The AAU (Association of American Universities)
http://www.aau.edu/about/default.aspx?id=4020  recently voted to withdraw 
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Syracuse University elected to 
voluntarily leave the organization. Many of our LIS programs look to AAU 
institutions for faculty and also for external letters used in 
promotion and tenure.  For news items on the AAU, see:
InsideHigher Education: 
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/05/02/university_of_nebraska_and_syracuse_to_lose_places_in_aau_research_university_group

Syracuse Post-Standard:
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/syracuse_university_pulls_out.html

New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/education/03aau.html

And Syracuse Chancellor Nancy Cantor statement:
http://www.syr.edu/news/articles/2011/chancellor-message-05-11.html

Institutions have left the AAU before-- Clark University in 1999 and
for LIS, Catholic University in 2002-- here is a URL to that:
http://chronicle.com/article/As-AAU-Admits-Georgia-Tech-to/65200/

What will be the impact on ALA accredited MLS programs and iSchools, if 
any? It will be interesting to see.

lp

Lorna Peterson [log in to unmask]