November 7 Day of Action

Duke AAUP Statement on November 7 Day of Action for Higher Education 

November 19, 2025

Duke AAUP supports the coalition of several student and community organizations who demand that Duke protect university values including academic freedom, shared governance, and freedom of expression. Part of a national Day of Action sponsored by national AAUP, AFT, and the Students Rise Up! movement, the November 7 demonstration marks one year since Trump's election. Since then, threats to higher education have been unprecedented.

Duke—like all research universities—has been subjected to Trump's threats and funding cuts. But the Duke administration's response is concerning and disproportionate. Mass layoffs and "voluntary separation agreements" keep staff and non-regular rank faculty in a state of fear and uncertainty. Meanwhile, the highest-paid Duke administrators have thus far refused to entertain the idea of a minor paycut. Budgetary choices, including cuts to essential programs such as the libraries, continue to be made without transparency. As condemned by AAUP national president Todd Wolfson, Duke's decisions were made through nebulous backchannels and outside democratic input, despite the fact that they are already having a significant negative impact on the university's intellectual life.

As the right-wing intensifies its ideological control of higher ed, Duke needs to take steps to safeguard academic freedom—not crack down on expression. While Duke has so far avoided the most dramatic of cases, behind the scenes, the Duke administration has more quietly quelled dissent through changes in protest policies implemented without inclusive deliberation. Students at the November 7 action identified the revised Pickets, Protests, and Demonstrations (PPD) policy as having a chilling effect on freedom of expression. In retaliation for attending an "unauthorized" protest—even if peaceful—the revised policy states that faculty could be considered for termination and students for expulsion. We commend the student activists for demanding the policy's revision and for speaking out in a climate of surveillance.

Duke AAUP exists as part of a broader national front condemning Trump's compact, which would impact a wide range of marginalized populations including immigrants, international students and staff, trans people, and people of color, and it disproportionately targets researchers and teachers who do not conform to certain ideologies. We stand with the students who demand that Duke reject the compact and state explicitly how it will protect workers, defend academic freedom, respect shared governance, and stand up for precarious students in this time of crisis for higher education.

These coalition organizations planned the November 7 Day of Action: Duke Sunrise Movement, Duke Climate Coalition, Documenting Rights, Duke Divest Coalition, Jewish Solidarity Movement, Duke Migrant Roots Media, Mi Gente, United Southern Service Workers, Durham Rising, Duke Student Worker Alliance, National AAUP, and the Duke AAUP chapter. The alliance will continue to host regular actions, including demonstrations the first Friday of every month leading up to a mass action at the end of the spring semester. Follow @sunrise.duke on Instagram or check duke-aaup.org for updates. Sign the petition demanding Duke reject the compact here.