AAUP Statement on Sabbaticals

December 12, 2025

Truman State University faculty, administrators, and Board of Governors,

The Board of Governors Code of Policies provides for sabbatical leaves as a means of enhancing the professional development of faculty within a teacher–scholar model. Students, faculty members, and the institution as a whole benefit from properly funded professional leaves. Sabbaticals support the faculty in maintaining high standards of instruction and producing scholarship and creative works that bolster the institution’s reputation.

For the 2026-2027 year, Truman’s administration has not funded sabbatical leaves at a level necessary to achieve these goals. Only nine faculty members applied for sabbaticals, and only three were approved (two year-long and one semester-long sabbaticals; a second semester sabbatical was postponed from the previous academic year). When only one third of applicants receive sabbatical that amounts to a failure to support faculty, and consequently students. This year, applications by faculty with ambitious projects and strong records of research output were turned down. This also represents the lowest number of awards in recent years.

The administration has justified awarding so few sabbaticals for next year by citing a lack of funds. Chapter Six of the Board of Governors Code of Policies states: “In general, no more than two percent of the total of the combined salaries of the academic and administrative staff shall be used for sabbatical leave during any academic year” (6.050.4.5). The number of sabbaticals awarded was cut in half this year, while the combined salaries of faculty and administrators has not decreased accordingly.

The AAUP is writing to request clarification concerning this policy’s rationale and proper interpretation. Can it be clarified how the two percent threshold is calculated? What is the guiding principle for including faculty salaries and benefits in the calculation as an additional cost, when the University would incur those costs even without sabbatical leaves? Why does the number of sabbaticals awarded for 2025-2026 seem to fall well below the two percent threshold?

We find this trend of fewer sabbaticals being offered discouraging for faculty and harmful for Truman, and hope it can be avoided in the future. We call on the Board of Governors and the Truman State University administration to revise these policies so that they align with the University’s vision statement, which embraces the goal of providing transformative experiences that foster critical thought. Truman professors fulfill the University’s mission by modelling lifelong intellectual development as teacher–scholars. To do this they need adequate support for their research, including a dependable program for sabbatical leaves. Funding and encouraging more sabbaticals will benefit all of Truman’s stakeholders.