AAUP Loyola University Maryland is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting academic freedom, shared governance, and equitable employment. We are a registered Advocacy Chapter of AAUP and a 501c3 nonprofit.
Our History
Chapter archives show that the faculty at Loyola College (then so named) started an AAUP chapter in 1985 with leadership provided by now emeritus professors James Buckley (Theology) and Anne Young (Mathematics). Starting in the 1990s Father Frank Haig, S.J., assumed leadership and was very active in AAUP affairs at Loyola, Baltimore, Maryland and nationally, regularly attending the annual national conference and taking elective office. He repeatedly attempted to increase the membership and profile of the Loyola chapter by assuming leadership roles in Maryland AAUP affairs, organizing and hosting state-wide conferences here at Loyola and at other campuses.
Father Haig’s tireless efforts and his careful, dedicated, and indefatigable stewardship of Loyola’s chapter, and his commitment to the goals, duties, responsibilities, and aspirations of the national organization are remarkable and merit our gratitude and emulation. He was responsible for assuring that a small endowment was established for the Loyola chapter from funds he received from his old brother Alexander Haig upon his passing.
In the years before Father Haig’s retirement, and accelerating in the years after, the chapter waned in membership, interest and influence. After his retirement, long-time members like Joseph Ganem and Randall Jones in Physics (colleagues of Father Haig), Fred Derrick in Economics, Kim Derrickson in Biology and Thomas McCreight in Classics assembled in an attempt to revive the chapter and the work of AAUP in general here at Loyola. Kim Derrickson assumed the role of Chapter president when Father Haig retired. At that time membership had dropped to four, low enough that the national office was about to considered the chapter inactive. Father Haig and Kim Derrickson over a three-year period increased membership to once again be recognized as an active chapter by offering subsidies for national dues. Kim attended the annual national conference, making the chapter once again known at the national level. When Kim Derrickson moved to an administrative position in the Provost’s Office, Joseph Ganem was elected president. Under his leadership the chapter was re-incorporated in 2013. The membership at that time was still slender and titled heavily toward senior faculty. Starting in 2020 and picking up speed after the pandemic lockdowns, the chapter instituted a membership drive, offering subsidies for dues to junior and contingent faculty. This was successful, and our membership now numbers 18. We will continue efforts to expand our numbers and to advocate for the bedrock principles of American university life as laid down, promulgated, and maintained by the AAUP. These are principally the protection of academic freedom (secured chiefly by fortifying tenure against the many contemporary threats to it), insistence upon shared governance in the running of institutions, and promoting the rights and privileges of faculty of every status, especially in the areas of adequate compensation and job security.