We are AAUP@Mason, Mason's advocacy chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Your AAUP@Mason team has been working to ensure a university president at a public institution of higher education gets a public search. We are calling for a public forum where the community at large can meet and vet all finalists for the position. Please join us in this effort—this is an historic opportunity to shape the direction of OUR university.

Here's what you can do to support:

1. Sign and share the petition.

2. Read and share our brief on secret presidential searches.

3. Ask your department, local campus group, or community organization to sign our petition.

4. Come to our "Dear Candidate" Forum on December 12th at 10am at Fairfax campus (SUB 1 lobby). At this event, co-hosted by Transparent GMU, we'll come together as a community to demand on-campus public presentations from all Presidential finalists. The BOV is meeting later in the day -- and they will hear our voices!

Further Reading:

• "Dear Candidate" letter to the editor -- Our op-ed on the Presidential search, recently published in the Fourth Estate

• Presidential Search - George Mason University

• ”The Next Purdue-Kaplan Deal?” - Inside Higher Ed  

• "Hiring a Search Firm? Do Your Homework First" - The Chronicle of Higher Education

• "How Well Do You Know Your Candidate?" - The Chronicle of Higher Education  

• "The Role of Confidentiality in Presidential Searches"- The Chronicle of Higher Education  

• "A Public Executive Should Get a Public Search" - The Chronicle of Higher Education  

• "The Increasingly High Price of Confidentiality" - Inside Higher Ed    

• "Secret Searches and Faculty Fury"- Inside Higher Ed