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The American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) on March 25 sued the Trump administration on behalf of their members for unlawfully cutting off $400 million in federal funding for crucial public health research to force Columbia University to surrender its academic independence. While the Trump administration has been slashing funding since its first days in office, this move represents a stunning new tactic: using cuts as a cudgel to coerce a private institution to adopt restrictive speech codes and allow government control over teaching and

May 10, 2013

Contact: Michael Burke, mdburke@maine.edu

AUGUSTA – The union that represents nearly 1,900 part-time faculty members in the University of Maine System is marking its 25th anniversary this May.

The Part-time Faculty Association (PATFA) was founded on May 1, 1988. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, wrote in a congratulatory letter to the association that “Your strength and perseverance over the past 25 years are a source of great pride and inspiration to all of us.”

Efforts by part-time faculty to achieve recognition as a bargaining unit by the