions? Reach out to jaf@aaup.org.