Please consider signing this letter opposing layoffs at the New School docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

New on Academe Blog from @hellobrittparis.bsky.social of @ruaaup-aft.bsky.social:

Surprise, surprise! The Vanderbilt report decrying the state of scholarship in the humanities is itself a terrible work of “scholarship“:

ICYMI: John Oliver’s hilarious & thorough takedown of the dysfunctional “complete shit show” hostile takeover of New College of Florida that led to the most corrupt, financially inefficient public university in the state. 👀 ➡️ @newcollegeoffl.bsky.social youtu.be/jFMc07F1UUU?...

"I no longer have confidence in the Special Committee’s members, which means I no longer have confidence in the Chair and the three Vice-Chairs of Cornell’s Board of Trustees. They took on a discrete task of great importance to the university, but they utterly failed to understand the assignment."

Surprisingly accurate headline

It's good that universities are making six-figure payouts to people who got fired for their comments about Charlie Kirk, but now the universities need to do some new firing, of administrators who carried out those illegal actions. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/u...

This new @yaleaaup.bsky.social report on academic freedom at Yale is horrifying if not surprising. One number that jumped out: "21.5% reported that they had been asked by a “department chair, Deans, or others in university leadership” to make changes to their courses, research or website".

If you're a member of the Cornell community (broadly construed) and you're outraged by President Kotlikoff's actions and the sham investigation thereof, please sign this petition demanding a truly independent investigation: c.org/sB6PfN9gxt

“you know how sophisticated sports analysts love to say, “The commissioner doesn’t work for the fans, he works for the owners”? Well, college presidents, deans, and administrators don’t work for students, parents, or faculty members. They work for the trustees.”

“Anyway, while I applaud Cornell’s commitment to its shared mission to discover, preserve, and disseminate knowledge, you know what I think would also do wonders for the health of the institution? A SHARED MISSION TO KEEP THE PRESIDENT FROM HITTING STUDENTS WITH HIS FUCKING CAR.”

Cornell Courage is among the groups that also signed onto this statement issued by @cornellaaup.bsky.social AAUP. Please have a read of the statement--or at least of the summary posted here by Cornell AAUP....⬇️ aaup-cornell.org/2026/05/20/i...

... The Trump administration likewise invokes the machinery of the law and co-opts law enforcement to create lawlessness. What the trustees have done is not on the same scale, but it sings from the same hymn book, and for that, they should be ashamed." - Joe Margulies

"Ham-handedly creating the appearance of a legitimate process — one that everyone can immediately see is a sham, but that no one can challenge — discredits the institution and diminishes faith in its operation. Fundamentally, it is precisely what plays out in the world around us.

Cornell AAUP, along with other Cornell community organizations, has issued a statement concerning the recent incident involving President Kotlikoff hitting a student and an alum with his car and the subsequent Board of Trustees investigation exonerating the President and condemning the students.

“The Board of Trustees, who hired President Kotlikoff and pay his salary, and the Cornell University Police Department (CUPD), who report directly to Kotlikoff, cannot “independently” investigate his conduct.”

SDC argues that the Board misstates various facts of the case (including a false allegation that one of those hit refused medical treatment), ignores several concerning lies or omissions by Kotlikoff (including that students banged on his window before he struck) and waves away concerns about bias.

Students for a Democratic Cornell (whose members were the ones that President Kotlikoff hit with his car) have issued the following press release in response to the Board of Trustees “independent investigation” clearing Kotlikoff and blaming the students:

Every time I get asked about trust in higher ed, I will now be obligated to bring this up. Wheen we talk about impunity from consequences, it includes things like this.

Cornell just released this statement from its committee of Trustees investigating the incident where the President ran over a student's foot with his car. The statement extols the President and blames the students.

"The Ad Hoc Special Committee of the Board of Trustees, composed of the Chair and Vice Chairs of the Board of Trustees, has completed its review of the events of April 30, 2026, involving Cornell President Michael I. Kotlikoff and a group of individuals..." statements.cornell.edu/2026/2026051...

Anyway, I'm thinking about Claudine Gay again this morning.

@cantb.bsky.social identifies three trends for public research universities: more partisan divisions, more sports & amenities, less research. A grim but compelling picture. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

This video (from students at my alma mater) is crucial. Cornell has adopted the authoritarian playbook. It has done it to protect its "research enterprise" which is increasingly industry funded and moving away from public welfare, just like many other US universities. @cornelluniversity.bsky.social

Students (including the one whose foot the President ran over!) made this short video criticizing Cornell's repression of student protests and linking it to Cornell's funding ties to defense contracts, weapons manufacturers and surveillance tech firms. www.instagram.com/p/DYNaDYPp_GV/

“No educator would require students to smoke cigarettes to learn about nicotine’s ill effects on their health…If the medium is the message, then using generative AI in a course on climate change or sustainability might end up teaching the wrong lesson.” —Debra J. Rosenthal

I'd really like to see Cornell raise the funds for a fitting memorial to a young man (and rural sociology major) who was murdered by white supremacists for trying to protect Black Americans' right to vote. Fundraising priorities reflect university priorities. www.cornellsun.com/article/2026...

The comments are giving me hope, especially in their critique of a headline that gives cars agency and describes hitting a person as a ‘bump’. @cornellaaup.bsky.social

Alum Milton Taam was there when Cornell President Kotlikoff hit a student and another alum with his car. He offers his account here: www.fjcornell.org

New NYT article: Trustees ordered a (non-independent) investigation of Kotlikoff. 10 paragraphs: 6 reference Palestine, Israel, and/or protests abt the conflict. *0* references to the Code of Conduct--the issue these students are actually concerned about! www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/n...

Cornellians! Join us tomorrow to reflect on the week’s events and how we move forward.

Last Thursday, Cornell President Kotlikoff hit a student and a recent alum with his car. The next morning, he sent a misleading email about the incident to the entire Cornell community. We join Students for a Democratic Cornell in calling for an independent investigations of these actions.

In this day and age, it takes a lot of courage for people--especially young adults--to stand up to the powers that are oppressing them. We'd like to point your attention to what these students were standing up for. In their own words... www.instagram.com/p/DX7g3sMjyW6/

“Video footage obtained by The Sun shows Students for a Democratic Cornell members Aiden Vallecillo ’26 and Hudson Athas ’27 being struck by the car. In the video, no person can be seen touching the vehicle before it drove into Vallecillo and Athas.” www.cornellsun.com/article/2026...

This wasn't about Gaza (pls fix, @nytimes.com). These students led a referendum in Dec that passed overwhelmigly (93%). It was about Cornell's Code of Conduct. (The faculty senate also supports changing this Code). The president has been unresponsive to the student body & students are persisting.../

We'll have more to say on this shortly, but in the meantime we're glad to see attention to this incident at Cornell in which the President endangered/injured students. (We already found his actions concerning--if you look at our recent posts). But some misunderstandings need to be cleared up..../

Ding dong www.nytimes.com/2026/05/01/u...

Our thoughts on the last five years of strikes in America. Happy May Day! ✊🍞🌹 @laboraction.bsky.social

May Day rally today on the Commons!

I resigned from the National Science Board in May when meaningful oversight became untenable. I respect colleagues who stayed to serve the NSB's mission. Today's news clarifies that was an erosion of oversight and function has become open elimination of the Board itself. 🧵 time.com/7285045/resi...

Becoming active in my local AAUP chapter (University of Minnesota) has given me something I so desperately needed: neighboring colleagues who care and look out for one another and our work. Something Minnesotans know a bit about!

❤️❤️

“Demand letters to universities, a compact which is nothing more than a loyalty oath, ideologically driven state houses that are ending tenure and collective-bargaining rights, ending academic freedom — and you’re going to tell me I should be neutral?”

Drezner cites this op-ed by Wesleyan's President Roth making related points. One big place the Yale & Cornell reports differ is that Cornell's leans into public engagement and civic mission, which I'm glad about - but still leaves out the right-wing assault as source of declining trust.

The Yale Report, much like a draft from Cornell's "Future of the American University" committee, emphasizes the role of (perceived) high costs in undermining trust in higher ed. This is, as @dandrezner.bsky.social puts it, at best very incomplete, missing the assault on higher ed from Trump et al.

Here's what's happening in Ithaca, there's probably something happening in your city too

Get out there on May Day! “...under the banner of workers over billionaires, taxing the rich, demanding ICE out, money for people not wars, and expanding democracy”

Nice coverage of a recent event by Students for a Democratic Cornell showcasing student activists past and present and highlighting how Cornell deployed an increasingly punitive response to activism.

"what could explain the University’s eagerness to embrace one, and only one, special form of diversity? Fundamentally, this hiring push is part of a broader effort to diminish the authority and autonomy of the faculty."

My union @uam-umd.bsky.social did such a good job beating our bosses in the statehouse this year that we figured we'd go ahead and beat the White House too. With allies from across higher ed and the good people at @democracyforward.org we're suing to stop the latest illegal anti-DEI order.