Press Release: Miami University Forbids Professors from Engaging in Planned Labor Day Event

September 2, 2026

Oxford, OH — Late in the day on August 31, two days before a planned Labor Day Teach-OUT on September 2, Miami University’s Office of the Provost sent an email communication forbidding faculty from participating. 

The Teach-OUT was organized by the Faculty Alliance of Miami (FAM—AAUP-AFT, Local 375), the union representing all full-time continuing faculty and librarians at Miami. The invitation was simple: celebrate Labor Day by making your labor visible and teaching your classes outside on the university quad. 

“By forbidding faculty from moving their courses outside, the University has turned what was otherwise going to be a celebration of our students and our teaching into a swell of faculty outrage about this unprecedented new edict,” says Theresa Kulbaga, Professor of English and FAM’s President. 

The email from the Office of the Provost reads, in part, “For September 2, the expectation is straightforward. Scheduled classes must meet at their assigned times and in their assigned instructional locations and modalities unless a change has been approved by the department chair through the University’s ordinary academic processes for a legitimate instructional reason.” 

The University has never demanded department-chair approval before a professor moved their class outside, and this email communication seems to cover only September 2, leading faculty to wonder if the University’s response is targeting protected Union activity specifically. 

“This is not based on a University policy that I can find,” says Steve Conn, Professor of History. “What about when I do walking tours with my classes to examine University buildings and historic spots in Oxford? Is that also verboten?” 

The University’s attorney cited Senate Bill 1 as a primary context for banning teaching outside.

Following the administration directive forbidding teaching outside, FAM still plans to have a Labor Day celebration on September 2, but at a meeting of all faculty instead of on the quad. 

FAM has been negotiating on behalf of Miami faculty for nearly six months.