The Association of University Presses (AUPresses) has emerged as a formidable voice against recent federal government policies that threaten to undermine academic freedom and the integrity of scholarly research. Driven by core values of equity, intellectual freedom, and stewardship, AUPresses is resolute in its mission to safeguard knowledge and scholarship from what it perceives as unprecedented and potentially illegal mandates.
AUPresses is committed to ensuring academic excellence and cultivating knowledge. The association advocates for the freedom to think, research, publish, read, and teach, viewing these as essential pillars of an open and just society. University presses play a crucial role in giving voice to the breadth of human experience and knowledge, ensuring that researchers can conduct, collaborate on, share, review, and discuss their work freely.
AUPresses’ Stance on Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Regulations
On July 9, 2026, AUPresses filed comments with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regarding proposed changes to Regulations for Federal Financial Assistance. The association expressed deep concern that these changes could adversely impact the advancement of research-based knowledge. Specifically, AUPresses opposed provisions that would relegate scholarly experts to advisory roles, restrict research activities, and prohibit funding for publishing costs such as subscriptions and open access fees.
AUPresses urged the OMB to continue recognizing peer-reviewed research as the gold standard and to support inquiry into a broad array of topics by the full spectrum of scholars. The association emphasized the importance of funding established publishing models to promote the ready discovery of research.
Opposition to White House Proposed Rules for Scientific Research Funding
On June 9, 2026, AUPresses joined the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) in firmly opposing the White House OMB’s proposed new rules for federal funding of scientific research. The association unequivocally agreed that political litmus tests must not replace peer review as the certification of research quality. AUPresses asserted that politically motivated viewpoint discrimination violates the First Amendment of the Constitution and that research must not be under the thumb of politicians.
Stand Against the National Book Ban Bill
On April 13, 2026, AUPresses voiced its opposition to H.R. 7661, the National Book Ban Bill, which was set to reach the US House of Representatives. The association stood alongside over 100 grassroots and national advocacy organizations, publishers, booksellers, librarians, and professional associations to urge Congress to resist this attempt at nationwide censorship. AUPresses expressed strong support for vulnerable young people and the public schools and libraries that serve them.
Response to the Trump Administration’s Compact for Academic Excellence
On October 10, 2026, AUPresses signed in support of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Statement on the Trump Administration’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. The association agreed with AAC&U that the administration sought to impose an ideologically driven vision for higher education through unilateral executive action and the coercive use of public funding. The Compact was seen as trampling academic freedom and denigrating the humanities, both of which are essential to the work of AUPresses members and their authors.
Opposition to Government Review of Smithsonian Museums
On August 19, 2026, AUPresses joined the American Council of Learned Societies in opposing the White House demand that Smithsonian Institution museums subject their presentation of American history to government review and revision. The association agreed that professionals at these national institutions are entrusted with preserving and presenting a full and accurate picture of the American experience. The White House’s intrusion was viewed as another authoritarian step toward divesting in professional expertise and dismantling principles of academic freedom, demonstrating a willingness to censor that is deeply unconstitutional.
Call for Constructive Engagement in Higher Education
On April 28, 2026, AUPresses joined the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and hundreds of other leaders in higher education in a call for constructive engagement. Together, they spoke against unprecedented government overreach, political interference, and coercive manipulation of public research funding that endangered American higher education, the advance of research-based knowledge, and the scholarship that university presses help steward. The call emphasized the importance of institutions of higher learning and research as centers of open inquiry where faculty, students, and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation.
Condemnation of Actions Against the National Endowment for the Humanities
On April 2 and 4, 2026, AUPresses joined the National Humanities Alliance (NHA), the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the American Historical Association (AHA), and other organizations in condemning the actions taken by the federal Department of Government Efficiency against the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The association agreed that cutting NEH staff and funding harms communities in every state and contributes to the destruction of shared cultural heritage. These actions were seen as sending a disastrous ripple through the entire scholarly ecosystem, impacting individual project leaders, researchers, and their partners in advancing new ideas, including universities, scholarly publishers, librarians, and teachers.
AUPresses joined in calling on Congress to protect this vital independent federal agency, emphasizing that a truly great society invests in the humanities.
Opposition to Executive Order Designating English as the Official Language
On March 18, 2026, the Association joined with the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) in strongly opposing the White House Executive Order designating English as the official language of the United States. The association agreed with the LSA that the United States has always been multilingual and that this is a source of the nation’s strength, not an indicator of or fuel for disunity. The executive order was seen as attempting to rewrite US history in a fundamentally flawed and untrue way. It also encouraged a dangerous retreat from global, multilingual knowledge, casting a chill on American scholars’ and publishers’ essential work.
