The Riverside Faculty Association (RFA) is a voluntary membership  organization of Senate and non-Senate  faculty, affiliated with the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

The RFA formed in 1975 to safeguard the welfare of the faculty, to support principles of shared governance and to further the scholarly and professional values held by the faculty.  These principles remain the core of the RFA’s mission.  In the current context of dramatically reduced State funding and rising tuition, reductions in faculty compensation, and questions about the future of UC as we have known it, the RFA  provides an alternative forum for voicing faculty’s concerns.  In a timely fashion, the RFA can respond to and act on campus, system-wide, state, national and international issues as they bear on our mission. The RFA includes non-Senate faculty because Instructors and Adjuncts play a vital role in the teaching mission of the University.

The RFA is a member of the Council of University of California  Faculty Associations (CUCFA), which coordinates the advocacy work done on  behalf of UC  faculty by the various campus Faculty Associations.  As part of CUCFA, the RFA participates in consultations with the UC  Office of the President over proposed changes to system-wide UC policies  that affect faculty. Through CUCFA, the RFA provides faculty with an independent instrument for representing faculty interests and for supporting public education in California.

Like several other UC Faculty Associations, the RFA has chosen to affiliate with the American Association of University Professors.  The AAUP’s purpose is to advance academic freedom and shared governance, to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good.