Archives West Finding Aid

John Hopkins’ Professor Arthur O. Lovejoy and John Dewey formed the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in 1915 to protect the "academic freedom” of college professors nationwide. It is not clear when the Montana chapter of the AAUP was established but it likely began on the University of Montana campus in the late 1910s. The first minute book in this collection dates from 1930. The National AAUP’s concern for the wellbeing and academic freedom of professors brought the organization’s attention to UM on a number of occasions, including during the dismissal of President Craighead in 1915 and during the controversy over the discharge of Librarian Philip Keeney in 1937. They also participated in preparing and moving a collective bargaining bill through the Montana legislature in the mid-1970s.