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.

"University codes of conduct... should be maximally protective of speech. They should treat universities and colleges not as tightly regulated spaces, where any unprescribed activity is a disruption to be repressed, but as vibrant microcosms of a free and open society."

2022-2024: the revenge of the tradwives 2025: #republicanmakeup 2025-2026: a pullup bar in every airport. Shirtless photos of RFK Jr, Hegsbeth, & Kid Rock🤢 2026: mogging and looksmaxxing Never been happier to lecture on gender performativity. Or to be at a uni where it isn't prohibited. (Yet.)

Check out the mitochondria union logo!

"Now, more than ever, we need a university that can serve as a beacon for democratic society, by deepening our commitments to academic freedom, shared governance and the public mission of higher education." — Cornell AAUP @cornellaaup.bsky.social

"Now, more than ever, we need a university that can serve as a beacon for democratic society, by deepening our commitments to academic freedom, shared governance and the public mission of higher education." www.cornellsun.com/article/2026...

"University leaders may have believed they were creating a buffer against further retaliation. Instead, the lesson appears to be that there is no payment high enough to sate the president’s protection racket. There never was." - @rweingarten.bsky.social (an @cornellilr.bsky.social alum!)

In response to the targeting of Iranian universities by the U.S. and Israel, Iran is now threatening to hit U.S.-linked universities in several Gulf countries, including satellites of: -CMU -VCU -Cornell -Northwestern -Georgetown -Texas A&M -NYU -American U -U of New Haven Very scary

When some of the news came out, he stonewalled. Finally released the flimsiest of statements. No recognition of the bad optics. No apology. No attempt to express concern. Many questions left unanswered. We too have experienced his misleading info/disregard towards alumni concerns. /3

& He was supposed to notify employees if this were to happen. He DIDN'T (now claims some bogus loophole applies) He (mis-)represented last yr that the "deal" closed all pending investigations vs Cornell. But evidently he knew this wasn't so. That's called intentionally misleading people. AND /2

ICYMI. From @cornellaaup.bsky.social Cornell Prez. Kotlikoff sold out his current *& former* employees by forking over their personal data to the Trump admin!! (there are >10K current employees). He concealed this act from them for months, and WORSE.../1 www.cornellsun.com/article/2026...

NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Directorate has awarded only 16 grants since October. No big budget cuts went through. No freeze. The courts have acted to keep funds flowing at every turn. The money just isn't going out. Why...? 1/x source: grant-witness.us/funding_curv... 🟦🧠 #academicsky

This email from @colorado.edu about the OpenAI contract is insulting. There was no conversation! There was no shared governance process! Faculty "input" was vocal protest in reaction to a closed-door deal! We still don't have clear information about where the data is stored or who has access to it!

The Kentucky Senate passed a bill that would allow colleges to lay off tenured faculty with 30 days of notice if program enrollments are determined to be low, going well beyond the norm of discontinuing the program in order to do layoffs.

No Kings in Utqiaġvik (Barrow) Alaska!

AFT showing up everywhere today As are millions There are more No Kings Events than counties in America #WeSayNoKings #NoKings

Come be a part of the parade for human rights! Join us Saturday, March 28 for the NO KINGS ITHACA grand parade starting on the Ithaca Commons at 1 pm sharp! indivisibletompkins.org #NoKings #NoKings3 #Ithaca #NewYork #IndivisibleTompkins #Indivisible #nokingsithacany

The Trump administration is asking for years of admissions records from our medical school (as well as Ohio State and UCSD). This is a continuation of their attacks on higher ed. If they have it their way, higher ed, as we know it, will cease to exist.

This is how disciplines die. Now that Sociology courses don't count for GenEd credit, far fewer students will take them, let alone choose Sociology as a major. And so, Sociology department budgets will shrink, meaning fewer faculty and fewer courses offered. www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

Silence is complicity. That's why we’ve called on our 1.8 million members to avoid Target for their back to school shopping. We refuse to allow companies to continue their patterns of staying quiet on ICE’s abuses in our communities. www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/03/...

“This federal administration has proven itself fundamentally hostile to higher education, and indifferent to and even supportive of antisemitism and racism. It should not be given the presumption of good faith” www.cornellsun.com/article/2026...

"Because this era of austerity is increasingly mediated through decision-intelligence platforms, faculty senates and unions must press for concrete safeguards," PSU-AAUP VP for Collective Bargaining David Kinsella in Academe www.aaup.org/color-coded-...

“[T]he suspension, termination of contract and the denial of appeal did not offer a substantive explanation for each decision and make no reference to specific rules, regulations or laws that may have been violated.”

NYT coverage of the CFU victory. Behind the scenes our bargaining committee had been trying to get the administration to stop dragging its feet for 15 months. Only the threat of a strike kick started serious negotiations www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/n...

🧵 Intensifying its ongoing attacks on higher education in general and Harvard in particular, last week DOJ sued Harvard for alleged Title VI violations, seeking cancellation of future grant payments and reimbursement for past ones. The lawsuit is highly problematic, as I explain on the blog. /1

1/ The federal government now has the largest political workforce in 40 years and the smallest career senior leadership in 25 years — simultaneously. In a new report I authored at @ourpublicservice.bsky.social: ourpublicservice.org/publications...

Last year's cuts to science funding weren't random, they hit the most marginalized folks. How the 2025 NIH grant terminations varied by researchers’ demographic groups | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

Cornell law professor @dorfonlaw.bsky.social explains what's wrong with the Trump Administration's new lawsuit against Harvard. In short: "the government's latest lawsuit looks quite a bit like an effort to re-litigate issues that were already decided against it." www.dorfonlaw.org/2026/03/what...

Cornell AAUP has released a new statement on the Trump Administration's EEOC investigation and the Cornell Administration response. The full statement is here: aaup-cornell.org/2026/03/23/a...

Rutgers is making draconian cuts to core humanities, arts, and sciences programs; @ruaaup-ptl.bsky.social and @ruaaup-aft.bsky.social are mobilizing members and community, join us here: actionnetwork.org/forms/take-a...

lesson here: universities are better positioned to "live their values" when faculty have real governance power. @bostonu.bsky.social's central admin wld have avoided lots of headaches by treating faculty as a partners to engage and not problems to manage. Proud of BU @aaup.org speaking out.

Cornell Law School's @gshans.bsky.social on "First Amendment Balancing" knightcolumbia.org/blog/first-a...

We @knightcolumbia.org have started to post short essays from some of the scholars and advocates participating in our "Reconstructing Free Expression" project. I'm going to post the essays in this thread, as we publish them. They're really good! knightcolumbia.org/research/rec...

CFU IS ON STRIKE! The AAUP is standing with Contract Faculty United - UAW 7902 on the picket line today. CFU is on strike to fight for a fair contract. Faculty at NYU deserve fair wages and dignity. New York is a union town!

BREAKING: Nearly 1,000 faculty members at NYU are on strike. The union for non-tenured faculty, @CfuUaw, was optimistic about reaching an agreement this morning. But after giving the university a 3 hour extension, the two sides could not agree, and the strike is now on.

"the decline in [academic freedom in] the United States has been more rapid and pronounced, particularly in the last year. It has deteriorated by 50% from 2015 to 2025 and is now evaluated as moderate autonomy by country experts" academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...

According to Academic Freedom Index, an annual benchmarking report compiled by researchers at Germany’s University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, the decline in university autonomy in the US has been faster than in places such as Hungary, India and Turkey. 😮😡 www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Academic freedom concerns spark a surge of professors joining the AAUP. "People are angry, frustrated, but also kind of mobilized." — Ira Dworkin, VP of Texas A&M AAUP

THE NLRB GRANTED OUR ELECTION PETITION! USC non-tenure-track faculty will FINALLY get to vote on our union in April!