WASHINGTON

 In his professorial attire and flowing, Zeus-like beard, Cary Nelson would look right at home behind a lectern, expounding on obscure poets. He even resembles one of the leading influences on his scholarship: Karl Marx.

For decades, this self-described ``tenured radical'' has been satirizing academia and criticizing the ``corporatization'' of universities. Now, the man dubbed ``scary Cary'' by former graduate students for his pull-no-punches style has a kind of corporate role himself.

But he's hardly selling out.

As president of the American Association of University Professors, the 62-year-old gadfly and erudite literary theorist is trying to breathe new life into a group with a complicated dual role: speaking out on behalf of academic freedom, while also representing faculty at some colleges in contract talks.

The AAUP's core issues are front and center these days. Colleges are increasingly relying on part-time faculty, who have less job security and protection if they speak out on controversial subjects. But at such a critical time, the AAUP has been hobbled by declining membership, staff turmoil and financial dysfunction.

Some bristle at Nelson's imperious presence and sharp, sometimes brutal honesty. But others are convinced it's just what's needed to revive the AAUP.

``I think the real danger is nobody knows the AAUP is there,'' says Princeton University's Stanley Katz. ``It may well be a little noise and bluster is much less a problem than ennui.''

Nelson knows he has his work cut out for him. In 2005, the AAUP's membership office ``basically disintegrated,'' in Nelson's words, and until recently the group couldn't complete a 2006 financial audit.

``It's been quite a mess to clean up and we're still working on it,'' said Nelson, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who had been active in the AAUP for years before becoming president in 2006. He has overseen major changes in the professional staff and pushed a structural reorganization intended to better reflect AAUP's two very different roles.