(ALBANY, NEW YORK) - United University Professions (UUP) President Fred Kowal - who heads the Nation's largest Higher Education Union, with more than 42,000 Academic and Professional Faculty and Retirees, has released the following statement regarding the recent and all-too-real threats to freedom of speech and academic freedom:

“UUP condemns in the strongest terms the threat or use of violence against anyone for what they say or what they believe.

The shooting death of Charlie Kirk was senseless, hateful and regrettable.

However, it is also unacceptable that in the aftermath of Kirk’s death, political groups, politicians and even high-ranking government officials are actively targeting individuals - including many of our colleagues in Higher Education - for expressing diverse ideas and points of view in public, on Social Media and in classrooms.

Such suppression of speech is an assault on the Constitutional protections to which everyone in this country is entitled and on the principles and protections of academic freedom that UUP has established and upheld since our inception over 50 years ago.

The freedom to teach and pursue knowledge in academic settings - even when the content of that teaching or knowledge may be unpopular or controversial, is foundational to the integrity of our Higher Education Institutions.

Academic freedom and First Amendment speech rights are intrinsic to one another.

UUP will always fight for both."

UUP Members work at 29 New York State-operated Campuses, including State University of New York’s (SUNY) Public Teaching Hospitals and Health Science Centers in Brooklyn, Long Island and Syracuse.

UUP is an affiliate of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) Union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Education Association (NEA) and the AFL-CIO.

To Directly Access This Labor News Report, Go To: Press Release | UUP will always fight for, defend free speech, academic freedom