Audio Reveals NU Associated ‘Academic Freedom’ Group Is Trying to ‘Knock’ Out Conservative Viewpoints

by John Gage

(Picture credit UNL Twitter)

Newly released audio from “The Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom” (CDAF), a project of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), shows the group is actively trying to eliminate conservative thought leaders and influences at universities across the country. Members of the University of Nebraska system have had a long association with the AAUP, and the group has influenced decision-making by Nebraska regents and university system presidents.

The audio obtained by City Journal shows the head of The Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom saying he wants to track down conservative influences and “knock them out” of universities.

“I would really love to see a kind of a robust research project on these right-wing centers, and individuals that, that like naming and shaming and discrediting and undermining the legitimacy,” Isaac Kamola, the director of the AAUP’s CDAF, said. “I would love to strategically map who these f---ers are, and figure out what the weaknesses are, and design a research agenda that just goes through them and tries to knock them out.”

Kamola’s mention of “right-wing centers” refers to efforts by some state universities, in places like Florida and Texas, to establish civic centers that promote civic leadership and classical education.

The AAUP founded the CDAF in 2024 with a $1.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation — one of the largest foundations in the country. The goal of the center was for the “examining and confronting the recent surge of political and ideo­logical attacks on American higher education.”

“The Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom will compile a database of the political organiza­tions, think tanks, donors, and political operatives most responsible for the current wave of attacks and evaluate their success in shaping the trajectory of US higher educa­tion,” an article in the AAUP’s magazine stated. “Using this research, the AAUP intends to formulate a strategic campaign to fight back to protect academic freedom in America’s col­leges and universities and to ensure that the unrestricted search for knowledge in service of the common good remains the guiding force in American higher education.”

Reagan Dugan, the director of higher education initiatives for Defending Education, said the audio showed the University of Nebraska campuses were partnering with left-wing ideologues.

“The AAUP audio makes clear their commitment to left-wing ideologies, not excellence in our universities,” Dugan said. “As they say in their own words, they are merely using terms like ‘academic freedom’ to push back against important university reforms. Nebraskans deserve better than the AAUP’s vision for higher education.”

AAUP Helped Kill Anti-Critical Race Theory Resolution

Both the University of Nebraska Omaha and the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) have AAUP chapters that advocate for faculty at both of the campuses. The group has a history of weighing in on controversial issues in the university system.

In 2018, the AAUP put UNL on its censure list after it dismissed lecturer Courtney Lawton after she harassed a Turning Point USA student who was running a booth on campus. The AAUP has touted the ability of its censure list to influence and change higher education institutions and leadership.

During the 2021 controversy over then-Regent Jim Pillen’s resolution to affirm free speech by banning the imposition of Critical Race Theory across the university system, the AAUP suspended the censure removal process that UNL was on, threatening to keep them censured if they did not vote down the resolution.

“Unfortunately, the regents’ proposed resolution puts these efforts in jeopardy,” Mark Criley, a senior program officer in the AAUP’s Department of Academic Freedom, said at the time. Criely added that it would be “inconceivable” that the AAUP would lift UNL from its censure list if the regents passed the resolution.

The same day the AAUP released their letter, then-University President Ted Carter, as well as the chancellors from UNL, UNO, and the University of Nebraska Kearney, released a statement condemning Pillen’s resolution.

Later in the year, after regents voted down Pillen’s resolution, the AAUP removed UNL from the censure list.

The Plains Sentinel has reached out to the University of Nebraska and CDAF for comment on the audio.

— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.