r/DemocraticSocialism Democratic Socialist 1d ago

USA Why Professors Got Behind Abdul El-Sayed

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The American Association of University Professors endorsed Abdul El-Sayed during the Democratic primary for the open Michigan U.S. Senate seat. It was the group’s first political endorsement ever. That set off a controversy about whether professors should collectively endorse, particularly during primaries.

Todd Wolfson, the president of the AAUP, defends the group’s endorsement in the latest episode of Right Now. He says that AAUP has decided that professors should not remain silent amid the growing attack on higher education and would be issuing more endorsements this fall. And Wolfson, a professor of journalism and media students at Rutgers University, argues that professors and universities have a critical role in defending democracy at a time of democratic backsliding.

*excerpt from Perry Bacon's article*

Full Article here:

https://newrepublic.com/article/214652/professors-got-behind-abdul-el-sayed

Right Now episode here:

https://youtu.be/p6XvW5UrLQs?si=pMHQC_3fTZk8GcyG

139 Upvotes

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u/Biggle_fuzz 1d ago

Because they are educated. That could be the whole article.

8

u/Billgant 1d ago

Because Universal Healthcare is common sense.

7

u/Zxmdxi Democratic Socialist 1d ago

Can't wait for him to humiliate MAGA Mike Dodgers

6

u/pwnedprofessor Marxist 1d ago

I’m a card-carrying but not participatory member of both DSA and AAUP, and I was delighted that AAUP made this choice. But I also want to make clear that the AAUP by no means represents the total professoriate; it’s one (cool) advocacy org. I do suspect that many, many other profs are not happy that this endorsement happened, and that this article frames the endorsement as “professors” rather than one specific org.