Resolution to Express Solidarity with Immigrants and to Oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement Activities on the campus of the University of Cincinnati

WHEREAS: The University of Cincinnati welcomes and supports students without regard to their citizenship or immigration status and is committed to providing an environment in which all admitted students can succeed;
WHEREAS: Ensuring that the University of Cincinnati campuses are safe and inviting for all students and their families will facilitate the physical safety and emotional well-being of all students in the University, and is paramount to students’ ability to achieve;
WHEREAS: This safe and inviting environment, as well as the learning environment and educational setting, would be disrupted by the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agents or other immigration agents who come onto university property or conduct activities in and around university campuses;
WHEREAS: Recent immigration enforcement activities violate court orders, constitutional rights, human dignity, and cause physical and emotional harm and even deprivation of life;
WHEREAS: Recent immigration enforcement activities create hardships that affect health and present barriers to educational attainment, as well as a pervasive climate of fear, conflict and stress that affects all in our university, regardless of their background or status, such that community members whose family members, friends, or classmates may be at risk of deportation, as well as community members who could face deportation themselves, are all at risk;
WHEREAS: Involving campus police in enforcing federal civil immigration law will create the perception that they are immigration agents and decrease the likelihood of members of the university community cooperating with campus police based on fears that this would lead to their deportation or the deportation of family members;
WHEREAS: Primary jurisdiction over federal immigration laws does not rest with campus police or any other state or local law enforcement agency;
WHEREAS: Some cities, counties, schools, and higher education institutions have adopted policies that limit entanglement with ICE or any other immigration enforcement agency and resist any government action that may lead to the discovery of a person’s immigration status;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED: That the American Association of University Professors, University of Cincinnati chapter hereby affirms solidarity with migrants on our campus and in our city, state, and nation;
RESOLVED FURTHER: That the American Association of University Professors University of Cincinnati chapter hereby declares that the University of Cincinnati is a safe place for its students, staff, and faculty and their families to seek help, assistance, and information if faced with fear and anxiety about immigration enforcement efforts;
RESOLVED FURTHER: That the American Association of University Professors, University of Cincinnati chapter calls upon the University of Cincinnati to develop a policy concerning the presence of ICE or any other immigration enforcement agency on campus that acknowledges the following: 1. Campus police have no authority to enforce federal immigration law. 2. Campus police will not participate in immigration enforcement efforts of federal authorities. 3. UC will not support illegal, warrantless, entry into spaces such as classrooms, dormitories, and faculty offices;
RESOLVED FURTHER: That the American Association of University Professors, University of Cincinnati chapter calls upon the University of Cincinnati to refrain from sharing information about faculty, staff, and students that would support ICE’s or any other agency’s illegal activities on campus.

Dr. Jodi Whitted, assistant professor educator at the School of Social Work, has been a member of UC since fall 2022 and a member of AAUP from her start of joining the faculty. Whitted recently took a leave of absence to serve as the State Representative for District 28 for an 8-month term. She was unable to seek election into the position permanently due to gerrymandering of districts but continues to be involved in politics. She will begin a term on Madeira City Council on December 1st.

When asked about her decision to join AAUP, Whitted cites her family’s history, stating that “my grandparents frequently discussed… working in the coal mines. My great grandparents immigrated to this country and took those jobs, even with poor pay and poor access to healthcare. Hearing their stories and thinking about the conditions faced by working class people are some of my first memories identifying social injustice,” Whitted stated. “The right to unionize is a cornerstone of our democracy and crucial in the protection of workers’ rights.” Whitted said that her grandparents’ discussions about unions led her to study the history of the social work profession’s attempts to unionize and to her academic interest in political social work. During the past year, we have seen the impact of politics on academia and Whitted states, “At a time when political vitriol is a real threat to so many in academia, AAUP has led the charge in opposing this legislation. We will continue to see attacks on higher education and union membership and protections are important now more than ever.” Additionally, Whitted adds that “As an AAUP member, you are afforded protections under the collective bargaining agreement that you might not otherwise have.”

Whitted observed that the union movement can be mysterious for faculty who did not grow up in a union-supportive environment as she did. She suggests that faculty who are unsure about joining AAUP do some quick and simple research or reach out to their associate to find out more about the benefits of joining. She approached the UC AAUP office herself last fall when she was struggling to understand her own rights and found the staff supportive, responsive, and knowledgeable. “I am forever grateful to them,” she said. “If it weren’t for my involvement with AAUP and the collective bargaining agreement, I don’t know if I would be in my position today.”

Whereas the Trump administration has proposed a Compact for Excellence in Higher Education (hereafter “the Compact”) with the quid pro quo of increased federal funding in return for agreeing to a list of policies;

Whereas the Compact has several provisions that would undermine academic freedom and the independence of universities, including ideological litmus tests in admissions and hiring, restrictions on students’ freedom of expression and assembly, mandates to disproportionately fund students in the “hard” sciences, and pledges to abolish departments and programs that are perceived as being contrary to “conservative ideas” by discussing the existence of systemic inequity;

Whereas the Compact was initially offered to nine institutions of higher education, but was later opened to all institutions in a social media post by President Trump; and

Whereas the national AAUP, AFT, and the Ohio Conference AAUP have made clear statements of opposition to the Compact;

Be it therefore resolved that the AAUP-UC Chapter declares its strong opposition to the Compact;

Be it further resolved that the AAUP-UC Chapter calls on President Pinto and the Board of Trustees to reject the Compact publicly; and

Be it further resolved that the AAUP-UC chapter encourages the UC Faculty Senate to consider a similar resolution.

AAUP-UC Chapter Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Against UC Administration

May 21, 2025

On May 21^st, the AAUP-UC Chapter filed Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges against the University of Cincinnati Administration for its failure to bargain in good faith and its interference with, restraint, or coercion of UC Faculty in the exercise of their rights guaranteed under current Ohio law. The ULP charges were filed with the State Employment Relations Board (SERB) by attorneys from the law firm Herzfeld, Suetholz, Gastel, Leniski and Wall.

The duration and outcome of the Unfair Labor Practice process is up to SERB, and could take some time, but in the meantime AAUP-UC will continue to bargain in good faith with the Administration to protect the rights of faculty under the contract. This action also provides a platform for other actions that the Chapter leaders and members will discuss in the coming weeks.

Our hand was forced to file the ULP when, on April 18^th, University of Cincinnati Leadership directed the Administration’s bargaining team to revoke its agreement with the AAUP-UC—in place since the first bargaining session on February 26^th—to work expeditiously to reach a successor Agreement that would be in place prior to the June 26^th effective date of Ohio Senate Bill 1 (SB1).

As Chapter members are probably aware, SB1 is the far-reaching legislation that subjects Ohio’s public colleges and universities to legislative micro-management, contains more than 100 unfunded administrative mandates, content bans, restrictions on collective bargaining rights, eliminates the long-standing right to strike, and targets already marginalized populations on campuses. In rushing through SB1, the Republican majority—including Governor DeWine—ignored the will of the people and pushed through a bill that is intended to undermine Ohio’s public system of higher education. This bill will destabilize our colleges and universities, drive away top talent, and ultimately hurt Ohio’s economic future.

The agreement on expedited negotiations between UC and the AAUP was beneficial for both parties, as it would: keep in place existing policies and procedures for a vast majority of UC’s faculty; protect several rights that SB1 strips away; maintain stable labor relations between UC and the AAUP, which have steadily improved over the past decade; and stem a possible exodus of UC’s highly-qualified faculty to other states where tenure and academic freedom are not under assault.

University Leadership has since tried its hand at revisionist history, claiming there was a miscommunication with the AAUP-UC about the point at which it would continue to negotiate the impacts of SB1. But the reality on the ground at the bargaining table belies such revisionism. Topics impacted by SB1 continued to be negotiated well after SB1 passed the Senate, then the House, and was signed by Governor DeWine. The much more logical and likely reason behind University Leadership’s betrayal of UC faculty occurred just one night before, on April 17^th, when Senator Cirino (the architect behind SB1) threatened to pull funding from Ohio public universities that didn’t preemptively comply with SB1.

Make no mistake. Blame ultimately lies with a University Leadership that has, at every turn, shown its willingness to sacrifice student rights and safety, faculty rights, tenure, academic freedom, free speech, and association rights in an attempt to appease politicians at the State and Federal levels. Whether that is SB1, the so-called “Dear Colleague” letter from the Trump Administration targeting DEI, putting students at risk through thoughtless bathroom signage, or ICE targeting international students with a campaign of fear and intimidation by abducting students off the streets or on campuses, University Leadership has acquiesced well before they were legally obligated to. Its misguided belief that remaining “neutral” on SB1 and other State and Federal attacks on higher education would appease the powers that be enough to protect their state funding will, once again, prove futile at the expense of the moral and ethical foundations of public higher education. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu so eloquently expressed, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

That is why the AAUP-UC Chapter must take steps to vigorously and loudly object to the University’s dangerous acquiescence. In its joint statement “Against Anticipatory Obedience,” AAUP National’s Committee on College and University Governance, and its Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, wrote that “The Trump administration and many Republican led state governments appear poised to accelerate attacks on academic freedom, shared governance, and higher education as a public good. They will attack the curricular authority of the faculty on a number of fronts, including professors’ ability to undertake ‘teaching, research, and service that respond to the needs of a diverse global public.’ It is the higher education community’s responsibility not to surrender to such attacks—and not to surrender in anticipation of them.”

While it is frightening how widely and quickly these attacks are occurring, it is unconscionable that University of Cincinnati Leadership is anticipatorily surrendering to them. There is still time to reach an agreement that protects, at least for the next three years, several fundamental rights of faculty at UC. With the filing of the Unfair Labor Practice charge, we are urging University Leadership to reconsider its decision. The AAUP-UC Chapter—at the bargaining table, at the State Employment Relations Board, on our campus, in our cities, and in our State—will continue to vigorously and loudly oppose these attacks.

In solidarity,

The AAUP-UC Bargaining Team and Executive Council