There are roughly 190,000 university professors in the United States. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) claims more than 57,000 of them belong to its professional organization. Founded in 1915, the AAUP has been around for 111 years. In all that time, they never thought it a good idea for them to endorse a political candidate for elected office. Not Woodrow Wilson, who was a professor of history and president of Princeton University. Not even Barack Obama, who was a lecturer on constitutional law at the University of Chicago. Really. But now in 2026, a candidate has emerged who was so compelling that the professors you trust to educate your kids finally decided that they had to do everything possible to get him elected.