Cary Nelson

Nelson became an example of the committed scholar who conceived of the advance of his own career in the context of the amelioration of the rank-and-file of the academic community; more specifically, graduate students, part-time employees, and campus workers.

"[1] From 2000 to 2006 Nelson was the second vice president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

In April 2006, Nelson was arrested, along with over 50 others, including Jane Buck, the outgoing president of the AAUP, as part of a unionization effort by New York University's graduate teaching assistants.

[2] In 2014, Nelson supported the University of Illinois' decision to withdrawn a job offer to Steven Salaita, an "American studies scholar active in the Israel boycott movement.

"[3] He has published or edited twenty five books, including Manifesto of a Tenured Radical and Revolutionary Memory: Recovering the Poetry of the American Left.