Remember Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil who was abducted and detained for his pro-Palestinian speech? His story is a prime example of what can happen when a school abandons its students to the whim of the government.

a “well-known practice from the McCarthy Era” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

“Weiss’s publication, in short, was the preferred vehicle for conveying information from Columbia insiders who wanted to purge all criticism of Israel from the university to Trump administration officials who were using … financial pressure to help them do … that” www.theguardian.com/media/ng-int...

Together, Texans built one of the finest systems of higher education in the world. Ideologues and opportunists are tearing it down. It is a despicable act of generational vandalism that will hurt all Texans, their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren.

Correct on the banal pledges of neutrality by real-estate-operations-with-tax-breaks administrators, but still relying on the simplistic taxonomy of “liberals” vs “conservatives” in the faculty. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

“To equate the expression of such views with antisemitism is not only wrong; as Judt warned, it also risks putting Jewish students in greater danger.” www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

My new book ‘Hispanic Technocracy: From Fascism to Catholic Authoritarianism in Spain, Argentina, and Chile' with @CambridgeUP is out now! cambridge.org/9781009603041

The personal narrative is more interesting than the authoritarian thinking, of course. “The Harvard-Trained Lawyer Behind Trump’s Fight Against Top Universities” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/u...

La semana próxima en Morelia.

Una conversación sobre mi libro con Sara Hidalgo y Sergio Aguayo

“This continued framing of campus tensions as a particular crisis of antisemitism is incomplete and dangerously misleading. It attributes these tensions and concerns about discrimination to one-sided prejudice among Columbia students and affiliates.” www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2025...

Columbia University’s agreement with the Trump administration is a disaster for academic freedom, freedom of speech, & the independence of American higher education. Never in the history of our nation has an educational institution so thoroughly bent to the will of an autocrat. 1/

"No established legal process was followed for the Columbia agreement; no genuine legal dispute was resolved."

"another unprecedented feature of the situation ... that might ... prove the most consequential of all: the way in which the federal government is seeking to reshape the internal operations of universities not through generally applicable directives, but rather through a series of bilateral “deals”"

"The agreement is also the first to require a university to fork over money to the government as a condition of receiving money from the government, bringing a new brand of pay-to-play into the world of scientific and medical research."

“a poorer, smaller Columbia would at least still be a university committed to freedom of expression and academic autonomy”. Columbia’s Administrators Are Fooling Themselves www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...

This has been the first major trial of Trump’s second term. Over eight days of witness testimony, it uncovered a wealth of new detail about the ideological-deportation policy and its effects on college and university campuses across the country. #AAUPvRubio

Acting Columbia President Shipman’s statement, “Our Additional Commitments to Combatting Antisemitism,” released on 7/15/25, announces an enhanced commitment to tolerance and mutual respect.

AAUP Columbia: Response to Acting President Shipman’s Statement on “Our Additional Commitments to Combatting Antisemitism” groups.google.com/g/aaup-colum... @aaupcu.bsky.social @aaup.org

“Una gran parte de maestros son hombres, y más allá de ser hombres, son acosadores […] Lamento haber tenido que esperar a que me tocara a mí para alzar la voz” elpais.com/mexico/2025-...

Art of the ancient Americas at the Metropolitan youtu.be/FGdtrRSEOzI?...

Editorial | The Times has concluded that the Epstein client list does not meet our standards of newsworthy journalism, and thus we will not be covering it. Unless it turns out that Zohran Mamdani is on that list.

Junot Díaz, My Problem With Superman www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/o...

Sacheri, Nosotros dos en la tormenta: historia y literatura g.co/kgs/LYzqwX6

The Minnesota assassin appears to be a hate-filled right winger. So can we stop walking on eggshells about MAGA's legitimization of political violence? Yes, Republicans have also been the target of inexcusable violence, but this isn't a "both sides" issue. 1/ A🧵on the danger.

Escribí esta nota en Reforma sobre la situación en Estados Unidos: EU: Ofensiva en varios frentes reforma.com/kYjlcr

Opinión de Pablo Piccato sobre la situación en Estados Unidos, hoy en Reforma. Recomiendo. @ppiccato.bsky.social

“in many cases of university actions that can legitimately be regarded as problematic, the fault was … a corporate and legalistic environment at universities that requires the investigation of every complaint, no matter how overblown” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A band played Bella Ciao, a classic Italian antifascist song.

Bukele is forcing journalists into exile, prison or worse. This is the partner of the Trump government mailchi.mp/cpj/we-know-...

📢 PRESS RELEASE: SB37 is “the most wide-reaching threat to academic freedom + collaborative governance in higher ed that the #txlege has yet undertaken. It will worsen an already dire situation for faculty + students.” aaup-texas.org/blog/f/texas...

No siempre pudimos estar de acuerdo con él. Pero no hubo ni uno sólo de sus compañeros, ni adversarios políticos, que no lo recordara con aprecio y respeto el pasado martes. Despedida de @aletaamatto79.bsky.social a Don #JoséMujica. #Uruguay #PepeMujica revistacomun.com/blog/a-don-j...

Mujica: “Me llaman el presidente más pobre, pero yo no me siento pobre. Pobres son esos que trabajan para tratar de mantener un estilo de vida caro y siempre quieren más y más. Es una cuestión de libertad.” elpais.com/america/2025...

My book will be available in November / En noviembre estará listo: uncpress.org/book/9781469... 30% discount with this code: 01SOCIAL30  @uncpress.bsky.social

Gessen in the NYT: “Universities currently focus on competition — getting as many applicants as possible . . . expanding through real estate; growing their endowments; and climbing the rankings in the . . . They need to set all of that aside and focus on teaching as widely as possible.”

Eco: “behind a regime and its ideology there is always a way of thinking and feeling, a group of cultural habits, of obscure instincts and unfathomable drives. Is there still another ghost stalking Europe (not to speak of other parts of the world)?” www.nybooks.com/articles/199...

Remembering Hind open.spotify.com/track/1nur90...